Much though I like those other things, there is something to be said for mechanical pencils when it comes to fuss-free on-the-go writing, and this has been my primary for that role over the last six or seven months. It went with me to Wintergrass, and has been my companion on many a coffee house jaunt.
Last things first: I flippin' love this pencil. A goodly percentage of my current large-work-in-process (Mind Jinx) came out of this pencil. I could dedicate novels to this pencil.
I will, however, try to remain objective.
1. Appearance:
This is a classy looking item. My one and only quibble is that the version I have (black--there is also a silver flavor) tends to get a little grungy looking over time as the knurled grip picks up dust and whatnot. I can't say for *certain* that the silver would be better in this regard, but it seems logical. The black does, however, contrast beautifully with the rOtring red ring, and has a nice understated stealth appearance to it outside of that splash of color. The paint has held up well to abuse (read: being carried unprotected in bag and purse and bumped about on tables and desks). The body is subtly hexagonal, which--along with the clip--makes it less apt to roll when it should not.
2. Grip:
The knurled grip is rough enough to be reassuringly sticky, but (unlike many drafting pencils) not so rough that it will sandpaper away your hard-won writer's callus. Keep in mind that I am not a draftsman, and use this strictly for writing: it could possibly be a little *too* smooth for some drawing purposes. Even for writing, I wouldn't mind just a touch more roughness, but it gets the job done. The grip is of a pleasant girth: more than a wooden pencil, less than your average gel pen.
3. Balance:
This is a relatively heavy pencil at 24.2 grams by my little kitchen scale (in contrast, I weighed a Pentel P209, and it weighed just under 9 grams). It doesn't feel clunky, however. The center of balance is almost exactly in the middle--just a smidge closer to the tip than the tail. It feels about perfect to me. I have a Pentel Graphgear 1000 I like a great deal, but it is back heavy, and that gets tiring after awhile. This one doesn't fight me either way.
4. Retracting tip:
THIS IS IMPORTANT TO ME. I don't wander around with a pocket protector, and I don't always feel like carrying a whole pencil case. I can quickly and easily put the point of this pencil away for its safety and mine. It doesn't have any fancy auto-retracting mechanism: you just hold down the button at the back of the pencil and then release it while you press the tip gently against your notebook/table/finger. I like the simplicity. Less to break.
Before the Rapid PRO arrived, I worried there would be a lot of give or wobble in the lead sleeve, or vibration while writing. I have little tolerance for this. As an example, I know a lot of people love Uni Kuru Toga mechanical pencils for the way they rotate your lead for you and keep presenting you with a clean, sharp edge, and while in theory it sounds cool, I find the slight give irritating enough that I haven't used my Kuru Toga as much as anticipated. This pencil, on the other hand, is pretty solid.
My little point-and-shoot camera steadfastly refused to acknowledge the existence of the eraser, but you get the basic premise.
Other details:
The eraser is found, as you'd expect, behind the little back cap. There's actually a hole through which you can see the white eraser peeking through--I would prefer a solid cap, but whatever. The eraser itself is par for the course for quality mechanical pencils: i.e. you *could* use it in a pinch, but it wouldn't go very far, and I much prefer a separate Mars Plastic or a Pentel Clic Stick.
Eraser, as seen through the back cap
To load leads, remove the little eraser and drop them in the back end of the pencil. Again, pretty standard. It's a fairly small lead chamber, but my 0.5mm model will hold a half dozen or so leads in a pinch. The lead feeds out at a nice rate--doesn't require extra clicks, or overadvance and cause breakage.
It'sa clip.
I don't use the clip much, but it appears durable and without any bits that catch on things they shouldn't.
Overall impression:
As I said, I really like this pencil. The balance works perfectly for me, the retractable tip means I can take it anywhere without worries, the grip isn't bad, and the whole thing just screams quality. I currently keep mine loaded with plain old Pentel Super Hi-Polymer lead (B grade), and it is a pleasure to use.
Pros:
• Just about perfectly balanced, at least for plain writing.
• Retractable lead sleeve/tip.
• Purty.
• Comfortable heft and solidity.
• Knurled grip adds stability.
Cons:
• The black version can get a little grungy looking.
• Lead sleeve is fragile, from all I've heard, so make sure you get into the habit of retracting that point when it isn't in your hand!
• Don't expect the eraser to do much for you.
• Knurled grip could be a little grippier.
• Spendier than the Pentels and Bics at Wal-mart. (I paid about $30 for mine on Amazon back in November. YMMV.) That said, it should last pretty near forever with a bit of care.
Specs:
Weight: 24.2 grams (empty), at least according to my cheapie scale
Length: Approximately 5.7 inches (14.5 cm / 145mm) long
Diameter: 9mm
Body material: Metal, but I'm not sure what type--if you know, feel free to fire off in the comments!
Have you heard of morning pages? I can't recall where I first saw them mentioned, though in researching (to give credit where credit is due) I find it's an idea which was popularized via Julia Cameron's "The Artist's Way," a book which I admit I have not read and on which I cannot offer an opinion.
In any case, the concept is simple: first thing in the morning, as soon as you roll out of bed, before your brain has had the chance to fully wake and get its house in order, you sit down and write three full pages. Longhand. That's right: just you and a notepad and a pen or pencil.
What do you write about? Whatever pops into your head. Write about the crazy dream you just escaped. Write about your plans or worries for the day. Write about what you're going to eat for breakfast. Write about how weird the word "morning" looks to you right now, for some reason. Write about the sound of the rain and how it reminds you of sleeping in the back bedroom at your grandmother's house that July between sixth and seventh grade, when birds created a nest under the eaves and one memorable afternoon, a fledgling flew in though the window and about gave Grandma's fat old tabby cat a heart attack.
There are no rules. Just fill those three pages.
As you'd kind of expect, much of what I write is dreadfully dull or complete nonsense. However, in giving myself the freedom to explore whatever comes to mind, I've also found the seeds of short stories or poems or blog posts, wrestled with life decisions, and sorted out tangled scenes in larger works-in-progress. It's also a good way to work on writing discipline: simply sitting down at a given time each day, knowing you have to write something, no matter how sleepy and uninspired you may feel.
In a perfect world, I think I would always start my days with morning pages, and end them with writing down my "Three Good Things." In practice, I manage stints of three or four days at a time, but have never really gotten consistent about it. And I should.
Have you ever tried morning pages? If so, how have they worked for you?
The other day, I was writing with a ballpoint and realized I was rotating it slightly--sort of rolling it to the left--at the end of each line, or whenever I lifted my hand for a moment. It's something I do--something we all do, I assume--with wooden pencils without even thinking about it, so the point wears evenly, but it has no real purpose with pens except to sort of reseat your grip every so often. The only reason I noticed was because the clip on this particular pen kept getting in the way now and again, and I finally figured out it was coming around the rotation every so many lines and rubbing against my hand--until I rotated it away again.
I do this with mechanical pencils, too, to the point where when I picked up a Uni Kuru Toga pencil (which rotates the very point of the pencil for you to maintain a consistent point), we fought--because I couldn't break myself of the habit of turning the pencil, even though it was rotating for me.
Now...obviously I don't do this with fountain pens, or they'd stop working every time I got to the end of a line. So my subconscious apparently has it figured out that they're another species. Why, then, does it lump most other pens with pencils, I wonder?
Interestingly, I appear to rotate pencils to the right and pens to the left. That's even weirder.
Are you a rotator? Do you keep rolling in a particular direction or is it random? Does your brain distinguish between pencils and pens?
I was just about to join the pencil people for a big show-and-tell and possible trading party when I woke up. Serious bummer. I was particularly looking forward to trying Pencil Revolution's My First Ticonderogas and some of the more exotic pencils brought over by the European contingent, and maybe trading some of my pencils for new ones.
But I'll have to settle for solo scribbling. *snif*
I didn't buy them.
The pandas...they haunt me.
As if I need more pencils.
I'm not right in the head.
*twitch*
So last night when I jumped back in to working on my NaNoWriMo story, I thought I'd switch to pen there, too. I sat down with my notebook and wrote about three words before panic set in.
Aw, heck no.
I guess I need a certain amount of impermanence to feel comfortable when fiction writing. For now, at least, with this particular story. So I dropped the fountain pen like a hot potato (not literally--you fountain pen lovers can get off my back) and went back to pencil. Whew. Much better.
How about you? Do you use different tools for different purposes? Switch from one to another over time based on mood? Or is it all or nothing?
Don't have a set format yet, but I'll get there.
2. I have too much fountain pen ink. I really have a handful of colors I like best, and now that I can get samples from Goulet Pens when I have the itch to try something out of my usual realm, I don't see the need to keep a lot of it around. I will be selling off a bunch, at least if The Fountain Pen Network ever comes back up. In the meantime, though, if anyone wants dibs on a bunch of Private Reserve blues and greens (Avacado (sic), Sherwood Green, Midnight, Black Magic, Lake Placid), or a 90% full bottle of Noodler's Blue-Black, let me know.
I may also be selling off or giving away dip pen nibs, some pencils, and a few fountain pens (nothing super fancy), so watch this space!
3. You must go read Mike Clemens' and Richard Polt's reports of the Bay Area type-in on the 27th. (Please feel free to add to my list if you were there!) Looks like a great time was had by all!
4. And now back to actual, real housekeeping. I'd like to start off the new year feeling like I could at least have my more forgiving friends over without fatal shame...
50k+ words completed in 26 days. One composition book filled, plus the first few pages of a second, in which I'll continue working on the story until the first draft tells me it's complete.
Just over half a Field Notes Expedition Edition filled with notes--I'll continue to use that. Yes, almost everything smears on that paper, which annoys me, but I do like how sturdy the thing is and how smooth it is to write in. I also like the fact that the front cover is BRIGHT HI-VISIBILITY ORANGE and thus easily locatable the dozen times a day I drop it or lose it amongst the things on my desk.
I can work at a slower pace now, but I'd like to finish this draft by Christmas if I can. (Self, please revisit this statement frequently.)
I started today with five thousand words left, give or take a hundred or two. Might have gotten in a thousand during the morning session, leaving me with four thousand to both write and transcribe. I'm thinking I'm not going to make it to the finish line today as I'd hoped, but I can at least finish up the first composition book if I push hard: twelve pages left!
Been using mechanical pencils a bit more in these last stages, to reduce even pleasurable distractions like switching out pencils. When I was at Fred Meyer yesterday I noticed they now carry the Pentel Graphgear 500, so I grabbed one both out of curiosity and because it came with the cutie-wutiest wittle baby Hi-Polymer eraser. Dawww!
I like the pencil, too. It doesn't have a retractable tip, so I have to be a little careful with it, and the balance is way different from the back-heavy Graphgear 1000. But I actually find myself liking the tip-heaviness of it, and the rock solidly secure feeling of the sandpapery knurled grip (the 1000 is knurled, too, but much smoother, and also has little rubber grippies embedded, so it's softer and more slippery in general). If I didn't already have a callus on the side of my finger, I'd guess this one would start to cause pain very quickly, but as it is, I rather like how it sticks in place.
Anyway, onward toward the finish line. Figuring I'll probably cross tomorrow, with about another 15-20k to write at my own pace to finish the story.
Week Three. Somewhere around 34000 words. 138 pages into my composition book.
I'm doing better than Week Two, mostly because I've accepted the fact that the honeymoon is over, and the best way to make progress is to strap myself in my highchair (metaphorically speaking) and not let me up until I've written for an hour or three pages or whatever my current goal is, no matter how much I scream and cry and sulk (metaphorically speaking). (Mostly.)
Going to a coffee house or some such thing can be helpful, since I have no option for walking over to stare at the computer every thirty seconds. However, this has its own set of drawbacks. Those of you who follow me on twitter (eliz_herreid) witnessed my mini-meltdown over coffee house lighting and wobbly tables.
The excuses we can come up with, no? But life goes on. This morning I gritted my teeth and sat down at the coffee-house-down-the-street and wrote about a thousand words despite funky shadows, a napkin-propped table, and giant sucking plot holes.
Pretty sure I'll make 50k this year. Whether I'll make something of this story, however, remains to be seen.
Repeat after me: this is just a first draft. This is just a first draft. This is just a FIRST draft.
So we're just over a week into this year's mad venture. How is everyone doing?
In other words, same old NaNo.
I also haven't made it to the gym in rather awhile because I've mostly been writing in the mornings and transcribing at night. Other excuse: I spent part of the week with a cold. Also spent another part of the week wondering if my character was queasy because I was really, truly queasy, or if I was queasy because my character was queasy. (Half the office had a stomach bug, so I did have valid reasons to wonder.) Writerly chicken or egg.
I also have to be careful not to write work e-mails and memos in my protagonist's style. Seems like this post devolved that way.
How about you? How have things been going?
Bottom to top (the order I used 'em):
But hey, NaNoWriMo is all about embracing your inner pantser, right? Right??
