Pen and paper… Weekly Recap 8/11/2025
There are so many physical sensations that are associated with writing. There’s the smell of ink, the feel of paper against the side of your hand, and the scratching noise that the tip of the pen makes when it writes. All of those things are incredibly distinct… quite unlike anything else… and if you change just one element in equation, you shift the entire experience.
I’m pretty particular about pens. I’ve tried calligraphy pens, fountain pens, brush pens, ballpoint pens, rollerball pens, dip pens, feather pens, gel pens… you name it, and I’ve probably used it at one point or another.
Let me introduce you to the best (in my opinion):
Okay, no… this isn’t a pen advertisement. I’m just saying that I’m very particular.
And you know what? I don’t write enough with pen and paper.
I used to carry a special pen and notebook around literally everywhere with me. I used it to jot down random ideas or song lyrics that came to mind.
I don’t do that anymore. Now my random ideas go into the notes app on my phone. It’s not the same feel.
And usually when I write, I’m actually typing.
But I’m pretty particular about my keyboards, too. The right keyboard has to have a certain amount of initial resistance, but also a certain amount of give as you press the key. And it needs to make a satisfying sound — it can’t be too “clacky” and it also can’t be too muffled. Give me an aisle full of keyboards and I will slowly walk down it while ghost-typing on each one. And I’ll probably only find one or two that are satisfactory.
Maybe I’m just particular… in general.
Daily writing prompt What do you enjoy most about writing?
View all responses Good morning and happy Monday, friends.
Another late update today because of another interview! I just finished speaking with Erich and Alannah Brown, authors of Modern Hermeticism: A Beginner’s Guide to Ceremonial Magic. In addition to the book, we also discussed different aspects of their practice, including some tidbits on Enochian Magick. You can probably expect to see that raw footage on Patreon in about a week… and then it will be coming to YouTube in a month or so.
I don’t really know what happened this past week. I just can’t quite picture it in my head. And I didn’t take many pictures… well, except this one:
Yeah, it’s a poorly-framed picture of a vending machine. But can you guess where that vending machine lives?
I’ll give you a moment to think about it while I talk about other stuff.
There was a lot of back to school stuff for the kids this past week, like getting student ID’s and going to freshman orientation. It took up a significant amount of time and I think that’s why the week is so blurry… those events are just time sinks.
And so today marked the return of the dreaded schedule shift where the kids go back to school. Luckily, however, they’re both at least going to the same place now… so it’ll just be one trip for a dropoff and one trip for pickup each day — a task that Selene and I will divide and conquer.
I’ve made significant progress on editing Coby Michael’s episode, which will be Season 3, Episode 9. My original plan was to have that posted later this week. As for the reality of that happening, we shall see!
Lots of behind-the-scenes web work is going on, including some edits to the Phoenix Festivals website and an entire overhaul to the Summer Magick Fest website that will be coming soon. Also, my personal homepage now has pre-order links for my book… I’ve seriously been waiting years to put something like that up here, so I’m pretty excited about it.
The final class in The Witch’s Toolkit series is coming up this weekend! I promise you that you don’t want to miss it. It’ll be on runes!
Let’s see… what else was I talking about?
Oh right, vending machines.
That picture was of a vending machine at a car dealership. And no, I’m not planning on compiling a coffee table book titled “Vending Machines of America,” nor do I make a frequent habit of snapping candid photos of them. But Selene and I spent a significant portion of our Saturday in a car dealership… and I was texting her a picture to see what snack she wanted.
We traded in our old, dying car for a better car. So that’s a significant thing checked off from our to-do list.
But yeah, car dealerships are also giant time sinks. Do you think it’s a liminal space for cars? Somewhere they go between their final home and their birth at the factory, just waiting to be picked up by someone?
Like I said, it was a blur.
But don’t worry, I’ve got less blurry things in store for you soon. Stay tuned for more!
#dailyprompt #dailyprompt2034 #paper #pens #updates #vendingMachines
