Like many things, National Novel Writing Month seems like a good idea when you start. After a week it suddenly doesn’t seem so good. Since I’ve chosen to write by hand, I’m beginning to question my sanity.

For this event I’ve decided to do a few things differently than I’ve done before. 1) I am starting a new work completely from scratch; 2) I am writing by hand using one, well, actually three of my fountain pens; and 3) I’m starting a new evening job.

For the pens, as I’ve mentioned before, I chose my workhorse TWSBI 580 as the main pen. I’m also using my Sunset from Levenger and my Titanium Nexus from Namisu. I chose the latter two because they are inked with Rohrer & Klingner Scabiosa and Salix. These are old school iron gall inks that dry quickly and are also waterproof and “I set my arm across it and now look like I have a tattoo” proof. Scabiosa is a purple ink (not a disease) I use to indicate asides and changes to things that have gone before and Salix is a blue ink (and not a sci fi character) that I use for random exposition and deep thoughts, which I am counting in my daily word count.

The three pens on Scabiosa and Salix samples, which don’t look good in bad lighting.

I also chose those pens because they write well on the DIM (Did it Myself) notepads I’m using mostly to use them up. It’s also interesting because they are three different nib types: steel, gold and titanium. (Note: in the picture the gold nib is rose gold plated steel, the silver nib is rhodium plated gold and gray nib is titanium.)

The main advantage of writing by hand is I can do it anywhere without having to dig things out and I don’t have to worry about batteries, cords or outlets.  My arm may give out eventually, in which case I’ll start typing again. Oh, and I also have to read my own handwriting some day. (Which may be the hardest part of all this.)

On day five I’m at 9,250 words, which is actually slightly ahead of the usual 1,667 words per day. I will continue working during breaks and when my students are writing (hypothetically of course).

Next week, though, is a full week of work and that’s when things usually fall apart.