Editing The Pen Addict 575/transcript (section)

== Listener questions and stationery preferences ==


'''Myke Hurley:''' Somehow. Let's round out a couple of our TPA questions today. All right. First comes from Daniel, who says, I got into stationery things a couple of months ago and I bought a huge amount of fountain pens, inks, papers, mechanical pencils. And now I've got my sights on regular pencils, like wood pencils and sharpeners. This is all getting out of hand. I love that I can choose so broadly what pens I want to use every day. But I feel sad about not having that pen, ink or lead that I want to use every day. Something that I really, really love and connect with. How do I start loving what I have?

'''Brad Dowdy:''' Love this question, right? Like, I really appreciate Daniel asking this question. And it's not easy, right? And this is something that all of us go through that have been in the stationery game for a long time. That there's so much to discover. And the questions you want to end up asking yourself is, what am I trying to accomplish when I write? And I don't mean like, you know, I'm trying to write the next novel or I'm trying to do my homework or I'm taking notes. But how you want the pen or pencil to feel on the page to give you the best results when you write. So you can try all this stuff, right? And we all have just gobs of stuff laying around. And some of those things are better for you, for your handwriting, for the type of notes you take or the writing you do than others. So figure out why this one pen is better than this other one. Is it because, in my case, is it because it's an extra fine nib as opposed to a medium nib? Where a medium nib has a rounder tipping and it doesn't make my lines as clean. Because I have a print style handwriting that looks the best when it has a nice sharp edge on the lines. Because extra fine nibs, solve that for me. Stub nibs, solve that for me. Medium, rounded, tipped nibs do not solve that for me. Broad nibs do not solve that for me. So that goes through like a period of testing and figuring out what are the products that work best for me and why. So when you discover how you use things for your daily use and why you have a preference of the things you already own over other things you already own. And then you can really narrow down like why this product, why I enjoy this product so much. And then you can explore within that category, right? All of us start out very broad in the stationery world. Trying all the pens, trying all the papers, trying to answer all the questions, trying to test all the things, not wanting to miss out on anything, all that stuff. But in the end, I'd say universally everyone kind of dials in back, you know, more narrow into this works for me because of this specific reason. And I'm going to continue to use that more. So you need to ask yourself those questions, right? Why do I like this pen so much? Why do I dislike this pen so much? And then you just start kind of whittling down these answers and then you find the one. Then you find that pen or that ink or that paper or that pencil that is the best for you. So you just have to look inwards a little bit, ask yourself those questions and narrow it down from there. So that's how I approach this question.

'''Myke Hurley:''' I mean, I'm kind of the same. And I actually think that I've basically achieved this, like by and large, right? Like I add so little to my collection now. I have the things that I know that I like and I'm choosing to enjoy them. But I do think that it takes time of experiencing lots of different things until you either find the thing that's really important, you should say, or that you realize you've already got what you like.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' Exactly. And that's why you can just rewind right back to my Washington, D.C. shopping list. What I'm buying for myself, I want a nib, right? From Ian. That's my list for what I need. I'm not going, I need this Platinum, this Sailor, this Leonardo, this Franklin Kristoff, right? Which in the before, I would have like 10 things on like, hey, I'm going to buy this for me list. Now it's like, I know what I want. I have what I want mostly already, right? Like, believe me, I've got more pens than anybody and more access to more pens than anybody. I am not in like a need mode for my personal collection, right? So, yeah, it's a good place to be when you start solving those problems. And I think, Daniel, you will get there. Like you just figure out, you really have to look at what's working best for you and start narrowing down from there.

'''Myke Hurley:''' Tim asks, there are many, many lists out there for the best Parker style refills. Because of this, I've accumulated many, many Parker style refills. I'm wondering if you have some ideas, perhaps a top five or favorite bodies and barrels that take the Parker refill. What should I buy to put these refills in?

'''Brad Dowdy:''' I mean, shout out Spoke Pin Rohde. Like, that's just a lock. That is one pin that is traveling with me. I have the Rohde stainless steel with the orange Delrin cap. That's my favorite pin currently until we make my next favorite pin. And it fits the Parker style Jetstream SXR 600 refill, which is Jetstream's Uniball's Parker style international G2 style refill. That's my favorite, obviously, but I'm biased. I like the tactile turn short. I think that's the, I always get the name confused, but that fits. That's another one that fits the Parker style. That's one of my favorites. Don't overlook the Parker Jotter as just a classic, literally Parker pin. They're inexpensive. They're about $10 or maybe $8 for just like the basic plastic barrel, metal, metal top. Retractable pin. Highly recommended by the office ladies as well. And lastly, the Karen Dash 849 is a personal favorite of mine. That's a more classically styled, smaller. It's not exactly relatively inexpensive, but it's like, you know, you can get them in like the $20 range for the basic models. And they go on up from there up into like the $50s, depending on, you know, the types of colors. They release a bunch. And that fits their Goliath refill, which I do enjoy. But that's a Parker style refill, so you can swap it in and out if you find a color or a style of the $849 that you like. That's one of my, one of my, another one of my favorites. So, um, two stock options there, the Parker, classic Parker Jotter or the Karen Dash 849 and then two maker models in the spoke roadie and the tactile term short, I believe it's called.

'''Myke Hurley:''' Beautiful answer. Mm-hmm. Some good options there. Because like the Karen Dash has a sprinkling of like maker in it with its design, you know, like. Yeah. There's so many special editions and weird and wonderful ones. Right. It's kind of fun.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' Yep. I think it's a great pen. It's just so classic, but they have been able to modernize it in, in ways that like not a lot of companies have been able to execute what they do as well as they have, which is why I like them so much.

'''Myke Hurley:''' If you would like to send in a question of your own for us to answer in a future episode of the show, just go to penaddictfeedback.com. That's penaddictfeedback.com. You can send us your Ask TPA questions there along with follow-up and any feedback and I guess maybe get some questions in for Brad about his pen show experience at the DC Pen Show. You'll be able to find Brad roaming the halls of the hotel, you know, at night like a ghost. So if you're there, you'll be able to find him.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' You will not find me at 1 a.m. in the hotel. That I can promise you.

'''Myke Hurley:''' I don't know, man. We'll see. You know, you never know. These pen shows can get wild. They can. They can. If you want to find Brad online, go to spokedesign.com. He's also penaddict over on Instagram and Mastodon and Threads. You can also go to penaddict.com as well. I am iMike. I am Y-K-E. And you can find me over at cortexbrand.com and the products that I make there. Thanks so much to Unipizza Ovens for their support of this show. And thank you for listening. Until next time, say goodbye, Brad. Goodbye, Brad.

'''Myke Hurley:''' Thank you for listening. Thank you for listening.

[[Category:Podcast Transcripts]]
[[Category:The Pen Addict Podcast Transcript]]