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On a roll

Do you ever have months where your hobbies suddenly seem fresh and exciting again?

Well, I’m having one of those months.

Was it the pen show? Maybe. I did buy two very different pens from brands that had been absent from my collection for a while, not to mention the haul of products for review and all the fun things I played with on the day.

Is it the non-stop parcels arriving at my door with review samples? Yeah, probably a bit. I’m incredibly lucky getting to play with pens off the beaten path, like the sterling-silver Montegrappa Gnomo pocket pen.

Is it the community? For sure. All the kind folks adding thoughtful comments to my blog posts and Instagram posts and sending me emails and DMs… I’m loving the discussions and questions.

But I’m also enjoying creating again. Taking photos, making swatches, jotting down my thoughts about products… and recording videos and writing blogs.

It’s been a while since I published 10 posts in a month, and I’m not feeling remotely burned out or bored. How can I when I’m reviewing such a diverse range of nibs, pens, inks, notebooks, cases, more pens, and having the pleasure of hosting guest posts from friends too?

And then today Cult Pens featured a short interview with me. Normally it’s me doing the interviewing, so it was a pleasure to be replying to the questions for a change.

Looking ahead? Well, I still have a pile of review samples to dissect, and a few newish pens in my personal tray that I plan to cover. And it’s Fountain Pen Day next week. Anything can happen…!

3 Comments

  1. Martin Stewart

    It’s good to see you so energised and happy in the hobby again.

  2. Nathan

    I’ll second the notion of a pen show renewing one’s engagement. I went to a show 6 weeks ago and got a few pens. A bit later I traded out some pens for new blood. Last week I went to the new Appelboom store in Boston and, well, more pens.

    The thing that’s been great is that in each case I was able either to find pens that I’d been after to check a certain box or pens that piqued my interest in some way. For example, the pen show yielded a Sheaffer Touchdown and a Parker 75, both of which had been my next targets within those brands.

    Also, the in person experience of the pen show and Appelboom provided really nice interactions with folks who are in the hobby/business. I figure that in our day to day lives most of us scarcely know or talk to other folks who are into pens the same way we are. After a while you can feel like your interest is just long one long internet scroll because that’s where all of the interaction seems to take place. It can’t compete against talking face to face with people about what we love, even for those of us that aren’t particularly social. As much as anything else, that refills the tank.

  3. tomalaerts

    That Gnomo is really sexy.
    A cool Montegrappa, that is pretty rare.

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