Editing The Pen Addict 282/transcript (section)

== Listener Feedback ==


'''Brad Dowdy:''' So we've got some good ass TPA this week, Myke, but I wanted to start with the feedback that we got from our letter writing conversation last week where I made a few statements that were extreme, which I do. And then I get lots of email, wonderful email that said, you might want to rethink how you talk about letter writing and here's why. And I got some really good feedback. And I think I want to devote an entire segment to that maybe in next week's episode so I can parse the feedback a little more. There's a lot of stuff on like letter writing tips and writing prompts. And, you know, you don't have to be a natural at it. And here's some things that can help you with that. So our listeners were awesome in sending really, really good feedback on my letter writing conversation from last week. So I want to do that justice and not just burn through it. So I'm going to give that a whole segment next week. So if you have any more comments on writing letters and how to be a better letter writer and tips and tricks that you use, send them in, you know, hello at penaddict.com and we'll get them and I'll put them together for next week's show. Sound good? Yeah, sounds great. All right. So Rebecca, she said, I love Dowdyism's Chicago trip notebook and want to do the same, but with a fountain pen, what notebook? Same question in A5, but as thin and light as a field notes book. So Rebecca is a really good photographer. So I know she gets out and about and goes and sees and does lots of things and has lots of things to put in a notebook. Fountain pen friendly, you can get some of the field notes if you want to do that size. That, um, that work well, right? Notepads work well with, with fountain pens. But if you want to go to have like a bigger A5 format and keep it thin and fountain pen friendly, honestly, the first thing I thought of was the A5 dot dash notebook. We make it knock. So I got to throw in a plug for that. It's a 48 page, like the same thickness as a field notes, but an A5 size soft cover, um, comes in a three pack. They're like 15 bucks. So that's a really good fountain pen friendly. It'd be good for a notebook plus type of layout, you know, where you're adding in, you know, pictures and tickets and receipts and things like that. And then I knew there was something else out there and I had to dig a little bit to find it. And I remembered the Apica CD grid notebook. This might be the choice. If you like that style, they're very thin. Um, I want to say they're only like 30 pages or so. I'll have to go look at them, but they're only like three. Oh, okay. More than that. They're like three bucks. I mean, this is like the no brainer of all no brainer A5s. I choose them over the knock notebooks personally. They're really good. And for that price is ridiculous. But for like A5 thin, soft bound, good quality notebooks, there's not a huge choice. Like once you get into like, you can get like Rodea and Leuchtturm do soft covers, but they do them in like 80 page notebooks and you know, they cost, you know, 10 or $15. Those are great. I don't think that's what you're looking for. I think you're looking for kind of a, a trip specific book with a fewer amount of pages and a better price point. And, uh, I think those are kind of the two choices I came up with. I'm open to hearing some, some more, but you can definitely find some thicker soft bound A5s, but finding those thin ones, um, like in a field notes thickness is the challenge. So those are the two I came up with.

'''Myke Hurley:''' I think the only thing I would maybe recommend for, uh, the pocket notebook size would maybe also be the story supply edition 407. They're just really, really lovely notebooks with fantastic fountain pen friendly paper.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' That's a great notebook. It's the field note size three and a half by five and a half and a wonderful with fountain pens. So yeah, good call there. I really love the covers on those two. Um, the, the covers on those, those are probably my favorite from story supply. Really, really good. All right. Next one. I love this question. This is from Jane. I think we got this on Twitter, right? It says, is there a preponderance of pen addict relationships? Do fountain pen, do fountain pens bring people together? Have they torn people apart? I think most of the people in my life that I consider my friends, I got from the pen addict. I mean, I don't, I think that's a very safe statement. It's a very weird statement if you parse it verbally to other people, um, you know, out loud in public, but it's the truth. Like I've never met so many good people as I have. And I've made lifelong friends from sharing a fountain pen or a piece of paper or an ink or a pencil with another person. And these person, these people I will have in my life, no matter what I'm doing, no matter where I'm at, I have people that are now my friends for life because of this.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' I think because this hobby requires sharing between people and there's a lot of knowledge to be passed. So these conversations are more natural, say, than other situations. You know, you each have a mutual like, but there's so much more you can learn from that other person and vice versa. So I think that leads to those type of relationships, um, bringing people together. Has it torn people apart? I don't know. I doubt it. I mean, probably, but it's certainly not something you see.

'''Myke Hurley:''' Yeah, I'm sure people have made some purchases which they shouldn't make, which can lead to some problems. But, you know, I reckon it brings significantly more people together than it does draw anybody apart. Because I feel the same as you. I have so many new friends, people that I consider incredibly close to me because of this hobby. Yeah. And it's also strengthened relationships of mine as well. Like, as more friends have gotten into this stuff, like, there's a couple of people specifically that I think of that I've become so much closer to because they became interested in this hobby. You know?

'''Brad Dowdy:''' Yeah. Yeah. I mean, just think about it. I created a business with a guy I never heard of because he had a friend that read The Pen Addict and we started talking. You know? Think about that. I mean, that's kind of a big deal, right? You know? So, it's, this community is something else. I talk about it all the time. I can't rave about it enough. It's pretty amazing. So, we're very lucky, Myke. Very. Very. Yeah. So, yeah. That's, I could talk more. I could talk about that all day. Just, I love talking about the people in this community. So, it's very cool. All right. Next question from Matthias. He says, how does the Paper Mate Ink Joy gel compare to the Uniball Signo RT1? The Ink Joy's design seems very Signo inspired. This might be blasphemous, but I do think the Ink Joy barrel is better than the RT1 barrel. The RT1 barrel is kind of the cheapy barrel of the Uniball lineup. I like the DX better for a barrel. I like the 307 for a barrel. But the RT has the benefit of added colors in it. It also has the benefit of the micro tip sizes in it. So, I tend to lean towards the RT1. The Ink Joy gel is very, very good. A lot of people use it. A lot of people love it. I haven't used them regularly because they don't get in the fine enough size that I like. But my wife bought a 10-pack of them. And now I've gone and ordered her extra purple ones of it, if that tells you anything. And she uses the pen pretty much all day, every day in her job. So, she likes the retractable nature of it. And she likes how the barrel feels. And she likes how well they write. And she's not alone. The Ink Joy is probably the best pen Paper Mate's ever made besides the flare. They don't have a lot. They sell a lot of pens. But they don't have a lot of amazing pens in their lineup. The Ink Joy gel has kind of changed what I think about what they're doing. And I hope they continue expanding on the success they've had with the Ink Joy gel lineup. Have you had a chance to use one?

'''Myke Hurley:''' No, not at all.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' Yeah. Yeah. We'll have to. We'll change that. So, it's a really cool. Really cool pen. It's kind of like a full, it's a retractable pen, kind of like a full rubberized barrel with like a small, like, you know, ink color window on there. You know, it's plain, something you find, you know, at the grocery store. But really nice. It's one of the better choices. Certainly better than the G2. So, we got to get people off the G2 train. You know, we got to unseat the G2 as the most popular gel ink pen in the world. Because there's better pens out there.

'''Myke Hurley:''' Do we have the ability to do that?

'''Brad Dowdy:''' I doubt it. Okay. Doesn't mean we can't try.

'''Myke Hurley:''' Doesn't mean we can't try.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' We can do one of those change.org petitions, right?

'''Brad Dowdy:''' Sure.