Microjoy 1: Queen of Cursive
The world shrunk in 2020 and even further in 2021, so I’ve been looking to find new ways to enjoy daily life. I call them ‘microjoys’ and here‘s the first in a series. Allow me to explain the wonder of my fountain pen…
Last year I decided to improve my handwriting. It had been so long since I’d written anything with an actual pen that I was finding it virtually impossible to legibly scrawl my name, let alone complete a sentence without my hand cramping.
I’m a writer so this was a basic skillset I was losing. While I do all my work on my laptop I absolutely hated the idea that I was no longer capable of writing in longhand.
I was taught cursive writing at junior school, and am so old that all my homework and exams were written in longhand. It wasn’t a problem back them but it was now.
If I was going to write beautifully I needed a beautiful pen. I ordered a foutain pen. A cheap Parker just to see what it felt like. Almost immediately I fell in love with the flow of the ink from the nib. I soon needed an upgrade and bought a Wordsworth & Black, followed by a Scriveiner.
Black ink seemed unadventurous so I purchased a box of Purple Violet Parker cartridges and a bottle of Harmonious Green ink from Waterman, that I also fell in love with.
The joy that I get from picking up that W&B pen (as seen above) and writing my to-do list every day is unimaginable. In the evenings, now in our third (or is it our fourth?) lockdown, I’ll watch something and write down the lines as they’re said to practice my writing. I have notebooks full of random words from various TV shows.
I love it when the ink runs out and can dip the nib in the ink and fill up the ink converter. It’s a meticulous moment of concentration and always helps to take my mind off the dystopian contagious nightmare on the doorstep.
You can tear down your four walls with words, and if you’re using a fountain pen you can also make it a magnificent joy too.
My writing has improved so much that I’m now adding flourishes to my y’s and g’s like some kind of Queen of Cursive. The pen makes me feel like I’m working on something important even if it’s meaningless scribble but I’m no expert. Visit Instagram to see the professionals and the die hards showboat with their Mont Blancs and pricey leatherbound notebooks.
But if you’re looking for a simple joy — a tiny moment in the day that lifts you from the norm — invest in a fountain pen, and go with the flow.
