By which I mean MY house, because any house I’m in is the Opera House. And you know, lockdown, so that we don’t all die. So far so good on that front, but if I develop a fever mid review I’ll let you know. I’m not going to talk about that in any great depth … Continue reading Diamine Inkvent: The View From the Opera House
Category: fountain pen
An awkward British-German collaboration
If you’re here for the music, read on. If you’re here for the ink, I promise it shows up eventually. Keep scrolling down and you’ll find a header. Straight up: this isn't about Brexit, which, although awkward, can hardly be considered a collaboration between, well... anybody and anybody else. Squillions of words have been written … Continue reading An awkward British-German collaboration
Design, Frustration and Regret. (I’m fun!)
Sometimes we pen nerds get called luddites. This is based on a fundamental misunderstanding of what the pen nerd mentality is all about.* It isn’t a need for things to be old for the sake of being old. There’s just something very beautiful about the design and functionality of fountain pens. They can inspire joy … Continue reading Design, Frustration and Regret. (I’m fun!)
Pens are not responsible for the people who hold them
NB: I still have no idea why WordPress formatting still wants to be such a total shitshow. If you know, do tell me, but I remain powerless to fix it. I repurpose this post title from a man who once told me: "Ideas are not responsible for the people who hold them." The fact that … Continue reading Pens are not responsible for the people who hold them
A writer walks into a bar
A few years back I picked up a book by Chimamanda Adichie. I enjoyed it so I read some more of her work. Amazon and Goodreads being what they are, I clearly set off the SHE READS THE NIGERIAN FICTION algorithm because suddenly my recommendations were all from Nigerian authors. I hadn't been specifically searching … Continue reading A writer walks into a bar
On belonging somewhere (Part 1)
Some of the paragraphs towards the end look slightly different in terms of formatting: the font's a little lighter. No, I don't know why this is and I don't know how to fix it, but if you do please lemme know. Bloody WordPress. I’m still catching up to regular blogging after a ton of work … Continue reading On belonging somewhere (Part 1)
We’ve got love power
Hello! It's been 50,000 years which is not because I'm dead or have lost all my fingers. I've been working really hard on my novel and it's taken up every spare moment I have. It's a 130k beast and it's not even finished yet so I'm trying to write and cut, write and cut. I … Continue reading We’ve got love power
Seyès lines
Which if my understanding of French pronunciation is correct, sounds a little teeny bit like "say your lines", albeit with a strange accent, and is therefore an excellent pun and I am hilarious. Except that I had to explain it so it isn't. This is a blog post with no personal stuff! Woot woot. OK … Continue reading Seyès lines
One in the coven
Followers of this blog (hello my lovelies) will have been informed by now of the indisputable fact that Nick Stewart is too talented and this is definitely because he is a witch who should be burned at the stake. Oddly, my regular assertions of this fact do not appear to have put him off being … Continue reading One in the coven
A gift for a man I shouldn’t know
Cw: mental health shiz. This is going to be depressing. Comes with the subject matter I'm afraid. The How I Met My Psychiatrist genre of anecdotes isn't the most chirpy of all dinner party stories. I am what I might call an intermittently crazy person. You, on the other hand, should not call me this. … Continue reading A gift for a man I shouldn’t know