Editing The Pen Addict 722/transcript (section)

== Lamy Safari Releases ==


'''Brad Dowdy:''' Now it's, Hey, it's not the first time. I can't remember the last time that it happened. It's happened recently where Safari had some pretty bad releases and team all star like brought the, brought their game. Uh, this has been the best year, uh, for team all star. And we're not even talking about flamingo and pine, which were also just like fantastic releases earlier this year. So, all right. Well, I want to talk about the St. Louis pen show. So let's get to that next, but not before we hear from our good friends over at Squarespace. So this episode of the pen act is brought to you by Squarespace. Squarespace is the all in one website platform designed to help you stand out and succeed online. Whether you're just starting out or scaling your business, Squarespace gives you everything you need to claim your domain, showcase your offerings with a professional website, grow your brand and get paid all in one place. So I've been using Squarespace for, I don't know, between 10 and 15 years. One of these years I'll actually do the math and figure out how long it is, but it's been forever. It's just so easy for me to use. It allows me to just, you know, put up my posts, add the images and go. I can schedule anything I need. I can adjust everything I need. It's just super easy, super flexible. And I just love like the easy things. Like I don't ever have to worry about, you know, SEO and writing toward writing a certain way because Squarespace's tools just allow for that. Like I'll put a little description in the image and then Squarespace kind of handles everything else. And, you know, nobody wants to build a beautiful website only for zero people to see it. That's why every Squarespace website is optimized to be indexed with meta descriptions, auto-generated sitemap, and more. So more people find your site through search engine results. And then you can offer your services and get paid from consultations to events and experiences. You can showcase your offerings with a customizable website designed to attract clients and grow your business. Think built-in appointment scheduling, email marketing tools, and more. Plus everything cohesive with on-brand invoices and get paid easily with online payments. I also use them for my online shop, which works very, very well for me. So head over to squarespace.com slash pen addict for a free trial. And when you're ready to launch, use the offer code pen addict to save 10% off your first purchase of a website or domain. That's squarespace.com slash pen addict offer code pen addict to get 10% off your first purchase and to show your support for the pen act. Our thanks to Squarespace for their support of the show and all of relay. And this show is about to be on the road at the St. Louis pen show. Not technically, not doing a podcast there.

'''Ana Reinhart:''' No, we should have organized that.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' I know, I know. I am doing a talk. You're doing classes. So we actually kind of have a lot to talk about. We do. So you're going to be a vendor there, yes? Yes. So the well-appointed desk will be there. What are you bringing? Like literally all of it?

'''Ana Reinhart:''' As much as I can fit into our little tiny vehicle. So yes, I will be bringing the marks at it. I will be bringing all of my clear stamps, stickers, washi tape. We will be bringing a selection of products, of course, letterpress products. We'll be bringing an assortment of other items that I have featured on the website on my shop. Some of it is harder to travel with. I would really like to bring the Archer and Olive notebooks. But the way that they package them so beautifully, they're in presentation boxes that have shrink wrap on them, that in order for anyone to purchase them in an event, I would have to disassemble them. And so then they've been touched by other people. And so I don't know that I'm going to bring the Archer and Olive. If someone wants me to bring something specific, let me know and I will pack it. And, you know, we can work stuff out when we get there. But yeah, those are the ones things that's a little bit harder to travel with because they're packaged for online sales, not for retail sales.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' So my question from earlier in the show, and you've kind of mentioned we, are you going to have help at your table?

'''Ana Reinhart:''' Oh, yes, I am. So I am teaching four classes and one workshop or one seminar. So it basically meant I was going to be away from the table for like four hours every day.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' Yeah.

'''Ana Reinhart:''' And I finally was just like, Bob, you're going to have to come. He's like, okay. So anyone who has ever met my husband, he's never met a stranger. He loves everyone. He will be there to help you with your purchases when I am not available. And he will talk your ear off. So you can tell him to shut your pie hole. I got shopping to do. But he will. He's yeah. So everybody's excited to see him. He does not go to a lot of shows because he is sort of peripherally interested in pens, but not like the rest of us.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' So, yeah, I think the last time I got to hang out with Bob was probably like in Little Rock, like pre COVID times. Like it's been probably like five, six years since I got to see him. So I look forward to that. That's good. I'm glad you have help because all these classes, Anna, tell me about them. Like I am like, look, I am so impressed with what you do for this.

'''Ana Reinhart:''' Thank you.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' I love your classes. So I've taken the sigils class. We're going to have a link in the show notes to all of Anna's classes. And I'm doing the Gamify Your Life class this time. I've done the sigils class before. I would do the Carve Your Own Rubber Stamps class, but I'm not going to be there on Sunday this year. And then I'm forgetting like maybe one of the most fun is the mini junk journal. So give everyone a little bit of an idea if they've number one or just really in general, if they've never been to a class at a pen show. Like what can they generally expect? Because you put a lot into these classes. I do.

'''Ana Reinhart:''' So specifically for my classes, I hope that I have described in my descriptions on in the shop where you can register for classes fairly detailed because each of them is very different. The sigils class is very much a it's they're all hands on. They're all like you get there's an activity sort of involved. Gamify is probably the least hands on. It's a little bit more discussion because it's I think a lot of people leave the Gamify and have to sort of process how they can put some of these gamification techniques into their journaling or their planning or their sort of life organizing. It's and it's interesting. I've had people do the Gamify class who have come in like moms with like teenage or college age kids who they think, you know, already like gaming and and game activities so that maybe this will help them to be to stay better organized to using some of these tactics. And then I've also had other people who've taken the class and then are like, I have to buy an extra copy of the zine to give to friends, spouse, etc. Because they're like, this will very much help them out. But yeah, so the Gamify is probably the most sort of lecture bring paper to write notes.

'''Ana Reinhart:''' Ask a bunch of questions. The sigils one you do actually most people leave class with at least one sigil created sometimes more. The carve your own rubber stamps comes with a whole kit to carve your own rubber stamp in class. But then you have materials that you can take home with you so that you can keep making your own stamps, which I guess I'm hoping I put myself out of business, like make your own stamps. And then the new class, this will be the first time I'm teaching it, which is the junk journal class, is a combination of very simple bookbinding techniques and junk journaling. So it's going to touch a little on both topics. I know there's another instructor who's teaching a bookbinding class, but mine is definitely more of a do what you want, bring what you want, kind of walk away from it. You'll have a book that you can use at the end of the class. And then how you want to use it is 100% up to the people who take the class. So that's what I've got. And then I'm doing a seminar on fountain pens for lefties, which I do at a lot of shows. It's like a free seminar that I laugh because they're like, how much time do you need? And I'm like, five minutes. And they're like, what are you talking about? And I'm like, because I don't think there should be any rules, but I help a lot of people who are concerned that like lefties can't do this or they should only have this kind of thing. And so I just kind of, I myth bust.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' Yeah. No, I think that's great. Like, you know, whenever Myke and you are on, it's one of the few times I've outnumbered with lefties and righties on the show. So it's great. I love you always talking about that because it's nothing to be scared about. Like if you're a left-hander and using fountain pens, like maybe some thoughtfulness. Just think about like how you're going about things. But like, that's about it.

'''Ana Reinhart:''' Yeah. And what I've discovered over the years is that oftentimes the issues that lefties have are the same issues righties have with fountain pens in just in different ways. Like we come at them from a slightly different angle, literally.

'''Ana Reinhart:''' Yeah. So tell me about your big speaking engagement.