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Writing >
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I started out by thinking of future things. Then I went back to think about old things. Years later, I started writing things down.
The Paper Mate “Write Bros” blue medium ball point pen was a big influence in my love of writing. Indeed, its inoffensive, simple design .. its smooth flowing ink. I fell in love with rolling it across paper.
I miss the old Mexican-made pens, because their ink was somehow better “out of the box”. The ink responds to temperature and after being warmed the consistency changes. This means that if left in a pocket for a time the ink will flow more smoothly. This isn’t just a temperature of the ink during its application, but a changing of the ink.
I learned this back in school. I think that yes, one time it leaked in my pocket.. but either blind luck or more likely a Paper Mate design choice improved the pen such that it never happened a second time.
Yes, the ink from the Mexican version would need occasional blotting, but I rather liked this quality. I found that it was somehow old fashioned and interactive.
So these new pens will, after much use.. or when I scribble a lot in a certain way, or if I leave them in the sun for a bit.. will also have their roller and ink act in the way I love the most. The flow and feel of the pen was wonderful to work with.
I would write a lot, originally for roleplaying but later for my own secret notes. My memory has never been any good, and it’s not that I’m degrading myself or reinforcing some kind of negative opinion of myself. In fact my memory has much improved thanks to writing, but I suspect that it’s still not as good as it could be. No, I don’t intend to work on my memory, since my mindset seems to be invaluable for zuihitsu.
At any rate.. I wrote notes. When I got into it, I would transcribe these notes. I would love typing on the IBM Model M keyboard as much as I loved working with these pens.
Back in the day I did begin to type directly into text files. Then I began doing that with HTML and an ancient version of a website of mine. Then I began to type on the HP 200LX and move it over to a main desktop. I would begin to write directly to the web when I began using my own engine.. My writing exploded. The story of that is told elsewhere. I moved to MediaWiki and I’ve been writing online ever since.
There have still been times when I’ve used the pen during this time. Even during my earlier wiki days, I would use the pen for certain things and then transcribe them. The pen is still a good mode of writing and is even superior in subtle ways.
The thing with pen and paper is that their combination isn’t forgiving like keyboard and screen. I cannot shuffle paragraphs around, I cannot jot down notes. It’s all in my head.
I’ve heard people say that contemporary technologies have stunted our mental abilities.. and I agree with this in some senses.
However, when stepping back into pen and paper I find that it’s remarkably easy for me to write in an intelligent and interesting way, without feeling that I really needed to shuffle sentences and paragraphs around.. without needing to write notes. In fact, the zuihitsu of mine on paper worked very well.
I learned to apply this in typing. Even though I can shuffle things around, I don’t really need to while I’m writing. I like sitting and writing and writing and writing.. and things work out in the end.
So I like to type. I like it a whole hell of a lot.
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