It’s Podcastathon Time!

Relay for St. Jude

September is Childhood Cancer Awareness Month, and once again myself, and the entire Relay podcast network, are raising money for St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital.

As many of you know, our network founder Stephen Hackett has a child who was diagnosed with a cancerous brain tumor at just six months of age. Thanks to the amazing work by St. Jude, Josiah is now 16 years old and a participant in the St. Jude Life Study program. Needless to say, supporting the continued work of St. Jude is near and dear to our hearts at Relay.

For my part, I am raising funds through the month of September, with various incentives to help fundraise. To check out everything I’m up to, head over to my Relay for St. Jude 2025 Fundraiser page and read how you can help. And stay tuned to the milestones that we keep crossing and the giveaways that keep opening up!

Lastly, on Friday of this week, myself and many of the hosts at Relay, are kicking off our 12-hour Podcastathon, live from the studios at St. Jude. Come hang out, watch us get up to who knows what kind of shenanigans, and raise money for the kids! You can follow along on YouTube, and be sure to set a reminder for the start time.

Thank you for all of your support so far this year, as my total has crossed over the $10,000 mark, and the network as a whole has raised over $300,000 so far. That’s amazing, and I appreciate you so much for sharing our campaign!

Posted on September 16, 2025 by Brad Dowdy and filed under St. Jude.

St. Jude Milestone Giveaway - Esterbrook Estie Botanical Gardens Fountain Pen

St. Jude Milestone Giveaway - Esterbrook Estie Botanical Gardens Fountain Pen

I’m raising money for St. Jude during the month of September, and one of the overall milestones is to launch a giveaway once $9000 in total has been raised. We did, so let’s open up another giveaway!

Kenro Industries has graciously donated this Esterbrook Estie Botanical Gardens Fountain Pen, this one with a Medium Jowo #6 nib. You know the drill - read the rules, and get to entering!

One note: this, and all other St. Jude Milestone Giveaways will run until the end of September, officially closing at 11:59 p.m. Eastern time.

There are more giveaway milestones to hit, so check out my campaign and help myself and Relay raise money for St. Jude Children’s Hospital during Childhood Cancer Awareness Month.

Posted on September 15, 2025 by Brad Dowdy and filed under St. Jude.

#12PenPersonQuestions

My friend Lisa at Olive Octopus Ink posted a list of questions recently, mainly directed at us pen people. I love ideas like this, so I’m ready to roll. Let’s go!

1: If you consider the different ways you can engage with pens and stationery—as a user, a collector, a hobbyist, a creator, a maker, a vendor—which roles fit best and what percentage of 100% would you assign to each? Are you happy with the balance?

Starting out with the tough one I see! Without cheating and looking at Lisa’s answers, or Ana’s recent replies, here are my off the cuff thoughts:

Creator/Maker: 45%

User: 35%

Vendor: 15%

Collector: 5%

In thinking about what I use versus what I do for a living, I was trying to decide how much I use for personal things versus how much of that usage I use to create things (reviews, podcasts, etc.). I lumped in Maker with Creator, because those things work together in my mind, and in my work.

The results of Creating and Making directly lead to some percentage of Vendor, and that number seems about right. Collector might be high at 5%. I do have a few things I’ve saved over the years, but not much.

2: What is something you want to understand better or develop more informed opinions about?

For everything I think I know about nib modification, I would benefit from an even deeper grasp of everything nib related. Spending a day with a nib grinder and picking their brain for the basics, and the edge cases, would expand my knowledge a ton.

3: In the pen community, what's something someone has said or done that stuck with you?

There is a product out there for everyone. Understanding how things work for me, and then listening to others talk about how a similar pen or paper doesn’t work as well for them, and why, has been enlightening. Never yuck someone else’s yum!

4: There are now 25 hours in a day, a bonus hour is available to use however you like as long as pens or stationery are involved—how do you spend your hour?

I would read and take notes. I try to mix in as much reading as I can - at least a few hours a week - and I would like to do more of that, and capture some of my thoughts and ideas better when I do read. The last few books I’ve finished I didn’t take any notes, which is not like me.

5: In the pen community yearbook, what would your superlative be? (i.e. "Best ______", "Most _______" "Most likely to _______")

Most likely to love a cheap Ballpoint pen. Ballpoint gang rise up I got you!

6: How do you feel about your handwriting?

Mostly happy, but the degradation over the years isn’t great. That’s on me, as I haven’t taken the time to practice recently. I taught myself my current handwriting back in the 90’s and tweak things every now and then, but I need a clean up for sure.

7: What is something you are proud of doing, achieving, or overcoming?

I’m proud that I’ve been able to make stationery my job, and will celebrate 10 years in that job this upcoming January 1st. No one in my personal life thought it was a good idea except my wife, and myself. Here’s to many more years!

8: You're going on a writing retreat anywhere in the world—where would you go, what would you write, and what would you write with?

Ireland or Scotland, somewhere on a cliff with a great overlook. I would grab one of my Bank Paper journals, and right now, my recently acquired Pilot Custom 845 seems like a great all day writing option. What I would write is the challenge. I think if I was sequestered away and this was all I was doing, I would work on personal journaling and try to get deep inside this head of mine.

9: What's a current or favorite creative outlet?

I love putting ink on the page, in all of the various ways one can do that. I never thought I’d be using a water brush or a glass dip nib pen regularly, but here we are!

10: What's something that causes you benign envy—the kind of admiration and desire that leads to inspiration or motivation?

I’m envious of flex nib writing, but I’m ok not being able to do that. Yes, I could learn, but what it inspires me to do is to make my own handwriting better. See above.

11: What's a comfort item, material, or color?

I’m a fidget toy person. I’m staring at least 10 different things on my desk right now that I can grab and fidget with when I’m thinking, or not thinking. Pens are fidget toys, too.

12: What would be a dream collaboration, project, or partnership?

In the broader world, if I could collaborate on a stationery-themed Nike Dunk I would jump at the opportunity. A more reasonable collaboration that I’ve always dreamed about is making a bag with The Superior Labor. Looks like an email is in order.

Posted on September 15, 2025 by Brad Dowdy and filed under Q&A.