Why I Love Pencils
As I'm writing this it feels as though we are in summer, adding to this feeling are the ambient sounds of the rain and birds coming from my window. It feels nice to hear some sound that isn't from a computer. The sea of sound is soothing yet deliberate.
I spent 5 or 5 and a half years trying to prove to teachers that my handwriting is legible enough to be eligible for the "pen test" ,1.
It was the start of me finally graduating from being a kid who wrote with a pencil - to a bigger cooler kid who writes with a pen.
I continued to write with a pen from my SATS ,2 in year 6 (aged 11) up to year 12 (aged 17) and I enjoyed doing so, however after my GCSE's I believed that I would write close to never. I grew to hate writing because writing was now associated with essays or writing notes.
As Essays were intimately tied with English (both literature and language), which I hated.
I transitioned to typing where my distaste for QWERTY led me to Dvorak then Colemak then finally Colemak DH.
As my requirements to keep up with my studies grew.
I looked to Youtubers for advice and thus I watched and rewatched many of James Scholz's. I especially enjoyed his Stationary Tour and discovered through my new found fascination discovered the channel Wood & Graphite and immediately very much liked the videos that had been produced.
In the previous months I had more and more appreciated the analog with some digital elements, the main example being my Kindle Paperwhite, which through it's screen and portability very much encouraged me to read more often. After all it is much easier to pull a Kindle out of one's blazer pocket than pull a book out of bag. I now wish to replace all my screens with E-ink ones over time.
Without my Kindle this blog post may have never been written because I would have never read The Missing Ink without my Kindle.
Completion
When it comes to stationary I've always had a love for completion.
It struck a chord within me when I saw rows of used Bic biro's.
Sacrificed for one's studies.
Or the remains of a pencil as a "stub" and the collecting of them in a jar.
There was but one problem, keeping stationary around for any decently long period of time was a struggle. Something here or there would always get lost and pencil cases would get holes, leading to bits and pieces falling out into the abyss referred to as "the bottom of my bag".
The solution, which was to get a bigger pencil case without holes and religiously check that everything was accounted for, only came later.
Why I use Pencils over Pens
Tactility
Pencils with all of their scratching provide a resistance that is not too exaggerated as to make the writing experience difficult but not so smooth (like a pen) to feel ethereal.
Sound
Pens have virtually no sound when you write with them, this significantly decreases the satisfaction one can obtain from the act of writing. A pencil much like a Video Game offers immediate feedback to the user.
I liken this to the difference between a membrane and mechanical keyboard, or a phone and a keyboard.
Rituals
For wooden pencils there comes a built in ritual to let you step back and relax for while.
Sharpening
The act of sharpening a pencil is not only satisfying in its own right, but also gives the hand a break from writing to rest for a while.
Erasability
Pencils allow you to erase, however unlike with say deleting in typing, erasing is much more deliberate.
One must turn a pencil upside down or put down the pencil and pick up an eraser/rubber, both of which are very deliberate actions, in order to erase.
Reliability
Pencils are almost guaranteed to write on any surface for writing in any orientation in any temperature.
When being taken on a plane there is no worry.
There is only one weak point to a pencil other than erasing, which in my opinion is all that much of a problem for most situations (other than legal or finance situations), is the paper or medium on which one is writing on, however that goes for any other writing utensil.
Additions
Below are some pictures of the first write up of this blog post - written, of course, in pencil.
Inspiration
James Scholz
Wood & Graphite
The Missing Ink: The Lost Art of Handwriting