Writersblok

On a whim this morning, I headed over to Norfolk Stationery to spend a little time lusting over their broad selection of fountain pens and inks. Almost immediately upon arriving, I noticed on a shelf behind the endcap full of Moleskines, a collection of notebooks unfamiliar to me.

"Whazzat?!?" I said to myself.

Writersblok notebooks they were and, as they seemed a viable alternative to Moleskine, I picked up a pack each of the smaller (pocket sized) and medium soft-cover sizes to try out. As to paper selection I chose the dots, which seems a novel concept for those who like blank pages but have the singular inability to keep the lines straight without some sort of guide sheet placed beneath the page. What's more, the dots are somewhat narrower than the lines found in ruled Moleskine journals which is a Godsend for my miniscule handwriting.

So today I've a new thing with which to experiment. I'll write a review of sorts later today or tomorrow after I've put the Writersblok notebooks through their paces.

Saturday Morning Update

It’s a quiet Saturday morning here in Norfolk. Autumn, my favorite time of the year, is in full swing. The dogwood outside my study, backlit by the rising sun, glows a brilliant red, with green pines beyond creating a delightful contrast. Change is in the air. The weather is forecast to be mild today with a chance of rain later on. While it would be an almost ideal day to get out on a day trip/photo expedition, pager duty with work will unhappily keep me close to home. While I need to go to the office today to work on a few things beginning to pile up on my desk, I’m thinking that I will forego that and enjoy the time here at home. Such free time is a treat of sorts as I’ve worked so many weekends this year.

So much time as passed since I last posted regular entries on here that I don’t quite know where, nor how, to resume the conversation. And I’m equally unsure how blogging fell by the wayside the way it did. I suspect a combination of factors was responsible. Shifting interests, lack of time, and just plain ol’ laziness. As is often the case, I tend to fall headlong into such endeavors until I’m forced to take a break due to sheer exhaustion. Photography captured my attention for a while, but has since been placed on the backburner until I‘m inspired again to pick up the camera. Probably the same this is true with my blogging habits. During my time away from here, I have noticed a sort of inverse relationship between blogging and journal keeping. While my posts here all but ceased, there was a marked upswing in the handwritten journal entries, the result of which was a number of Moleskine notebooks filled with much of the random prattle that used to appear on here.


Speaking of journaling, I thought I'd post an image of such for everyone's viewing pleasure. This is a shot of my "thematic journal" (which has since been converted to more of a daily journal format) taken earlier this year. The notebook is a Moleskine and the fountain pen a Lamy Safari. Fountain pens were an experiment this year (had never really used one before) and I've become quite enamored with them, though their use has necessitated a modification in my writing style, meaning I've had to write larger than usual. I still use my favorite micro-fine point gel pens from time to time depending on my mood. My biggest gripe about the fountain pen and Moleskine combination is that some inks tend to bleed through the thin paper of the Moleskine journal. While this is frustrating to a point, I do enjoy the experimentation it entails. And the unworkable inks...well...they make good Christmas gifts. :P