While I was hiding from COVID, I spent a lot of time writing. Usually, using one of the three fountain pens I acquired during the first month of ‘sheltering-in-place.’

Of course, I could have written with one of the many pencils I own — I have a bit of a pencil addiction.

Still, I felt this past year —more than any other year —was worth memorializing in ink on nice paper.

For the ink, I settled on Pilot Iroshizuku Kon-peki. An ink that is not too light, not too dark. It’s just ‘right.’ And, it comes in a gorgeous, aesthetically pleasing glass bottle.

I did try some green ink. I thought it would be a light, happy color to counter the gloom of the ever-increasing pandemic deaths. But, I soon realized green was more suited to writing a manifesto than recording my time at home.

I also bought some notebooks filled with Tomoe River paper. This is the paper that gets positive reviews on every YouTube channel with fountain pens as a focus, And, they are not wrong. It is very, very nice to write on.

So, what did I learn from all this writing on fine paper with my not too-blue ink?

Firstly, and most unexpectedly. Writing with a pen and ink really — and I mean really — improved my writing on electronic devices. I’m not sure why. But, it did. Secondly, I did feel the pace of writing with a pen made me more aware of what I wanted to record. That, of course, was expected.

Now, as the pandemic is drawing to a conclusion in my part of the world, I’m hooked on pens, ink, and paper. I just bought ‘one last fountain pen’, a few more bottles of ink, and a load of paper and notebooks from Asia. Hopefully, I keep going along this route. The benefits are well worth the time and (growing unecessarily) expense.