Finish This Book: Begin

Here’s where Finish This Book really starts to, well, begin ironically enough. I mean, sure it started several pages back, but here’s where things start to get interesting.

The first task is to select your pen. As anyone who does any kind of writing will know, the selection of the perfect writing pen is a tricky business. It has to feel just right in your hand, it has a write in a particular way, it has to have a specific way of letting you know when you’re running low on ink so you can find a suitable replacement.

Keri Smith suggests you use your favourite pen. I have a couple of these. Interestingly enough my favourite sort of pens look just like the one pictured on the facing page (intended for testing your pen). My absolute favourite sorts of pens to use (as discovered in university) are the Uniball Eye pens, specifically the black ones, with the little gauge on the side to show how much ink you have in it. They write like fountain pens and one of those combined with a Pukka Pad (thicker paper so the ink doesn’t bleed through) was my stock writing gear for many a story; not so good for notes during lectures though, the ink is inkier, so it takes a moment to dry and can be a bit smudgy.

Aaand I’ve just waffled on for a paragraph about my favourite sort of pen. Are you still there? Sorry, back to the book.

There are a couple of suggested methods for selecting the ideal pen. Method one involves finding one that includes all of the qualities I listed in my second paragraphs, up there; method two basically amounts to “Find a pen that writes.”

I kind of went with the second method.

My own handwritten text on this page says:

Right now I’m going with a basic biro from a pack I bought in Oban’s WH Smith on my birthday weekend (then found cheaper in Tesco). It says Zebra on it and it writes well, in black, which makes my writing look neater (if you can believe it). The pen in the picture below looks like my favourite sort of pen but they’re expensive, have a tendency to bleed on certain types of paper and I don’t have many left. I’m leaving space because I’ll probably use multiple pens in this book!

Sorry, give me an opportunity to ramble about pens and I’ll go on forever!

And there’s still two-thirds of the page left for more pen waffling. We may revisit this one in the future. And for that I apologise!