So today was easier than yesterday, not because I wasn’t at work
(those who know my thoughts on work will understand why), but because my body
clock was a bit messed up and I was busy sorting out all the things I need to
do this year. The body clock is a simple
thing, most of the time, I work four on, three off, with two of those shifts
being twelve hours and non-stop calls, the first day after my on days tends to
be a crash day where I get little done because I’m too busy yawning.
The problem with this week is that I was working new years day, so
I got a yawn day on Wednesday and then a second yawn day today, with back to
work tomorrow and resumption of regular yawn days after that...
Interestingly enough though, a few things arrived in the post this
morning and I considered something else to write about...
Pens...
This may seem to be a normal thing to write about for someone who
does as many words as I do, but there’s a difference between typing and writing
with a pen, so much so that those who don’t do both might be hard pressed to
say anything to the contrary. I view
typing very much as something that I do when I’m working, be it at story
writing or keeping trucks on the road at work, the keyboard is something I use
because it’s the most efficient way of putting the words on the page, and of
things I thought I’d be using from the YTS all those years ago, touch typing
was not one of them, but here I am, RSA 2 with honours, typing faster than I
ever could then.
But writing...
Writing with a pen and real ink, that’s something I do because I
want to, there’s a discipline involved in writing with a pen, because you can’t
just delete what you’ve written, and like many who write, I like to keep the
page clear of errors, because anything else just shows you up as sloppy. There’s also a peace of sorts, because it’s
just you and the paper, there’s nothing else, this isn’t a group activity, you
can’t share it with others till you’re done, it’s not something that others can
help with, it’s just you.
So I’m going to start writing on the pens I use and the papers I
use, and why I use the different things that I do, and I’ll ask all of you out
there who have the same inkling (no pun intended) to share the things you write
with and the things you write on, because if, like me, you find peace in the
written word, I’m interested.
And so enclosed with this are some of the pens I’m going to be
taking a look at, forgive the size of some of the writing, but that’s the size
those pens do, and there’s a reason why there’s a range of them in there.
This is John Dodd in the Socialist republic of South Yorkshire and
Goodnight England, Wherever you are...
