Preparing for NaNoWriMo

Looking around on the NaNo site has inspired me for this year's marathon. I'll need to tidy up my study, which looks at least a little bit like a bomb hit it, and get my tools arranged. I tend to grab a Moleskine cahier for my noveling notes, though I never use the entire thing.

I'll need to select one or two special writing utensils, hopefully from the massive collection I already own, to be my faithful companions, along with my laptop computer, this year. There are always a couple of standouts amongst my pens and pencils, a few with just that extra sprinkle of awesomeness. I'm particularly fond of Sakura Gelly Roll pens, though the glittery ones have heavy ink I dislike. They're cheap, though on certain ones I've bought ink flow can be a problem. My old standby, the green and blue fountain pen, is usually near to hand, and I've enlisted any number of gel pens over the years.

Three years of noveling
madness!

I've got my handy thumb drive, which, though cluttered, has enough room for another NaNo masterpiece. Which reminds me: don't forget to save early and save often! I usually get into the habit very quickly of hitting the save function of whatever program I'm using during NaNo, such that I find myself typing Ctrl-S or its equivalent even when I'm not noveling. It's a good habit to have. Backups are also crucial. I tend to save my work to at least two, frequently three places, because you just never know. I also print out my daily work, in draft quality and often on scrap printer paper, so as to have a certain backup, as well as a physical reminder of the volume of my work. There's nothing like seeing a pile of paper slowly grow over the days, first clipped together with a paper clip, but rapidly outgrowing it and requiring a binder clip to keep it contained. And of course I complete each NaNo by picking up the packet and dropping it on a hard surface from a height of half a foot or so, just to hear the satisfying 'thunk' it makes. It's the thunk of accomplishment, and you can hear it too! Join me this year and take the journey down the crazy, inspired, painful, and joyous road!

Poems and Piccadilly

So National Poetry Month is over. I didn't complete the Poem-A-Day Challenge, but I did write some poetry and I had some fun doing it. I made a plan for a chant-style poem that mocks both major political parties in the US and tentatively subtitled it "The Death Threat Poem", because it's an equal-opportunity offender (I don't get involved in politics: I shun them). I wrote a cinquain about a lawn tool (prompt #8). I wrote a hopeless poem (prompt #27). And I wrote a handful of other poems that didn't fit the prompts.

I did these in my Piccadilly lined notebook, which I grabbed at Borders for about $5. That I bought a Piccadilly and not a Moleskine is not entirely noteworthy; I've been meaning to try Piccadilly books for a while now. That I bought a lined notebook is noteworthy. I've long been a staunch "unlined only" journaller. But the lines are perfect for poetry and other list-like things. I did my Time Finder in that journal, and made lists of things I had to get done in it as well. My one complaint is the poor quality of the cover. I bought a softcover journal, and it's made of basically cardboard with a faux oilskin sheet pasted to it. It started to split when I tried to tuck my steel pen's clip into it. I can bend the cover back and fold it under, but after doing this a couple dozen times, the black fabric pulls away from the spine, revealing the glued-in bookmark. The bookmark stays put, thankfully, but with the fabric bulged out like that it's not the most attractive book. The bulging makes it a bit harder to handle, too.

All in all, though, the Piccadilly journal is a good buy. The quality in certain places is far outshined by Moleskine, but you can get about three Piccadillys for the price of one Moleskine. I'm less touchy about this notebook getting jammed into my bag and maybe slightly abused (by accident, I assure you) because it is less expensive.

My regular journal, which I've been neglecting for a while, mostly because I do my brain-dumps into my Morning Pages notebook these days, is a plain softcover Moleskine, and is nearly finished. When I reach the end of that book, I have a plain Miquelrius to start. I'm already using a gridded Miquelrius for my role-playing notes, and I like the quality and feel of it. They're a little more expensive than Piccadilly, but they have more pages. A mid-range option, I would say.

Piccadilly and Moleskine are available at most major booksellers such as Borders and Barnes and Noble. So far the only place I can clearly recall seeing Miquelrius is at Dick Blick. Got a journalling preference? Are you picky about your journals or do you grab just any old book and get to work?

Two Worlds: Longhand v Digital

This weekend my gaming group created characters for the Dresden RPG, a game based on the Harry Dresden novels by Jim Butcher. I spent a little time Sunday scratching out a more in-depth history for my character, written first-person in the style of the Dresden novels.

I decided to write it longhand in one of my black notebooks. There's something different about the act of creation when writing with a pen or pencil as opposed to typing on a keyboard. When I first started writing, I only felt comfortable writing longhand in a notebook. I wrote ten chapters of a novel in a college notebook, largely in closed study hall in high school. I've yet to find those sheaves of paper, written in ball-point pen, full of scratch-outs and notes in the margins. It didn't occur to me to do my writing on DeskMate or any other word processing software for a while. Once I did, I produced a couple pages of a story where my characters went their own way against my wishes. I abandoned that story, and it set a bad precedent for writing on the computer.

Nowadays I do most of my writing on the computer. The speed is far greater, and I can move text around with a lot more ease than I can on paper. Still, there's something to be said for the old-fashioned method: the choice of most comfortable or 'lucky' pen, the ability to write notes in the margin (you can do this with most word processor software these days, but it's not the same), or do sketches of logos or characters or whatever on the page. I'm big on the tactile senses when it comes to writing.

I think I produce different kinds of writing when I choose to utilise the handwritten method rather than the digital. Both have their merits. I tried writing my National Novel Writing Month novel longhand a few years ago. I got about three days in before I realised that there just wasn't enough time, and I was threatening myself with serious writer's cramp. So for novelling marathons, stick with the digital, I say. But give the old-fashioned a chance too: it can be as simple as picking up a cheap spiral-bound notebook and a pen (I recommend gel pens - ballpoints wear me out too quickly - and find a comfy place to write. You can write just about anywhere with pen and paper, and your notebook doesn't need a power brick or a battery to ensure its continued functioning. You might find your writing style changing. You might find you're reminded of school essays and hate it. However you find it, give it a try this week. And share your experiences here if you do. I'd love to know how it goes.

Recycle, reuse, refill

It's recently come to my attention that Zebra makes a refillable gel pen. Several of them, in fact. The Sarasa pen, which sells for a buck or so a pen and looks very much like any other disposable gel pen on the market, is said to be refillable with Zebra's JF-Refill. Zebra also makes the G-301 model, a sleeker, steel-bodied pen. Zebra's JK-Refill is said to fit it. I say 'is said' because I've yet to try refilling either pen.

Some online retailers are claiming the Sarasa is non-refillable. Well, it is if you're not willing to pay shipping that's more than the cost of your refill order.

If there were a greater consumer demand for these items, I think they would become more available. But first some poor slobs, some poor pen freaks, people like me, have to spend $4, $5, $6 on shipping for a bunch of refills, when it would be far more economical, money-wise, to just toss the empty barrels and buy a new pack of pens.

Come on, people/manufacturers/retailers! Give us the option, the affordable option, to refill our cheap little pens instead of piling them up in landfills!