22 September 2006

Everyday Writing


I'm a fool for office supplies. Sales on school supplies? Heaven. My fingers just itch to take home one more cute notebook or neat organizer. Unfortunately, I can't justify buying multiple spiral-bound notebooks, folders, or little plastic pencil holders any more. First grade for Katrina is just a few years away. Poor thing will have more paper and pencils than she'll know what to do with.

From my observations, the obsession with pens, paper, pencils, blank books, etc., is common among writers and editors. I once subscribed to a very large e-mail discussion group for copyeditors. There were serious discussions on which brands and colors of pencils were the best for hard-copy editing. Hey, when you use red pencils for hours on end, it's useful to know which brands keep a point and which ones just break off. And some pencils just don't show up well, which is important when you're sending pages and pages to an author or a typesetter.

Ahem, well, back to my point. A few years ago, I found the best pen for my repetitive-motion strained hands. The Dr. Grip gel ink pen is fatter than the standard pen, with a soft plastic coating where you hold it. And gel ink writes so much more smoothly than the older ballpoint pen ink. I had two of these pens but lost one recently, so I had a great excuse to buy the dark pink one. I was all excited to start using it in German class.

Yes, I AM a geek. Did you have any doubt?

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Nope, no doubt here... ;) I feel the same about cleaning supplies. I get excited about the Swiffer, Dow Scrubbing Bubbles, Clorox Wipes... I heard about a new one, and I can't wait to go to Target to get it - it's some kind of Magic Eraser that takes away grime in the bathroom (like all that mildew on my 50 year-old blue tiles). Heaven.

Anonymous said...

Yeah, the magic erasers are pretty cool... just get 'em wet, and rub away. Be forewarned that it's a microabrasive, so you might not want to use it on a mirror or something that would show tiny scratches.

But for cleaning uses, you should also make sure you always have a bottle of Goo Gone around. http://www.magicamerican.com/googone.shtml

Oh, and Carol is totally hooked on the Clorox Bleach Pens... great for not-so-white-anymore grout.

As for office supplies, etc... I must say that the computer has completely warped my appreciation of them. I bet I couldn't write a page of text without some serious hand cramping these days. Ah, the days of college, when the professor would fill up 6 chalkboards with stuff, and I'd dutifully write it all down...