Category Archives: Writing

MUJI Blank Tankoubon Notebook–Long Term Review

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One of the effects of acquiring easy to acquire things like notebooks and cheap pens is that you often don’t remember where you got them, when you got them, or what you intended to use them for when you got them. In my case, I suspect that the allure of smooth paper tricks my brain into imagining uses for the notebook. That, at least, is my explanation for how I acquired the MUJI Blank Tankoubon Notebook. (Note: “tankoubon” means that it’s a standalone book and not part of a series: more on that later.)

It’s a thick notebook with 184 pages of smooth, creamy paper perfect bound between thin, waxy paper covers. It’s designed to be dragged around and filled with sketches and notes and random bits of wisdom. it has a build in ribbon marker and, I suspect, the covers might take stickers and other random sticky things well, although mine only ended up stained with specks of Noodler’s Midway Blue ink. (Long story not worth going into.)

The MUJI Tankoubon. You can see the Midway Blue specks in the distance.

The MUJI Tankoubon. You can see the Midway Blue specks in the distance.

As I’ve mentioned before, I decided to start using it as a daily log/diary, mostly as an excuse to use different pens and inks.

The paper feels terrific, and for the most part is. It is not, however, fountain pen friendly at all. Even find nibs bleed through and I found I had to back each page with a piece of Rhodia notebook paper to keep from staining other pages. The bleed through never stopped me from using each page, but I can see how it would annoy others.

That's a lot of bleed through. It won't stop me from using the page, but it might stop others.

That’s a lot of bleed through. It won’t stop me from using the page, but it might stop others.

The main hassle with it, as with all thick notebooks that don’t lay flat properly, is except for the middle of the book, you always have a large flap of pages trying to crash onto your hand as you write. This gets annoying rather quickly.

After almost a year, the notebook has begun to show its age, and it suffers from my attempts to make it lay flat. The spine has cracked in two places and pages are starting to fall out near the break.

The cracked spine. I'm pretty sure this isn't my fault.

The cracked spine. I’m pretty sure this isn’t my fault.

The pages beginning to fall out.

The pages beginning to fall out as the notebook break in pieces.

Also, the back dozen or so pages are beginning to fall out. I’ll eventually just tear them out and use them as a thinner notebook for testing pens.

The pages will soon become a small testing notebook.

The pages will soon become a small testing notebook.

I like the notebook, and if I stuck with pencils and ballpoint pens it would be perfect, especially if I hurried through it.   However, it’s not the style of notebook I prefer these days. There are smaller versions of these–which is odd since it’s supposed to be a “standalone” notebook–with similar covers, paper and place markers that I’ve used and like better. I’ll buy those again, but I won’t get this style again.

The MUJI Blank Tankoubon Notebook is coming to the end of its days. It’s replacement has already been chosen. (Also, next year its replacement’s pages may get scanned and stored in something like Evernote.)

20,000 Words Short of the Win

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If I hurry, I can finish my current novel and win NaNoWriMo by midnight Japan time. All I have to do is write about 171 words per minute for the next two hours.

Although I maintained a reasonably consistent writing habit, which is the entire point of NaNoWriMo, I wasn’t able to sit down and grind out the pages needed to “win”. Starting the evening classes twice a week also stole away a lot of time and although i had a lot train time my routine amounted to 1) if you get a seat, nap on the way to Tokyo; 2) get a seat at a coffee shop with free Wi-Fi and write your blog entry; 3) after the classes, if you get a seat, read all the way home because the seats are too cramped to write comfortably and you don’t want to risk looking up into the eyes of the little old lady standing in front of your seat.

(Note: Yes, for the record, my mother raised me better than that.  However, the rules are if you don’t see the little old lady, you don’t have to give up your seat too her. Something like that. Either way, gentlemanliness and gentlemanly virtue vanish on the last train and that little old lady would have killed someone for that seat and probably tried.)

The other hassle was exam preparation time which filled up slots that could have been used–totally unofficially of course because “salary” and “good worker” and “contract”–as writing time. Today for example, I had an extra hour of down time (long story) and ended up doing actual school related work at the school where I work. (I am as surprised as you are.)

If I do this again next year, and I almost certainly will, I will aim to trade off some of my free days in October with my busy days in November. I’d intended to do that this year, but it didn’t work out.

The results of all this were 29,524 (ish) words; a lot of world building and rebuilding; several pages of character description and character design; the basics of a plot and a couple usable scenes; the chance to use three pens in “real world” conditions (more on that in another post); a novel worth pursuing.

As always, it’s been an interesting month of writing. It was easy at first, then not, and then life and work took over to make it even more difficult. I’ll keep working on the book but will also make time to finish the editing and typing projects that have been put on hold this month.

(Also, next year, if I’m still doing this blog, I might count those words as part of my daily word count…)

 

Midori Traveler’s Notebook Journal Passport Size–Long Term Review

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I am now torn between being cool and not being cool or doing surgery to be cool.

Several months ago I finally broke down and bought a Midori Traveler’s Notebook Journal which all the really cool kids have. However, me being me, I bought the more pocketable Passport Size as the large size takes only one kind of notebook and requires a bag if you want to carry it around.

I liked it and liked that it took passport sized notebooks from Muji. It would also fit, just barely, an Eighty Pages notebook.  I started using it to carry my three basic notebooks (food journal; life and work notes; writing notes).

I like that it has thin but tough leather and I don’t mind the small bookmark, mostly because it can be cut off with no problem. With a little effort and a couple rubber bands it could be stuffed with extra notebooks.

The passport sized Traveler's cover from the top with the Eighty Pages Volume three.

The passport sized Traveler’s cover from the top with the Eighty Pages Volume three.

I wish that it was a little larger and could hold Field Notes sized notebooks–they can be forced in, but they stick out the ends–but I could forgive it because, unlike the larger version, it doesn’t require you use proprietary notebooks (or perform surgery on a notebook; more on that in a future post).

The leather ages well and gets softer without getting floppy. With one exception, the elastic bands held up well. The only strap I had to tighten was the strap that holds the cover closed. It’s attached at the back and was used enough that it started to get lose.

What I didn’t like almost as soon as I got it was the metal bit at the back used to bind the elastic cord and the book mark. What I didn’t realize was how annoying it would become.

First, it doesn’t even lay flat against the spine. It sticks out and is large enough to cover a mechanical pencil. It’s large enough it could be used as a weight for a fishing line. I can’t figure out who at the manufacturer thought this was a good idea. It taps when you set it on a desk. It scratches the desk. It prevents the notebooks from sitting flat. I tried moving it inside the spine, but it crushes the ends of the notebooks and works its way back outside. It’s such a bad idea only people in love with the idea of the notebook cover itself can possibly forgive its existence.

Cult Member: Dude, you’re too attached to material things. By scratching your desk you make it yours.
Me: Piss off and stop scratching the desk.
Cult Member: It’s a feature not a bug, Dude.

Why does this fishing weight metal bit exist?

The metal bit in its natural position next to a Kurutoga mechanical pencil. Why does this fishing weight metal bit exist?

Something like that.

I’ve heard that, over time, the elastic bands loosen and the only way to tighten them is to remove the fishing weight, do some pulling and cutting, and then put a new fishing weight on. (Midori is more than happy to sell you a new one.) At this point I’ve heard that many people opt to knot the elastic bands rather than wrestle with the useless metal bit.

If they ever come out with a version that doesn’t have the metal bit I might reconsider using them. Until then, I have something else to try.

 

 

 

Quad Field Notes Leather Notebook Cover–First Impressions

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As I abandoned large notebooks and planners I found myself running about with various materials: smaller notebooks, bigger notebooks, note cards and random scraps of paper with random notes on both sides.

Along the way I discovered many excellent small notebooks, such as Field Notes notebooks, the passport sized Midori Traveler’s notebooks and other random notebooks. I suddenly found myself using three different notebooks at the same time (food journal; life and work notes; writing notes) and started looking for a cover to carry them all. I looked at the Midori Traveler’s notebook, but it was long and reminded me too much of my old Filofax planner. It also wasn’t pocket friendly.

Instead I started carrying the smaller Midori Traveler’s Passport sized cover with three small notebooks in it. The problem with it is, and I’ll give it a more through review another day, most of the notebooks I like to use are too large for it. At one point I tried a Field Notes Two Rivers and had bits sticking out both ends.

Somehow, and I don’t remember how, I discovered a company in Andover, Kansas named Old Church Works. They produce several pen and notebook related items, including a number of leather covers designed to hold notebooks the same size as Field Notes notebooks. I ordered one and, after a bit of delay, have finally decided to start using it.

The Quad Field Notes Leather Notebook Cover (hereafter referred to as the Quad) is bulkier than the Midori Passport, but that’s most likely because it’s new. Once I’ve had a chance to carry it around, I think it will start to soften and break in. It’s also half and inch longer than the Midori and I’m wondering how it will feel in a back pocket.

The OCW Four next to the Midori Passport sized. Both are holding three notebooks.

The Quad next to the Midori. Both are holding three notebooks. (The extra strap holding the third notebook is top left.)

The Quad is made from 6-7 ounce leather that’s been vegetable tanned and treated with bee’s wax along the edges. To hold the notebooks it has a long elastic cord laced through the leather to form loops. The laces are long enough to form built in bookmarks that end in brass aglets.

The Quad also comes with an extra elastic strap that allows the user to attach one or more extra notebooks.

The strap about ready to hold the Two Rivers (left) and the Story Supply together.

The strap about ready to hold the Two Rivers (left) and the Story Supply together.

This is a nice touch as Midori is more than happy to sell you a glorified rubber band to help keep your extra notebooks together. (Note: a large rubber band also works really well.)

The Quad also solves the number one reason I’ve been annoyed with the Midori: the metal bit. Midori fastens the straps and the book mark together with something resembling a fishing weight. It sticks out and has a tendency to tap and scratch tables and desks. (More on that in the future post.) The Quad simply uses lacing and knots to hold the straps together.

The annoying metal bit on the top notebook cover.

The fishing weight on the top notebook cover. You can also see the length differences in the two covers.

Right now, the only early annoyance with the Quad is that the book marks are the ends of the straps meaning there’s no way to get rid of them without performing surgery on the straps. They look good and the brass aglets are nice looking and less tappy and scratchy than the fishing weight on the Midori, but I don’t really need bookmarks and they hang out farther than they need to for pocket carry. I wish they were tied in as a separate piece so that I could remove or add them at my pleasure.

But we’ll see what what I think in six months or so. Until then, check out Old Church Works website . The history of the name is an interesting story.

 

Halfway There But Not Halfway Home

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I may not get there. I’ve already juked the stats but it doesn’t look as if that will help.

Yesterday was day 15 of the 2015 National Novel Writing Month and I should be at 25,000 words. Instead, on day 16 I’m at 19,190 words. If I’d stuck with my plan of writing on the days off during October and swapping them out with days in November, I’d be in better shape.

Instead I spent a lot of time doing research and doing some basic world building.  That was useful, but didn’t produce many pages of text. (More on that later.)

After a good start, I hit last week. I was busy and I didn’t get much chance to sit down and write. Over the weekend I got a lot done and then sat down and recounted words. I’m putting down about 195 words per page on average and decided to bump my official word count per page. That helped a little, but not that much.

(Note: With those accounting skills I am available to help governments of all kinds with revenue and harvest predictions and five year plans.)

The coming weeks will be just as busy as last week.

I’ve finally got a plot and an ending and am forcing myself to slow down and overwrite. One of the problems with writing by hand is you feel as if you’ve written more than you have and you’re convinced the pages you’ve just written are wordy and boring. Then, when you enter them into a word processor, you realize they are only one page of typed text and that you’re actually rushing.

I’ll keep working on the book. I have a couple weekends yet to go, including one three day weekend, and I could manage my time after school and before my evening class better. I could also, hypothetically, work on bits of it during class. Hypothetically, of course.

The last ditch plan will involve incorporating the research I’ve done. It’s not very much, though, and I’ll have to get a lot closer to 50,000 for those notes to help. I’ve already dropped a couple days of writing anyway, so I won’t feel too bad about adding them to the total.

I will also need to find a place to hide and write when I’m at work.

One Page Two Page Wall Crash No Page

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On day eight of the National Novel Writing Month I hit the wall in a bad and merciless way.

The wall, as near as I can tell, is the moment where your old habits show up at your house like Glenn Close in Fatal Attraction and announce they are “not going to be ignored“. There’s that game you haven’t played in a while and there are those articles you were going to read and there’s that book you haven’t been reading.

Unfortunately, at this point in the cycle, the initial feeling of inspiration and invulnerability is no longer enough to provide the willpower to carry you through the daily task (which can also include marking student exams). But, you still feel guilty about not doing it and can’t concentrate on doing anything else for very long.

I played the game a bit and then went back to writing. When I tired that I found myself writing a few lines and then drifting off in “deep thoughts” and then falling asleep (a temporary return to bad sleep patterns might be part of that).

It got so bad I even tried exercising.

Now, it’s also possible that this is a reaction to what I’m writing. Kimberly, my internal editor, is trying to get attention by telling me that the scene I’m working on is crap and not letting me enter the zone of “no mind” necessary to finish something like NaNoWriMo. The secret of NaNoWriMo is to always think “yes, I know it’s crap, but I’ll worry about that in post”.

I tried skipping the scene and starting a different one. That worked for a page or two, until the deep thoughts came back and I started falling asleep again.

I managed to finish 7 pages or about 1,295 words, which puts me at an average of 1,665 words a day, which is slightly behind the usual NaNoWriMo goal of 1,667.

Tomorrow’s another day, but the wall is real.

 

Too Many Good Ideas Make a Bad Routine

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I have too many good ideas vying for time before I go to bad. That’s especially true this month.

My usual after-supper routine involves finishing my daily log and readying the book for the next day; entering my food journal in the forum at Vic Magary’s site; wracking my brain to think of a blog topic; rejecting several topics; choosing a topic; starting to write the topic; rejecting the topic; playing a game to “free up my mind a bit”; deciding on a new blog topic; writing the blog topic.

Depending on the timing of supper and the time it takes me to finish that routine, I will also wash dishes if She Who Must Be Obeyed hasn’t snuck in and done them already.

What complicates this month is my goal to complete 50,000 words of a novel in National Novel Writing Month. I spent a good portion of today catching up, but I also spent part of my after supper routine finishing the last of the quota. That pushes everything else back, including sleep.

Now, I could plan ahead and do the blog post early but, well, yeah. Probably no. I could also write with more focus but, well, yeah, there are games to be played, too. (Oh, and kids to speak to and feed.)

I did manage to finish the first book of my NaNoWriMo novel and move on to the second, which puts me, by my official formula, at 12,025 words in seven days. That seems impressive, but it means I’m actually 925 words (or five handwritten pages) behind my personal quota.

Out with the old, in with the next.

Out with the old, in with the next.

Tomorrow my goal is to catch up to my personal quota by hammering out 15 handwritten pages. If I were smart, I’d keep going since next week will be a busy week at work but, well, yeah.

I am pleased to say that after 12,025 words the book is finally starting to find a plot. I’ll probably abandon it or forget it, but at least I have it for now. Also, as tends to happen with seat-of-the-pants writing, certain characters are starting to take over the book and that generates new ideas.

Eventually I’ll have to decide to follow the characters or kill them off. But first I have a routine to follow, for better and for worse.

 

International Bring the Pain Month: Fountain Pen Version

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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 an dSalix samples, which look bad in bad lighting.

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.

Getting Ready to Go Again

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I’ve posted 623 days in a row on this blog and I’m hoping that doesn’t change tomorrow, but it might. Or, I might go insane and that will make these posts more interesting. (That latter bit won’t happen for a while though so please be patient.)

After some persuading, I’ve agreed to take part time classes two nights a week. When I had these classes before, I had them four nights a week and started to go slightly mad. When I wouldn’t agree to four nights and they wouldn’t agree to two nights and/or a raise, we all said no thanks and see you later.

I did, of course, see them later, and got two classes a week after my replacement cracked and his replacement realized he would eventually crack, too, and agreed to split the classes with me.

Complicating matters this time is that the classes start later and finish later meaning I won’t be getting home until around 11:30 p.m. at night. This means I’ll be doing a rapid decompression and going straight to bed so that I can get up at 5:00 a.m. ish, or so.

Now, if I were industrious, I would write several posts of product reviews and random thoughts in advance, but, well, yeah. I would if I were.

This mean the posts will likely become shorter on Tuesdays and Thursdays and may be posted at odd times. I suspect they will become more travel oriented (here’s a lovely picture of some random part of Tokyo and some text to go with it!). There also may be some visits to some interesting pen shops if I have the energy and they let me take pictures.

I spent part of the evening updating and charging my netbook and getting it ready. I hope to write the posts before the class starts, but that will require some planning and, well, yeah. I’m also doing the NaNoWriMo thing and don’t want to fall behind on that.

Hypothetically I could do a lot of writing during class, but, well, yeah. That’s only hypothetical because I totally wouldn’t do that. Probably. (More on that in a future post.)

 

 

 

Remembrance of Futures Past

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With the Royals as World Series champions and the Kansas State Wildcats football team playing like crap, it’s officially the ’80’s again and I’m looking for head bands and skinny ties and pushing up the sleeves of my sport coat.

I also decided to go even more retro and go back and watch two made for television science fiction dramas from 1980 that have stuck with me and influenced my writing for better and for worse. One is still pretty good, the other, well, has its moments.

The first was the PBS production of Ursula K. Le Guin’s The Lathe of Heaven. I mostly remember the grey people, the aliens that looked like turtles and the cone of blue light. I also remember not being able to hear and/or understand what the alien in the cone of blue light was saying. It sounded like “Jor Jor breathymumblyhightechybreathybreathymumblytechyhightechy lathe of heaven”.

I didn’t understand what was said, even though it seemed kind of important, but the drama wasn’t shown much in the 80’s. Then, for various reasons, PBS stopped showing it in 1988 and since then it has remained one of their most requested dramas.

When I watched it again I was underwhelmed by most of the acting. The lead actors, Bruce Davison and Kevin Conway are good but Margaret Avery has been a lot better. I was also surprised at how much I didn’t remember. I remember the aliens being more prominent than they were. I didn’t remember a volcano being involved.

The biggest thing I remembered/didn’t remember involved a novel I wrote. In it, two of the characters are instructed to “Ask about Antwerp” and at one point the protagonist merely says “Antwerp” in place of asking about it. That turns out to have been “acquired” from the Lathe of Heaven.

The other drama was the mini-series adaptation of Ray Bradbury’s The Martian Chronicles. This one has not held up well. The special effects are terrible and the science is dodgy as it has people walking around breathing Mars’ thin atmosphere. Also, based on the old Martian Canal theory, there’s apparently drinkable water all over Mars. Mars, of course, looks absolutely nothing like Malta. (At least that’s what the government wants you think it’s like…) With the exception of Bernie Casey, who steals the show as an astronaut who goes native very quickly, the acting is atrocious. Rock Hudson phones it in and Darren McGavin is the character Darren McGavin always plays.

Although I read the book a million years ago, I’d forgotten about some of the Martian empathy tricks and the three blue lights. I also forgot Bernadette Peters. I do remember writing a piece of fan fiction, maybe for class, maybe for no reason whatsoever, based on the scene where the guy stumbles across the two android women and decides to live with them. (Me being in my horror phase, it ends badly and rather grossly after a malfunction and a kiss.) I therefore take credit for inventing fan fic. (Please email me for the place to send royalty checks.)

The biggest annoyance I had with the Martian Chronicles is the sentiment that the fault is not in ourselves but in our stuff and if we just get rid of our stuff we’ll all be excellent to each other and somehow not the humans who invented the stuff in the first place (a conclusion also reached, rather annoyingly, by the most recent incarnation of Battlestar Galactica).

The other interesting part is that both dramas are now set in the past. The Lathe of Heaven is set in 2002 and in The Martian Chronicles humans land on Mars in 1999, only to be killed by a jealous Martian husband.