Comments on: Tools of Inspiration

By: Dougist

Dougist — Fri, 12 Jun 2009 19:05:32 +0000

» to carry down to that oh-so-perfect café. (We’re a little fussy about places, too.)

Don’t you dare sit in my seat at the cafe…That’s my seat! Out! Now!

lol — Nice post.

Doug

By: Catherine L. Tully

Catherine L. Tully — Wed, 03 Jun 2009 04:24:14 +0000

Can’t do without my iPhone, yellow legal pads and earplugs.

By: LW

LW — Thu, 28 May 2009 21:50:26 +0000

i’ve been a scribbler off and on for over 40 years, tried a thousand ways of writing and these days … a Lamy 2000 Extra-Fine with Platinum Carbon Black Ink cut 1:1 with mineral water on Clairfontaine cloth-bound A4 notebooks. who’s neurotically obsessed with the tools?

By: asrais

asrais — Wed, 01 Apr 2009 01:12:53 +0000

Those square bics that most people hate and looseleaf. Or q10 for longer pieces.

If I start on paper I have to finish on paper. If i start typing I have to finish that way. I rarely switch mid-story.

By: Chuck Frey

Chuck Frey — Wed, 25 Feb 2009 16:55:33 +0000

I use a Lamy 4-color pen, which is great for creative thinking and hand-drawn mind maps, plus several different sizes of Moleskine notebooks. Having high-quality tools DOES make a difference, I’ve found!

By: dezap

dezap — Fri, 20 Feb 2009 17:18:03 +0000

By: Paul Lagasse

Paul Lagasse — Fri, 20 Feb 2009 13:45:01 +0000

Terrific post! If the old adage is true that a poor workman blames his tools, then it stands to reason that good ones probably praise theirs!

My favorite writing instrument is a trusted old Parker “51,” which I use for taking notes and jotting ideas. For my journal, I use a Parker “Vacumatic” that was a gift. I do most of my work and fiction writing in Nisus Writer Pro on an old Mac PowerBook G4. I’m also a big fan of the Zebra 301 line and my mechanical pencil of choice is the cheap-but-rugged Sanford Logo.

I agree with Rob above, I think it’s about habit and comfort. Vive le difference!

By: Rob Oakes

Rob Oakes — Thu, 19 Feb 2009 23:55:22 +0000

You are absolutely correct. It is absolutely amazing how distracting (and disastrous) using a poor set of tools can be. If I’m not using the tool that I like, I am so distracted that I almost can’t work. When I write on the computer, I like to use Microsoft Word. I think that I’ve downloaded and tried every other program out there (including OpenOffice, AbiWord, Pages, KOffice, and the programs specifically for writers: Scrivener, Write Cafe, amongst others). Every last time, I come back to MS Word and the “soul crushing” blinking cursor.

While I’m not sure of the reason why, I think it comes down to habit and comfort. In most ways, I’ve learned to work with Word instead of fighting it. When I use other programs or tools, I spend far too much time thinking about how to accomplish a piece of formating rather than focusing on how I want to set up my ideas. This just isn’t an issue in Word.

By: AravisGirl

AravisGirl — Thu, 19 Feb 2009 14:49:46 +0000

I use Microsoft Works Word Processor or WordPad on the PC.

I use a black pencil (Preferably Mirado or Ticonderoga) or mechanical pencils (only Vibs, .10 mm, I like the magenta best)

Paper… I like college-ruled notebook, but wide-ruled does as well. These are either in a binder or clipped to my red clipcase. Sometimes I use a journal. It has to have the right personality though.

Fonts… I think I like Times New Roman best. Story dictates size. Single-spaced.