Some pens are perfect right out of the box. Others need some love and attention before they write in a way that brings joy. Still others just never bring joy to your writing, despite functioning well. My Monteverde Giant Sequoia was the latter two.

My partner’s parents moved last week. As a thank you, my father-in-law offered me my choice of pocket notebooks. I put careful thought into three disparate notebook sets: Field Notes Resolution, Story Supply 407, and Baron Fig’s quarterly planner.

One of my local pen shops ran an outdoors pen sale. The tables were spaced out to encourage proper physical distancing. A handful of people from my local pen group attended.

I offered to run a pen cleaning station during the event. Folks would drop their pens off with me to be cleaned while they shopped and chatted. How great would it be to pick up a new bottle of ink and have your pen cleaned and ready to be inked right away? We called it a “pen spa.”

Sharing is caring, so the saying goes. Sharing, in the world of fountain pens is also daring.

A common joke amongst my pen friends is that our blood pressure spikes when someone at work or the local café asks to “borrow a pen real quick.”