Because life is full of adventures

Tag: reviews

What is the Best Writing Tool?

Over the years I have found myself using a pencil anytime I have wanted to write. This has been my favorite way to write, although I also have enjoyed using different colored gel pens. While pens are a great way to write I have always wanted to erase things. When they made erasable pens I did try them, yet I didn’t like them. That was back in the 1990s, so I just continued to write with pencils.

My favorite kind of pencil has been a regular number 2 pencil that you sharpened. I have used and still occasionally use mechanical pencils. I enjoy the fact that they never had to sharpen. Still, I prefer a regular pencil even to a mechanical one.

Besides the fact that you can erase a pencil, I cannot tell why I prefer using it over a pen. I feel some of it is the way that it is so easy to write with and flows very nicely. Pens can do the same things yet I seem to hold a pen tighter causing my hand to hurt.

Earlier in the year I was taking a Creative writing college course and trying to get more creative practice. While I am always trying to find ways to spark my creativity, I also am looking for tips from successful writers. In my search for tips, I came across an interview on YouTube with Author Neil Gaiman, by Tim Ferriss. This was my first time watching this YouTuber. If you would like to check out the video you can find it here.

In this interview, Gaiman talks about notebooks he prefers to use when writing a first draft, advice he has for aspiring writers, the way he works on projects, his preferred writing instrument, and a few other things. While I had heard of Fountain Pens, I had never thought of them as a good choice for story writing, but more for things such as calligraphy and fancy writing. Upon watching Gaiman’s interview and hearing him talk about these pens I had the desire to try one out to see how it writes.

Well, I did not just go out and buy a pen. Gaiman mentioned that not everyone is a fan of the pen. The tip he gave on finding one if interested, yet the place he mentions I know there was no way for me to be able to get there. I looked at a few on Amazon but did not purchase any. When Amazon notified me that one of the pens I had looked at was on a lightening deal I used a gift card to purchase it. When the pen arrived, I tried it out and I am so grateful to have learned about this pen.

I earned the gift card from Mistplay where I play games for points. If you are interested in checking out Mistplay use my link here. The link allows me to earn a small amount of points.

Since I was taking college courses over the summer and I enjoy using different colors for the different courses, I ended up purchasing a pack of colored fountain pens to use for my classes. The first pen I bought happened to be one I could buy new ink for to replace the vials.

I would recommend giving them a try. Here are a few options from Amazon. There had been an Amazon Basic one that I bought, but it seems to have been sold out. You can get 20 vials of black ink for $12 here. There are color vials for sale for about $9 for six different colors here. I thought that fountain pens would be expensive, but there are a lot of options on Amazon that are fairly priced such as this one.

I feel as though you just have to find some good ones. Discovering that I enjoy using this pen over any other pen. This pen just seems to glide over the paper and is easy to use.

Let me know what kind of writing material you enjoy using. I am interested in finding new things to use and love learning what others like to use. I am looking for new notebooks to use and would love any suggestions on some or suggestions about good fountain pens.

Gold Bug Mine

A couple of weekends ago my children and I took the opportunity to visit one of the many mines in California. We were invited to go along with one of my brother’s and his family. My children enjoy spending time with all of their family members and we have been taking every opportunity that we can, especially since moving closer to family at the beginning of the year.

The mine they had chosen to visit is about an hour away from where we live; taking California Highway 50 to the east in the city of Placerville. Placerville is a city located in the foothills of the Sierra Nevada Mountains.

Upon arriving at the Gold Bug Mine we were able to purchase tickets for a self guided tour of the mine. This tour uses an app you can download to your phone. If you do not have a phone you can download the app with, they have a device to use as well.

Inside of the Mine

Up and Down By Oliver Jeffers

Every week  I try to get new books when I take my three younger children to the library for story time. This is a set time that we go each week as long as we are feeling well and in town. I feel it is good for them to be able to learn to sit and listen to books read by other people and it exposes them to other children as well.

This last week we picked up some books as usual and in them I had found a book with a boy and a penguin on the cover that kind of reminded me of a video that the children had watched a few times about a boy who returns a penguin down to Antarctica, so I picked it up. It happens that this book was written by the author of the other story and it is called Lost and Found. As I do not recall reading the actual book I hope that the video is word for word from the book and I would recommend it. I will have to look this week for the book and take a look at it myself.

The 5 Love Languages of Children By Gary Chapman and Ross Campbell, MD

In my lifetime I have read a lot, mostly of fiction variety, except for school books and a few books about writing stories. The reason I have read mostly fiction is because a lot of the non-fiction just does not keep my interest as much as a fictional work does. Now you may be expecting me to say that The 5 Love Languages of Children is an exception to this, but that was not the case at all.

While I did enjoy reading this book and feel that it has a lot of good information, but between it being a non-fiction work and being a mother of four children under the age of six it took me about four months to get through the whole thing. For myself that is a very long time, but I wanted to read this book to make sure I am showing my children love in all the ways that they need as well as make sure they can do the same throughout their lives.

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