Swordwriting IV-Writing instruments

This will be a personal testimony of a casual writer about his writing tools… I like more the term writer than the term author, when this comes down to myself…

Keyboard: writing faster than thinking
I use three writing instruments, and I love all three of them, but for different reasons. The main writing instrument for me is the keyboard, and from what I unfortunately see, it is needed to mention blind-typing, since many people do not.
My main work is going through the keyboard, with the exception of my book “Aikido-The Book In Between” which was entirely written “by hand”. Just yesterday I was forced to throw away my Microsoft Natural Ergonomic keyboard, which I find the only logical choice to write on (this last statement with Spock’s accent). This reminds me, that I have to reach into my pocket in order to buy me a new one, while I type in misery in the meantime…
There is no comparison of speed and accuracy, when you let all ten fingers do the writing for you, while having your PC do all the corrections. Not to mention the choice of fonts, colors, layout, you name it. But above all the speed of writing is next to the speed of thinking the words and, if you play by the rules of correctness, you have the less physical stress there can be, either on your hands or your mind. One may suspect that there is a big fat BUT coming around the corner, so let’s see what happens next…

Fountain pen: The art of writing
BUT (see, I told you so!) despite of all the given advantages of even the best of keyboards, there is something missing. And in order to fill that gap we have to take a step back… Well, maybe two steps back… And now that I think about it, can you back off a bit more please?! Like in, all the possible way back! Because Ladies and Gents there is nothing on this world like writing with a genuine fountain pen... To write with a fountain pen is like painting your words on a paper. Writing with a fountain pen goes beyond verbal explanations. It is an experience that qualifies as mandatory in life. Period!
I am usually politically correct and do not “advertise” any specific brand and company, but I will not mince words here or waste time and will go straight to my personal preference of fountain pens… The Meisterstück (which means Master Piece) by Mont Blanc is beyond doubt my choice. If you don’t need a… diamond on it, you will not have to sell your house in order to have one. You can buy the… simple one, just stay hungry for a week or two… it’s worth it. This fountain pen is made in the same fashion since 1917 (if I have this correctly) with the same materials and it is superb when you write with… Superb!!!

Rollerball: …rock n’ roll!  
The keyboard stays on my desk. And I don’t like to write on a laptop while on the way to somewhere, I just need the comfort of my own desk and my own office in order to do that…

On the other hand my fountain pen rarely leaves the house.
Using it means for me finding a nice corner in the house (balcony, sofa, floor, feet up on a table) and write. Now that I think about it, I don’t sit at a desk when writing with my fountain pen! I usually take a hard board, pile up on it blank sheets of paper, and place the entire thing on my lap… All I need beyond that is a basket at a convenient distance in order to shoot pages away…

BUT… what happens when I leave the house, or when I’m on the road or trip?! I miss my fountain pen badly and countless attempts to have it travel with me have ended up in an ink spill disaster. So, in my preference, I find that the only instrument that comes close to a fountain pen, and is up to the task of… surviving outdoors, is the rollerball.
It is fantastic to write with, for a number of reasons. And when it first became popular in the early ‘80s I must have been one of the first people (so to speak) to adopt it, love it and never let it go…

The rollerball writes like a fountain pen, without the problems that a fountain pen creates, when moving about in a modern environment. A good fountain pen also needs good quality of writing surface, in order to perform, something that you will not find while on the way and have to write, sign, note etc.
My texts appear in my head… without warning, so I have to take little notes for them at various places that I find myself. Then I must write on anything I find in front of me quickly… before losing the text forever! Those places can be, and have been, at taverns on napkins, in a super market on a piece of carton, in the car on a receipt, at the dentist’s saloon while ripping a piece from his magazines (sorry!) on the street while picking up a flyer for… pizza and yes, I must confess, I even have used once toiled paper, I was that desperate. This last one takes the quote “when you gotta go you gotta go” into a whole new level, don’t you think?!
In comparison with the conventional writing pens there will be no need to press your rollerball down on the writing surface in order for it to write, since “the ball rolls the ink” without any effort needed, effort like pushing or twisting of any kind. This last part, of effortless writing, is very important for those who insist in writing with a fountain pen. Because, when used correctly, the fountain pen leaves you an ability of “soft touch”, where neither you hold on too tight to your writing instrument, nor you apply pressure on your writing surface.

Please note that one must choose the correct size of cartridge that will allow the ink to flow according to preference. I will not refer to a specific company here, like I did with the fountain pen, since there are many good solid solutions on the market. If I can offer a small piece of advice here, remember that it is a good idea to test the ink (cartridge) on your own piece of paper that you will take along with you for different brands to test on. When you find what you need, only then choose the “outfit” of your rollerball.

Pen and Sword once more…
The keyboard, fountain pen and rollerball of mine, never fall into each other’s way. Each has its purpose, fulfilling the same task and at the same time stays out of each other’s way. Therefore I don’t make the mistake of choosing one above the other, but I choose one of them according to circumstance.

In a similar fashion this goes for weaponry as well… Whether we speak about weaponry of practice, weaponry as weaponry, or whatever… One weapon should go next to the other, without getting in each other’s way. And no matter how much you come to favor one above the other, none should become “the one and only choice”.
In the task of writing and the task of fighting, no instrument shall go above the task itself…

November 15, 2011