Tools of the Trade

Jessie: Peering out my office window over a sun-blotting snowbank.

One of the many pleasures of being a writer is a sort of carte blanche regarding  stationary supplies. During difficult days spent staring at a blank page I sometimes wonder if guilt-free access office supplies is what makes any of it worth the doing.

Now that I’ve started writing historical mysteries I find the flames of my interest Even more wildly fanned. My characters use  manual typewriters, fountain pens, and reams of foolscap. In the interest of research, I  hardly be blamed if I feel I must try these things out for myself. How could I possibly describe the heft of a fountain pen or the scratch of its nib against a creamy sheet of heavy paper if I had not used one myself?

What started as research has turned into a guilty pleasure  of the finest kind. At present I would prefer not to report the number of pens I feel fondly towards. Things have gotten to the point I am considering  sophisticated storage methods.

Notebooks, and boxes of stationary chomp at the heels of my pen obsession. Used notebooks filled with story ideas and outlines and things I meant to remember sit cheek by jowl on a shelf in my office. Their unsullied neighbors awaiting their own turn beneath the inelegant ministrations of my pens give me chiding glances whenever I attempt to squeeze my latest spontaneous purchase in next to them on a already crowded shelf.

Thus far, I’ve managed to resist the siren song of blotting paper and wax seals. But I won’t lie; I doubt I can hold out much longer. Jetpens.com, Gouletpens.com,  Levenger and even Amazon offer up temptations every time I visit their sites. Trips to bookstores with stationary sections are similarly kitted out with an necessary yet almost irresistible writing tools. The only thing I can say in my defense, especially at this time of year, is that these  purchases are tax-deductible.

Readers is there anything you find especially hard to resist? Do you love pens, notebooks, jars of paste?