Skip to main content

2015 Collection: Sporadic Notes from The Toy Factory #3 Penning Perspective

    

Penning Perspective

    "Being employed full-time for the last 27 years; the first five in the toy factory as seasonal/part-time, I'd forgotten idle-time's effect on my psyche over a prolonged winter lay-off, and as a result, how writing became so integral to my everyday; a lifesaver.

    During those long isolated days over winter, alone as I was, I was drinking, mostly beer, with a few meals interspersed during the day. Homemade stews and soups, steaks, hamburger, pork chops, fried potatoes, bacon, eggs, and a good amount of bread found its way into my body -- and out of it -- when I started writing if only to keep myself sane. 

    I had no ambition to do anything with it. No objective to sell my work to magazines or publishers. Being before the time of personal computers and cellphones, and not owning a TV, writing was simply a cheap activity that I could do on a 24/7 basis. All I needed was a pen or pencil, preferably narrow-ruled 5-subject binder notebooks when I could find them, or good quality unlined paper if I could not.

    I had favorite pens too, Bics mostly, until the 'roller ball' Parker pens came out. After those, I began using (and still use) the Pentel V5 fine point; that I observed with interest over the years, were the favorite choice of hand-writers.

    But pens don't fare well in subzero temperatures. On the other hand, mechanical pencils aren't bothered by 30-below, which makes them pretty utilitarian, if not so one's fingertips."

https://palmvilletownshipmn.blogspot.com/2018/11/pen-point-2018.html 

(Knew I had used this image some place before!)



Comments

I like the Uniball Vision Elite - smooth with a wide trail of ink.
WannaskaWriter said…
I bought four of the Uniball Visions recently. It's difficult to find the Pentels locally, and even on-line, 'Fine' is difficult to get. I used to prefer extra fine, but it doesn't matter anymore. But one thing I maintain, I don't let just anybody borrow 'my pen.' "You're not going to scrawl on cardboard with a pen I write with!" used to be my mantra. Yes, they thought me weird at the toy factory.

Popular posts from this blog

August 6th, 2020 Tired of Writing

                    Comment on Parental Rights 1869-1940     I finished the second installment of my grandfathers biography I wrote in the Wannaskan Almanac for today, late yesterday evening. http://wannaskanalmanac.blogspot.com/2020/08/thursday-august-6th-2020-parental.html       I had worked on it for a good day, by Wednesday, including a few hours on Tuesday too, and in my waning energy for it decided just to wrap it up, rather than keep slogging through dozens of transcribed interviews, page after page, searching for some item that would fit my story, chronologically. In truth, I wanted to be writing something fun.     It wasn't like I wasn't interested in what I was mired in; I enjoy a good slog once in awhile myself, but my dilemma was how do I keep it interesting to others and not get bogged down? I could've just copied pages ...

1972 An August Adventure: Stormy Lake, Snake Bay, Ontario

My 1972 Toyota Land Cruiser   A life changing event. I've had asthma all my life and it limited me somewhat until 1972, when after an event on a remote Canadian lake I was rushed to Dryden Area Hospital for emergency treatment of a pneumothorax /lung collapse. Early one morning, my dad and I left Des Moines, Iowa on 1530 mile round trip fishing expedition to Stormy Lake, Ontario; stopping in Roseau, Minnesota to join six family members: My uncle  Martin and aunt Irene Davidson of Roseau, their son Jack Davidson and his 8-yr old son, Jeffrey, of Thief River Falls, Minnesota, and Jack's older brother Dean Davidson, and his 11-yr old son, Larry, of Clive, Iowa in addition to their two two vehicles, one with a boat atop it. We were pulling a one-wheeled trailer behind my brand new 1972 Toyota Land Cruiser to handle extra gear. Leaving Roseau as the last vehicle in the three car caravan, we headed off toward the...

Mac Furlong: Real Hunter

   This last Tuesday, October 1st, in Reed River, Sven saw Mac Furlong hurrying down Main Street on his way to sign up for the Big Buck Contest at Normies On Main . Mac was wearing his Reed River Bank clothes so Sven didn’t recognize him right off, Mac walking so serious like, but Sven ought to have known that about this time of year all the local deer hunters are getting real anxious. Beginning soon after the Roseau County Fair in July, hunter types begin walking about the outdoors sports departments in their local hardware stores and sporting goods shops salivating over the latest hunting gear, wearing at least one parcel of florescent orange on their person as if to let the ordinary public know that, they, in fact, are real hunters of a serious nature, although temperatures are yet in the eighties. “See here, my florescent orange insulated cap with earflaps?” “Lo and behold, my florescent-orange camo jacket with elbow padding and several important pockets?” “Check o...