I love writing utensils.

I enjoy writing, in short bursts. But pens? Pencils? Rollers? I could spend days geeking out about them, scribbling and doodling, trying different nib widths, inks and papers…

For me, stationery stores are one of the main attractions of any city I visit. If I could, I’d own every writing instrument under the sun (and sometimes, when I try to tidy my desk, I think I already do 😅).

I find pleasure in every step of the purchasing process: from the research about new stuff, to finding the right combination of shape, colour, ink type, stroke width and price. Few things make me happier than opening a package with new pens in it, and taking them for a (brief) ride.

Every few months, I find myself looking for the perfect pen. The perfect pen, as you can probably imagine, does not exist. And if it does, I’m pretty certain it won’t be perfect for me, because I’m slowly getting to grips with the reality that I’m not a “pen person”. I love the romantic idea of fountain pens, but their very unromantic reality bores me to death. I have friends who delight in the boring parts (cleaning, recharging, ink stains everywhere…) and for a while I was really jealous of them. Ah, if only I could bring myself to relish those activities… Life would be great, and I could get a Lamy 2000 or a Montblanc M (two random examples of pens I really like in the romantic sense), call it a day and get back to writing.

But apparently I’m not wired that way. This thing with pens? It’s something I’ve experienced with other things in life: I wish I’d love videogames, photography, or riding bikes with skinny tires as much as other people. But whenever I try to trick myself into doing the thing, I end up geeking about the tools, rather than liking the disciplines they enable.

I used to mortify myself for that. I kept thinking there was something wrong about liking cameras way more than photography, or obsessing over writing utensils I would not use to write the next best seller…

I no longer give a shit. Life is too short to spend it worrying about writing when you could be getting a kick out of the “tinkering with pens” part.

Also, I can’t waste my time when I still haven’t found the perfect pen.