People don’t write much anymore.

I don’t mean type, email or text   

I mean pick up a good pen, some quality paper and 

actually make letters, make words, make sentences… make sense      

There is something about the words flowing out of the brain into my arm and hand and across the page that gives me time to consider what it is I am really saying.

When you write or attempt to write a poem you see the rhythm and meter even art to the words on the page. Maybe a thank you note. I don’t write enough of those by hand. I don’t write enough of those period. A thinking of you note.

I spent thirty days writing my wife love notes and leaving one a day in the kitchen. The first 3 or 4 were easy; I love you because - than I realized I got 26 more days what am I going to write.  It was a soul searching experience. That’s 30 years ago I should do that again.    

I fill up Moleskines and Field notes, sketch books and journals - sometimes I just simply doodle. Ink is still inexpensive and its expressive.   

Written words and sketches are powerful when they come to you in longhand.  

My dad was a carpenter, He did some of his best sketches, building list and notes on the back of brown lunch bags with a good wooden pencil.    

I wrote a play for a dinner theater called the The 43 annual Folklore Embellishing Watermelon wrestling seed spitting cedar whittling contest and how we came in third. The local paper head lined the play not because the play was so good but they said we loved the title you’ve written.

The play was about writing and telling stories and even writing home, we left the stage and sold pens during the play - it’s a quarter people -  make an investment and write. The pen had the play title printed on it.    

Life is about working words into stories. 

When I am with my Grand kids - usually at the end of the day I tell them a story. Not some long ago - once upon a time folk tale, or lost kingdom fable, I tell them stories about a boy and his dad who built a boat, or lived near the marble quarry or learned to blacksmith and train bird dogs... struggled to learn how to play the guitar even work with honey bees. That boy was me I say. I have hammers, wood and nails out in the shop, tomorrow we build a plywood castle.   

Write your stories down.   

I don’t like a pen that writes faster than I think.

I want my pen to drag a bit... slows down my messy writing.

I want paper that is not too slick but has a tooth.  

If I doodle in the margin 

I want a pen that has a bit of a wash to it - when i add a watercolor brush

You should feel about your pens and  paper like you do about your tea or coffee. A bit snobbish.  

My wife has this motto:  Life is too short of bad food, bad coffee - I will add to that too short too for cheap pens and bad paper and - weak words.

Invest in your hand writing. Carry a pen. Carry a good pen.  

If you have questions about pens, or even what some of us write with here at Buffalo Jackson, write us a note. see what I did there?  Tell us about your favorite pen, what you write, what you write on.

Do you have a hand me down pen that has some history story you need to share?   

Don’t forget to write.