My friend Lisa over at Olive Octopus Ink came up with this exercise, which I love because the responses give readers and other community members insight into what we do and why we do it. They’re also great journaling prompts if you’re looking to delve deeper into why you engage with this hobby, and I’ve been working on these for the past few months with the idea that I would do a multi-post series. Here goes Part I!
Question 1: If you consider the different ways you can engage with pens and stationery—as a user, a collector, a hobbyist, a creator, a maker, a vendor—which roles fit best and what percentage of 100% would you assign to each? Are you happy with the balance?
I have engaged with pens and stationery in pretty much every way possible during the course of my 10+ years in this hobby, and as you might imagine my engagement has changed over time. Right now, I am probably 60% Vendor, 20% Creator, 15% hobbyist, and 5% Collector. I’m not sure that “user” works as a stand-alone category for me because it overlaps with all of the others - at the moment, I have a dual career, and both jobs involve engaging with stationery and analog tools extensively but in different ways. Not a day passes where I’m not writing something out longhand, so I’m pretty much a user all-day everyday.
This year’s San Francisco Pen Show panels brought together vendors and enthusiasts from around the world.
Question 2: What is something you want to understand better or develop more informed opinions about?
The role of stationery and analog tools in different cultures and/or different parts of the world. I’m constantly fascinated at how much certain places value the actual use of stationery - making it an integral part of everyday life - compared to the collector and accumulator focus you often see in the U.S. At this year’s San Francisco Pen Show, I enjoyed hearing from other stationery vendors about different paper preferences around the world, and how in other markets there is more of a focus on how the paper feels to use as opposed to technical performance and specifications. For me stationery has always been more of a lifestyle choice than a “hobby”, so I guess I’m naturally drawn to places and people who share this worldview and I want to learn more about them.
We’ve come a long way in two years.
Question 3: In the pen community, what's something someone has said or done that stuck with you?
“For some reason you really look like you’re at peace.”
Someone made this comment to me after-hours at the 2023 D.C. Pen Show, about a week after I had decided to reduce my role at my day job to focus on growing T.G.S., developing the retail side of the business, and preparing to open the Nashville store. Though I hadn’t told anyone yet, and wouldn’t until late October, I’d made the decision in late July. This wasn’t a popular decision in many of my circles, both personal and professional. Some people couldn’t understand why I would trade a certain level of security and comfort for the risk inherent in any business venture - particularly one focused on a sector that was supposed to be “declining”. But I was miserable. I was working too much on projects that didn’t interest me, that sucked up all of my time, and which - in my opinion - didn’t really accomplish much or benefit anyone in the grand scheme of things. Ironically, I’d come to this place because I had actually tried to scale back T.G.S. to focus on what was supposed to be the more lucrative career. I couldn’t do it. After I’d made the decision, I immediately knew it was the right call even though there was - and still is - zero assurance that this will all work out long-term. (There never is.) But whenever things get hard and scary I think back to this comment to keep myself centered. Two years in, I’m not sure I’ve ever felt a greater sense of purpose and community than I have in this gig. And yes, that brings a certain degree of peace with the decision even if a lot of people close to me think I’m crazy.
Question 4: There are now 25 hours in a day, a bonus hour is available to use however you like as long as pens or stationery are involved—how do you spend your hour?
Daily creative work. If there’s anything lacking in my engagement with stationery, it’s the lack of a real opportunity to do non-T.G.S. creative writing. I’ve written half a novel, countless short stories, and ideas for more, and back in the day I used to be a halfway decent artist and even won a couple of awards. Then life happened…. The entire hour would go to finishing up the still-incomplete projects that I love and developing or relearning the other creative skills I’ve been neglecting.
Question 5: In the pen community yearbook, what would your superlative be? (i.e. "Best ______", "Most _______" "Most likely to _______")
“Most likely to fly to another city specifically to purchase books/pens/paper in person because he dislikes buying anything over the internet.” I have done this more times than I can count, because even though I run a business that sells online and recognize that online shopping can be the most practical and cost effective option for many different reasons, I still feel that being able to see pens and paper in person and try them is an invaluable part of the experience. And who doesn’t get a rush from spending hours browsing through a stationery store or bookshop (or even three days wandering through a large pen show)? Whenever I’ve had the time and means, I’ve tried to take the opportunity to travel specifically to support those who sell the things I love, and take the time to appreciate all the things in person even if I don’t end up buying them. The irony is that even though travel costs money, shopping in person and avoiding internet impulse purchases has probably saved me more. (BTW, I greatly appreciate those of you who have traveled specifically to visit our shop in Nashville!)
Question 6: How do you feel about your handwriting?
Frustrated. Through college I had fairly good handwriting, even though I received bad grades in penmanship in elementary school because I didn’t hold my pencil the “correct” way. However, 20+ years of taking notes as an attorney has turned my handwriting into scrawling mix of cursive and italic-style script, though lately I’ve been trying to practice and develop a more consistent style. Part of the issue is that I need to slow down and break the lawyer habit of writing fast to transcribe everything.
Stay tuned for Part II later this week!
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