Editing The Pen Addict 211/transcript (section)

== Ink Reviews ==


'''Brad Dowdy:''' Right. I mean, I've done that, too. But then it's like you do a couple of those and then you start to feel like you're repeating yourself. And then it's like your content. Like if you don't feel like your content is valuable, you're not going to put that effort in. Like if I feel like I have to put a post up, I know it's not going to be great. Yeah. It definitely shows in your work. Like it's a reflection of how you're feeling about it. Like the other day, like I mean, it was two weeks ago. I posted a review of a liquid flare, the paper mate liquid flare, because I found one in my desk at work and I'm like, this thing is great. Like I'm going to post about this. I'm going to write a review right now. I'm going to take a picture and I'm going to post it because I really like this. It's not a fountain pen. It's not anything. It had a broken clip. It was half of you sitting in the drawer. But I'm like, this is cool. I like this. And then that kind of sparked me to go write a review. I mean, I have a Sailor 1911 medium nib sitting in my bag that like is way overdue. And like a couple of pens that are, you know, a hundred plus dollars that I'm like, this little dollar pen that's been previously used sitting in a desk at work kind of sparked me more than like the obligation that I have to do this other review on this pen that people like, oh my God, you have that pen. You haven't used it yet. What's wrong with you?

'''Ed Jelley:''' I think that's interesting though, because that's the most enjoyable post to read when you have that type of lightning strike moment. And it doesn't matter what the product is. It could have been one of the a hundred dollar pens that struck you in a way where you were able to communicate it in a different way than like a basic review that you've done for years. Right. So that's when you felt good about writing that post. But I know what you mean about, you know, the drudgery is a little bit strong of a word, but you know, there's those products that sit on the desk and you're like, I owe these reviews. I don't want to do them. And how am I going to, is it worth my time to spend to push through and get these reviews done? Or do I just kind of fly by the seat of my pants, see what strikes me at some point and, you know, write that post then. And, you know, that doesn't happen all the time. Right. I don't have that every day or every week, you know, where I have that lightning strike post that I feel like just so great about.

'''Ed Jelley:''' But, you know, like, like I've gotten into a place where I'm enjoying still like reviewing all the different things. And even if, you know, some things are similar to others or doing, you know, a bunch of ink reviews, which can get a little bit tedious, you know, I still enjoy talking about the different things, but I can totally see how there would just be like a breakdown of like, what is all this stuff and when am I going to do it? And if I don't have the motivation to do it, it's certainly going to come out, you know, on the post if I try to force myself to do it. And is that worth it? So it's these conversations in our head that we struggle with all the time. Right.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' Yeah. I mean, like you brought up ink reviews, like I haven't done one in months and like they always perform pretty well on my site, but I'm just like, I go up my back and read them. I'm like, these all say the same thing, except you sub out red for blue for black. Unless the thing is terrible. It's like, you know, you're writing the same thing. That's why I did that, those videos, because you can see it. It's more fun. It's more engaging for me. And like, I figured I could just get the stuff done. But then like, it goes back to that, that spark moment. It's like, all right, I could spend an hour like trying to like this pen and taking pictures. And then like, I get frustrated because the pictures aren't coming quite, you know, coming out quite how I want them to. And then like, I'll throw my camera down and I'll end up playing Star Wars Battlefront for like two hours because I just need to like get out of here and, you know, shoot a stormtrooper. So, you know, and then it's on the other hand, it's like, oh, well, I have like this list of stuff I could do for EDC and like, that's going to pay me. And like, that's a pretty good motivator. Right. So it's like, I could do that instead. So it's kind of hard to balance out. Like, if you're not really feeling something, like, do you force yourself to do it because you have an audience or do you kind of preserve your, you know, your own, now I'm not going to say sanity because I'm not losing my mind over pen reviews, but, you know, do you or do you preserve your passion and kind of build that up? Like, keep it in the tank until you find something that you really like and then use that effort on that. It might mean like you skip a week or you skip a month or whatever, but like, is it worth it? And then I'll look at my stats and they'll be like, oh, that's a bad month. Like, maybe I shouldn't have skipped it. And it's like this weird, like back and forth. And I don't know, it's kind of, it's kind of weird just to, to think about something that's like you running it. Right. You know, it's like, it's like your thing. So like, oh, I don't know anybody, anything. And then you're like, no, I do. I totally do. So it's, it's kind of weird just to have your own thing and to be able to do what you want with it and, and have that discipline or lack of driving you.

'''Ed Jelley:''' I know the couple of times I took a break before I was doing this full time, I had to stop cold Turkey. Like it was a hard break. Like it wasn't, let me try to do something once a week. Let me try to just, um, you know, you know, filter something in, let me keep up. You know, when I used to do the Inks Links post, you'll take a break and do that on Saturday. Just do that. And kind of kept my toe in it a little bit. And in the end, I just always had this feeling and to get, you know, back into it. And I think having those just hard, complete breaks, you know, helped me with that. You know, not everyone's the same, um, you know, to, to see how much I missed it or did I really miss it? I told Myke that when I took that second break, it was around the time, you know, it was also lifestyle and life changing moments for me when I was having kids, you know, that's when it was the hardest, um, for me. And I told Myke, you know, when I made the decision to take a break from the podcast that time that I was okay with not coming back. Like in my mind, it was the right decision. I needed to stop. Something had to give. Well, what gave was the blog and the podcast. But, you know, inside of me, I'm still this stationary nut and I love doing these things and I love talking to people and it ended up pulling me back on its own. Like it wasn't forced. It was like, okay, two months is up. Let me pull out the pen and paper and do this thing. It was like, I was ready to come back then. So I don't know if like, maybe like a short term break maybe helps and re-energizes you. Maybe it, it has clarity and maybe, you know, you focus on EDC or other things. So I don't know. It's, it's, it's such an individual thing, but you know, keeping yourself and your family and those things at the forefront, as long as those things are number one, the rest of this stuff tends to have a way of figuring itself out, even though it's kind of hard and difficult, uh, in the, in the short term.

'''Ed Jelley:''' All right, Myke. So I don't know if you have anything, uh, to add to that, but I want to get into these listener questions cause we have a lot. They were very interested in this topic. What do you think?

'''Myke Hurley:''' I have lots of thoughts, but they're going to come up.

'''Ed Jelley:''' Yeah. I think that's why I wanted to get into these cause they're very, uh, very much on the topics we want to talk about. So let's, uh, let's hear from Hutch first. He wants to know what do you, from ED, what do you think the stationary community is missing and what sort of voice do we not hear enough from our little world of stationary geeks? Do you have any thoughts on that, Ed?

'''Brad Dowdy:''' I mean, I think you gotta find something that makes you stand out from the rest of them. Like personally, I, I'm pretty heavy on photos and like, I've kind of made that my like area of interest. So all my posts have a bunch of photos and then other blogs might be more focused on like really great writing where it's like you write 1500 words about a pen that costs a dollar. And it's like, that's, you know, you're getting really nuanced reviews. And, um, you know, I also think that, uh, you have to balance new with old and kind of think of like, you know, the Lamy 2000 or the pilot vanishing point, like so many people buy those pens and those are my most popular reviews for a reason because, you know, you have to recognize what people want or want to read more about and then kind of cater to that, which is kind of hard to get into. Um, as far as what do we not hear enough from, I really don't know. We got a pretty good mix for such a small niche market.

'''Ed Jelley:''' Yeah. I feel real good about the, the stationary blogging community as a whole. It's, it's one of those, um, I don't know if you see it in the EDC community as much. Um, cause I, I talked to, uh, my friend Tony at everyday commentary, how, uh, uh, to, for the lack of a better term, how backstabby like the knife community can be. Um, we don't have that.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' That's a, that's a pun right there.

'''Ed Jelley:''' That was wonderful. Wasn't it? That was excellent. Uh, by me, good job by me. Um, but we don't have that in the stationary community. We all, I mean, I'll speak for myself, but I enjoy, you know, shining the light on others and sharing and answering questions and helping everyone out in the community that I can. Um, there's no, uh, competition, you know, like in the stationary community, I feel, and that makes it a happy place for everybody. I think that's always been the way. And I hope it stays that way.

'''Ed Jelley:''' So Heather, um, who is one half of the wonderful art supply geeks podcast had some really good questions. So she wants to hear about the mission of pen blogging and podcasting. What are we trying to accomplish? How does our love of stationary integrate with broader commitments to the world? Or maybe it doesn't, maybe it's just good, clean fun. Um, so what do you, what do you think about that? Uh, Ed, do you have any, any comments?

'''Brad Dowdy:''' Um, I think whenever you write a blog in general, it's important to have a mission statement, which I don't even know if I have, I think when I started, I wrote a post that said like, I want to deliver top quality reviews of pen, paper, and ink with, you know, top quality photographs to match. So people can get a better idea of what they're spending their hard earned money on. Um, and that was my mission going forward. But now like I've kind of got that in a, in a rhythm and, um, you know, I took notes on these questions. So I'm, I don't want to, I want to try to not just read off a list. But, um, when I started the blog, it was an excuse to use pens and paper and definitely an excuse to take more pictures. And, um, I found that I use pens and paper much less since finishing college. And like, I do get a little disappointed when I think about it. Um, but really the mission, I think like the fun is growing the site and seeing how far it can go. And, um, you know, if you want more page views, you got to get out there and promote it and write content and, you know, optimize it so that it does come up in search engines. And, uh, you know, I've learned a lot about just websites in general and internet presence and social media just from doing this. So it's had like a pretty enriching experience across the board because you learn a lot about, you know, something. So I started it just as for fun. Um, the mission was to do top, you know, do quality reviews. And now like, I'm not so sure other than growth, like what my real mission is. Do you have any thoughts on this, Myke? Many. I have a couple I want to add in.

'''Myke Hurley:''' Uh, I don't think that it's necessary to worry or be concerned in any way as to whether your pen blog contributes towards the world. I just don't, I just don't think that that is a thing. It's entertainment, you know, this is what the show is. Like people listen to the show because they find it entertaining primarily, I think. And there's information in it, which they enjoy. But I think people just like to listen to us talk about something that they enjoy. And I don't think that we need to worry too much about what our contribution is to the world outside of just providing something that is entertaining to people. I think that's in and of itself enough. Um, and then on the, the point of talking about mission statements and stuff like that, uh, my favorite, one of my favorite YouTube channels, uh, Wheezy Waiter, the guy Craig was posting daily videos. He used to do a lot like more comedic stuff. Then he turned into like a daily vlogger and he posted a video this week actually, as he wanted to go through some changes in the type of work that he was doing. And it came to him basically reaffirming what he is creating for. And so this is front of mind for me as well. And basically Craig is talking about in this video, which I'll put in the show notes about how he started to do this thing because he loved it. And, but he was a waiter, hence the YouTube channel name. And he was doing this on the side because he thought it would be cool to maybe try and get into this world. And then he started, then he found a real love for making these YouTube videos and he would do them and they became a, a way for him to like escape and a thought that maybe he could do this for a living one day. And then when it became his job, he then started just doing them to continue the, the idea of having the job, there was no ultimate goal again because the goal had been achieved. So then it was just like became the work and he's been struggling with doing this thing as his job. And then that becomes a job and losing sight of the overall reason as to why he does this stuff. So I found that really interesting, especially watching it like two days before we were going to start talking about this stuff because it makes me wonder as well. Like I, this is my job now. And every day, every day is the same, you know, ultimately there are different things that happen, but every day pretty much consists of talking with sponsors and that kind of stuff, preparing for a show, recording a show, editing like that. They are my tasks. Now, ultimately this doesn't bother me because everybody has a job and their job consists of similar tasks that they do every day. But I still love what I do, like flat out love what I do. Like I have had no, I've been doing this for nearly two years now. I have no feelings of burnout. I can't think of a time where I've ever not wanted to record a show where I'm just like, oh, I really just don't want to do this. You know, there have been times where I've been horribly jet lagged and too tired, but I've done it right. So that's like a different thing, but just like a regular day where I'm like, oh man, I don't want to do this show anymore. Like I don't feel like that. And that's partly because I'm very aware of those feelings in myself and I'm able to kind of curtail a lot of this stuff before it becomes a problem. Like I'm able to make changes to the show or like, you know, change up the format in some way that means it's exciting to me or I plow just straight into it and kind of get swept up inside of it. And then that makes me kind of reinvigorated. So I am thinking a little bit though about like why I do this because I like the idea of the mission statement and the goal.