Pens — what do they say about you?   More generally, what do your writing instruments tell others about your style, methods, and abilities?  A person once said to me that smart people only write in pen because they aren’t afraid of making mistakes.   Whether or not this is true, everyone seems to have their own favorite pen or pencil, yet they may not be able to say exactly why they are fond of them.

I’m an extremely picky bastard when it comes to writing with something other than a keyboard, and I generally hate it as my handwriting is a drunken chicken stumbling about and while I can write nicely, I usually cannot be bothered to actually take the time and hand wringing to do so.   I doubt not that I would get better with practice, but…c’mon.   I’m a computer geek.   Do you really see me picking up the quill and papyrus on a regular basis?

I remember throughout my life I’ve gone through, “pen phases”, jumping from one brand to another in a never-ending love affair with a particular type.   I’ve done the rollerball phase, the internal fountain pen fiasco, the ultra-super-mega-fine pens, mediums, black, felt, fiber, blue.    Usually this would be caused by me finding a pen I really liked and then getting only that one until I can’t find it anymore.  I would pine, fret, and weep for awhile, longing for the pen that was no longer, then like a lamb to the slaughter I’d find a new love and off we’d trot down the long lane of college-ruled notebooks once again.

Currently I’m using a Uniball Signo 0.7mm medium black gel ballpoint that I came to love at my previous employment and brought several with me to my new, where they do NOT supply the same pen.    So, I just found them online and ordered 20 so I had plenty to feed my habit for awhile.    It probably fosters more scribbling but is perfect for what I use handwriting for — notetaking, jotting down lists and variable names, making up to-dos for myself, and marking up copy.

I have always chewed on my pens which, to the untrained eye, seems to be be a bad oral fixation habit that borders on abhorrent.    However, to a like participant, the rattiness of a pen indicates the hours of musings, contemplations, and grinding of issues in one’s brain.    In short, it’s a percussive history of thought.    Plus, it almost always ensure that our pens don’t grow legs and go off wandering.

Pencils are a  different beast for me, as when I use them I often spend the majority of the time wondering why I’m not using a pen.   For writing, they drag so much against the paper that I feel sluggish, slowed-down, inhibited, and I can’t write with the flowing style I prefer.   That’s not to say that I don’t like pencils — I do, but for drawing and drafting, especially the harder leads that really make fine lines.   There’s nothing like the swish of a pencil across a blueprint, let me tell you.

But I do so little writing these days, preferring instead to whack the keys, where I can be both faster and more accurate.   Handwriting explicitly well has become something of a lost art due to those of the modern age, for certain.

What sort of tools best fit your writing needs and styles?    What do they say about you?