Unattributed

So, I noticed something odd the other day. I was writing in a notebook using my Asvine V126 with Diamine Writer's Blood. When I came home I grabbed by V200 with Writer's Blood to finish what I was writing, but the color / shading of the ink was very different. It was a lot darker and more saturated from the V200 vs the V126.

I compared the nibs under my loupe, but they seem to be mostly the same (ie, tines about the same width, no mis-alignment, etc.)

So, I decided to take things a step further and made the image in this message. Note both the Diamine Aurora Borealis and Writer's Blood seem to have quite different characteristics.

(I should mention: all pens were recently cleaned, and all filled at the same time from the same bottle(s) of ink...)

Anyone have any thoughts on why this would be the case?

Now that it's been a couple of months since the Journaling January event, I have a question.

Is there something else that we want to do before the next FediWriMo in November? There are seven months between now and FediWriMo, so if we wanted to have another event, or possibly two, we could.

Please comment on any style of writing even you would be interested in having. Let's discuss any ideas that you have.

Photo by Leeloo The First:

Time for a tale of two inks, this time feature Wordsworth and Black Racing Green and Royal Blue.

So, let's start with something important: neither of these inks are accurately represented in their packaging. The Royal Blue box hints that there is more purple tones in it than the swab shows. But the shocking one is the Racing Green, it not only looks nothing like the representation on the box, but it isn't even close to a "racing green" (aka Rally Green). The box actually does look like "Racing Green".

And, I didn't include them, but the labels on the bottle are just as bad.

Honestly, Racing Green is so bad, I just flushed it out of my pen, and loaded it with Aurora Borealis instead.

The Royal Blue, despite the misrepresentation, is a pretty nice blue. It's a bit more saturated than the TWSBI Blue, and less purple than the Diamine Majestic Blue. I think it makes for a good alternative to the Oxford Blue which is my standard.

Question: has anyone done extensive testing on any fountain pen inks?

I don't mean the standard Mountain of Ink style, sample card, writing sample, etc. visual comparisons. (I'd like to call this subjective measurement, but chromatographic measurements aren't subjective if done in a controlled manner.)

I am thinking more objective testing: viscosity, density, flow rate @ a given line width, etc.

I was thinking about this type of testing tonight, and it seems to me that there are a lot of factors that would need to be controlled: temperature, air pressure / barometric pressure, nib consistency, friction (aka heat), etc. Given what I was thinking this could be an interesting experiment, if someone wanted to undertake controlling all the variables, and implementing the controls necessary for consistent results.

Trying out a little paper I wasn't familiar with: Maruman Mnemosyne.

The quote: “When all else fails, write what your heart tells you. You can’t depend on your eyes, when your imagination is out of focus.” -- Mark Twain

• Pen: Asvine V126, Steel Nib
• Ink: Diamine Writer's Blood
• Paper: Maruman Mnemosyne

The paper did really well: no spidering, no bleed through. Of course, Writer's Blood isn't the wettest of inks. I'll try another pen / ink combo to see how well this paper fares.

So, I was ordering stuff from Amazon the other night... I'd come across this #pen a week or so ago, and I couldn't get the ink window out of my mind. It was cheap, so I wasn't expecting much - but I had to satisfy my curiosity.

This pen is from a company called Wilknd. Never heard of them, only other listing is for a fairly generic looking ballpoint pen.

What I received is actually a fairly respectable #fountainpen - especially for $15, compared to junk like Beiluner or Scrivenier.

Brass case, plated gold, fine nib (listing says 0.5mm, but it writes like an EF), interesting design (I don't recall seeing anything like this), a snap cap with a liner, installed syringe-style converter. I filled it with Hongdian Blue ink and tried writing a page -- enjoy my crappy penmanship. Lol.

#fountainpenfirstimpressions #fountainpenfun #penlife

Introduction

So, this is the end of the Journaling January event for 2026.

It's been a long thirty-one days, and I am not even certain how many people actually followed along with the event. I have been happy to see many of the prompt posts getting quite a few likes, so I have to believe there were people that were following along.

Personal Recap

Let me lead the way on this one, and if you were participating, please add comments about your own experience below.

A couple W's:

1. Personally, I was happy that I was able to keep to writing every single day. Even during the FediWriMo event last year, I had a day when I didn't write anything, so sticking to my guns and writing even when I didn't feel like it was a win for me.

2. Another win: writing more than the stated goal. Yes, it got out of hand a few times (eleven pages in one day?). But most of the time I was writing just what I wanted to get down on the page. If it took three pages, fine. If it took seven pages, okay.

3. Finding something meaningful in the prompts to write about. I didn't mention this as much as I could have, but while I didn't always sit down to write based on one of the prompts, I found them working their way into my entries. That was something I hadn't considered... Just letting them come up in the natural flow of my writing.

A couple of L's:

1. I didn't really improve my penmanship. I was hoping that writing this much would help. But the idea of writing cleanly and getting the thoughts down on the page really seem to be at odds with each other.

2. The prompt images. Yeah, okay, they weren't good at first. I had to redo them to make them more readable. Lesson learned.

3. And, I will say this, some of the entries in my journal this month have more "fluff" in them than I would have liked. It seems like there were times when I was trying to get an idea on the page, but I just couldn't get the ideas to coalesce properly.

In Closing

So, that's the end of the event for this year. Did you follow along? Did you use any of the prompts? let us know about your experiences below.

Somewhere down the Line

There is this thing that many people have problems doing: having a vision for themselves. They don't want to think about five or ten years when they are struggling to make it through today. And it makes sense. But, there is something to be said for having a vision of where you want to be, even if that is just "not in my current situation."

Day Thirty-One Prompt

I won't talk about "self-actualization" or any other psuedo-psychology, self-help mumbo jumbo (although Mumbo is a pretty entertaining Minecraft player). However, sometimes the way to get started on something is to actually write about what you want.

What Do I Want My Life to Look like in Five Years? In Ten Years?

Note: These prompts are being supplied as a completely optional item for you to use, if you are stuck on what to write. In fact, you might want to use one of the earlier prompts later in the month if you get stuck.

Closing Note

So, it's the last day of the event. Tomorrow I will post a final leader-board for the community to see who completed the event.

If you haven’t posted before, leave us a comment below. We’d love to get to know all the participants in the event.

Alone Time

Are you the kind of person that likes to have alone time? Personally, I am the kind of person that really needs alone time. I cannot handle too much social activity, unless it's in small groups.

Day Thirty Prompt

So do you have any favorite things to do when you are alone? Talk about them in this journal entry. Don't try to cover all of them. Think of this as a prompt you can reuse from time to time to talk about different things, or when you discover something new to do.

What Do You Do When You Are Alone?

Note: These prompts are being supplied as a completely optional item for you to use, if you are stuck on what to write. In fact, you might want to use one of the earlier prompts later in the month if you get stuck.

Leader Board Update

I've been giving this a bit of thought. I think posting the leaderboard in here twice a week should be sufficient to show the progress the participants are making in the goal. My current thought is to post it on Sunday and Thursday, but I might change the days if I think of a reason to.

Instead, I will supply the link to the leaderboard most days. If you want to join us in the event, use the Join Code listed in the sidebar on the right.

Resources

If you haven’t seen them already, we have two (hopefully) helpful documents:

• Introduction To Journaling
• TrackBear Set Up Guide

And, if you didn’t have it already, here is the link to the TrackBear App.

Closing Note

If you haven’t posted before, leave us a comment below. We’d love to get to know all the participants in the event.

Interview Someone You Admire

Who are people you admire? Are they alive? The fact they are no longer alive would be one issue for me, another would be the likely language barrier. The person I am thinking of was German. As far as I am aware, they didn't speak English. At least not to a level that an English interview would be possible. (I've read a fair amount about them, and read interviews - and all of them were translated.)

Day Twenty-Nine Prompt

Who would you interview, if you could? Would you have the problems I mentioned above? If those were things that would be an issue: what would you ask them if that barrier didn't exist? Do you think you know the answers, but would just like them to confirm what you think you know? Or are there things that you genuinely don't know?

What Questions Would You Ask Someone You Admire If You Had the Chance to Interview Them?

Note: These prompts are being supplied as a completely optional item for you to use, if you are stuck on what to write. In fact, you might want to use one of the earlier prompts later in the month if you get stuck.

Leader Board Update

I've been giving this a bit of thought. I think posting the leaderboard in here twice a week should be sufficient to show the progress the participants are making in the goal. My current thought is to post it on Sunday and Thursday, but I might change the days if I think of a reason to.

Instead, I will supply the link to the leaderboard most days. If you want to join us in the event, use the Join Code listed in the sidebar on the right.

Resources

If you haven’t seen them already, we have two (hopefully) helpful documents:

• Introduction To Journaling
• TrackBear Set Up Guide

And, if you didn’t have it already, here is the link to the TrackBear App.

Closing Note

If you haven’t posted before, leave us a comment below. We’d love to get to know all the participants in the event.

It's So Special

Collectors know all about this one - but in a bad way. You always want to get something that is special: a limited edition playing card, an album that was misprinted, that first edition book that there are only a hundred known copies of.

Day Twenty-Eight Prompt

Objects have special value to us. Whether it's a collectible, a knick-knack you bought to mark a life event, a family heirloom, they are special. All of them are wroth writing about.

Write About an Object that Is Special to You. Why Is It Special? What Is Its Significance to You?

Note: These prompts are being supplied as a completely optional item for you to use, if you are stuck on what to write. In fact, you might want to use one of the earlier prompts later in the month if you get stuck.

Leader Board Update

I've been giving this a bit of thought. I think posting the leader-board in here twice a week should be sufficient to show the progress the participants are making in the goal. My current thought is to post it on Sunday and Thursday, but I might change the days if I think of a reason to.

Instead, I will supply the link to the leaderboard most days. If you want to join us in the event, use the Join Code listed in the sidebar on the right.

Resources

If you haven’t seen them already, we have two (hopefully) helpful documents:

• Introduction To Journaling
• TrackBear Set Up Guide

And, if you didn’t have it already, here is the link to the TrackBear App.

Closing Note

If you haven’t posted before, leave us a comment below. We’d love to get to know all the participants in the event.

Miss You

There are people that you come across in your life that you really appreciate. Some people have the power to leave an indelible mark on you and deserve to be remembered.

Day Twenty-Seven Prompt

Choose someone that you really appreciated having in your life, but isn't anymore. The reason doesn't make a difference. Write about what that person meant to you.

Write About Someone You Miss.

Note: These prompts are being supplied as a completely optional item for you to use, if you are stuck on what to write. In fact, you might want to use one of the earlier prompts later in the month if you get stuck.

Leader Board Update

I've been giving this a bit of thought. I think posting the leaderboard in here twice a week should be sufficient to show the progress the participants are making in the goal. My current thought is to post it on Sunday and Thursday, but I might change the days if I think of a reason to.

Instead, I will supply the link to the leaderboard most days. If you want to join us in the event, use the Join Code listed in the sidebar on the right.

Resources

If you haven’t seen them already, we have two (hopefully) helpful documents:

• Introduction To Journaling
• TrackBear Set Up Guide

And, if you didn’t have it already, here is the link to the TrackBear App.

Closing Note

If you haven’t posted before, leave us a comment below. We’d love to get to know all the participants in the event.