Day Six: Sheaffer Imperial II with Kiowa Pecan

For day six, I chose a nice burgundy Sheaffer Imperial II Deluxe that I bought as new old stock from Peyton Street Pens. This pen was made in the early 1960s, and has a palladium silver Triumph style nib and the Touchdown filling system. It is one of the last of the fountain pens produced as serious writing instruments, before the craze for cartridge fillers and the dominance of cheap, disposable ballpoints.

Although brown is a colour I prefer to use for many manuscripts, I had not used a brown ink yet in this series of tests, so I decided to ink it up with Noodlers Kiowa Pecan. The filling system on this pen is a pleasure to use. You just unscrew the knob, pull out the plunger, dip the nib into the ink bottle, and push the plunger down. After you wait a moment, the pen is filled with enough ink to last you for a solid day's writing.

This Sheaffer is light, since it is made mostly of plastic, but it sits nicely in the hand and is very easy to write with. The nib is incredibly smooth, in part because the tip is slightly upturned. This design feature, first seen in the Waverley nib back in 1864 and all but forgotten by most pen manufacturers. By altering the angle at which the nib meets the paper, it causes it to write more smoothly than it otherwise would. As a result, this pen is a dream to write with. It is another pen every serious writer ought to think about owning. My only real concern with it is that the clip, although it does snap onto the body, does not do so securely enough for my tastes. I'd never consider clipping one of these in a shirt pocket; I'd always carry it in a pouch, lest something happen to it. When considered in terms of the price, and performance, of modern pens, this pen was an incredible bargain.

Kiowa Pecan is a nice medium brown, although it is a bit duller than my favourite browns. It is also a fairly dry ink, although with this nib, that was never an issue. At times, this can even be an advantage, since it seems to dry more quickly on the page than many other inks. If you are concerned about drying times, this would be a good ink to consider. It is also a nice colour for manuscripts, dark enough to read easily, although marking up a page written in Kiowa Pecan with some reds or oranges might prevent your edits from standing out easily. On the other hand, any very dark ink will show up just fine.

Altogether on day six, I managed to write another 1,992 words, for a total to date of 12,612 words. Since this total averages out to slightly more than two thousand words per day, I am comfortably ahead of my target. On the other hand, I dare not allow myself to grow complacent, since a single day of laziness could melt that lead away and leave me barely where I need to be. And, of course, the later in the month it is, the more serious any slowdown can be.

Day Five: TWSBI Diamond 540 with Navajo Turquoise

For day five, I chose a sturdy workhorse of a pen, my new TWSBI Diamond 540 with an extra fine nib, filled with Noodlers Navajo Turquoise. This is one of the first four hundred Diamond 540s made (specifically, one of the first hundred with extra fine nibs), and I've already used it extensively, so there were no surprises. There is a certain pleasure in using a familiar pen, one you know just what to expect from.

Upon later reflection, evaluating any pen the day after my introduction to the Merlin Perfect seems unfair, so be sure to read my second test of a TWSBI, the earlier Diamond 530, to get a clearer idea of what this pen is really like. And, as you read on, note that even after having my expectations raised so high, I was pleased enough with the Diamond 540 to keep from utterly savaging it; not many pens would have fared so well this day...

Although the more I use vintage pens, the more firmly I am convinced that no modern pen can even approach what used to be taken for granted, I am still a big fan of TWSBI pens. They are relatively inexpensive, superbly designed, and sturdy. They work well and are dependable. If they were only fitted with a truly excellent nib, they'd be the equal of any pen in the world. But excellent nibs are not made any longer. Even decent nibs, by the standards of vintage pens, are no longer to be had. The best nibs available are distinctly pedestrian.

For a modern pen, the TWSBI has a very nice nib. Most of the time, I'm perfectly happy using my TWSBI, but this experience suffered by comparison with the truly amazing Merlin Perfect I used the day before, and the Eversharp Ventura I used only a few days before. Still, the TWSBI is a nice large pen, a piston filler that holds enough ink to write several chapters at once without pausing. It is designed to be fully user serviceable, and comes in a well thought out storage box that, deservedly, won an international design award.

It writes well if not exceptionally, and gives no trouble. TWSBI nibs seem to tend toward the dry, but not so much so as to be unpleasant. The extra fine nib gives a very fine line, which is useful either for marking up, or just for squeezing in a few words above the line, something that is often necessary when an alternate phrasing comes to mind, just too late. The clear body on the demonstrator model I used gives an excellent view of the remaining ink supply, preventing unwelcome surprises. It is also beautiful in its own right, and enhances the appearance of whatever colour of ink you load it up with.

The Diamond 540 is a good working writer's tool, a pen that might not provide much inspiration, but does get the job done without any fuss. I'd recommend any serious writer to have at least one on hand. It is possible to buy extra nib units for this pen, and the units are interchangeable, so you can use it with different nibs. On the other hand, it is such a useful pen, it is worth having more than one in different nib widths. Even as I discover just how much better a vintage pen can be, I'm still convinced of the value of my Diamond 540, and plan to get one or two more. They are relatively inexpensive, easy to replace or repair, and hold buckets of ink. In situations where you want something good enough to rely on, instead of just a throw-away pen, but still don't want to risk an irreplaceable pen, the TWSBI is the perfect choice.

Noodlers Navajo Turquoise is a nice, light turquoise blue that I enjoy using for many manuscripts. It is a bit drier than the wettest Noodlers inks, but still wet enough to make for an enjoyable writing experience. It is a bit light to read easily in dim light, but on the other hand, you can easily mark up an manuscript written in Navajo Turquoise using either the usual red or orange inks, or any darker ink, since that will stand out equally well. Only the most ardent fans of turquoise will want to use this exclusively, but it is a nice choice for variety. Personally, this is another of the inks that I try to keep on hand all the time.

Altogether on day five, I wrote 2,449 words, bringing me up to 10,620 words to date. Despite the problems, I've managed to stay on target so far, and even pull slightly ahead of where I need to be to finish without the necessity of struggling to catch up. I love taking part in NaNo, because I always learn a little bit more about writing, but this time, I'm learning a great deal about my pens as well. For all the drama, and all the work involved in trying to catch up, I'm pleased that I decided to do this.

Day Four: Merlin Perfect with Diamine Denim

For the fourth day, I chose a beautiful vintage Merlin Perfect I bought from Allard Borst, over at the Fountain Pen Network. This is a German made pen that was manufactured specifically for the Dutch market, and the Perfect appears to have been made in the 1930s, although I don't have detailed information on it. I had not yet tried this pen, and I was eager to see how it performed, so I decided to fill it with Diamine Denim. The pen quickly lived up to the promise of its name.

It was fascinating writing with this pen. I've used, and enjoyed, other vintage pens, but something about the design of this specific pen causes it to "handle" differently than any of the pens I've tried. It took a bit of getting used to, but the overall effect was to give a certain 'old-fashioned' appearance to my handwriting. I wasn't specifically trying to flex the nib, since that often requires specific attention, and I'm trying to write quickly, but the nib flexed easily, just as a natural response to my writing. In addition, the nib seems to project a bit further from the section, and this makes the whole process of controlling the tip a bit different than what I'm used to.

It is not that the pen is awkward, simply that my habits aren't attuned to the way it works. Someone who only drove a pickup truck might have trouble getting used to a sports car, for similar reasons. Even in my first moments getting used to it, it was obvious the pen was carefully and very well designed. This would appear to have been a reasonably ordinary pen in its day, which is amazing to me. I don't tend to buy the expensive modern "limited editions", with their artificial scarcity to drive up the price. They just don't have enough to offer me. But if a pen like this one was available, at triple the price of any of the most exclusive limited editions, I'd start saving my money.

It is a beautiful pen, made of green and black striped celluloid, but I wouldn't buy it for its looks. It is performance where this pen really shines. I've used a lot of pens, some of which cost me much more than this one did, and I've really enjoyed some of them. But if I absolutely had to make do with only a single pen, laying sentimental considerations aside, it just might be this Merlin Perfect. The nib is responsive in a way no other nib I've tried has been, it flexes easily and naturally, and although it is a slightly more demanding nib than some, it is smooth and comfortable to write with.

Lest it seem that I'm merely carried away by a momentary enthusiasm, I must add that my enjoyment of this pen was in spite of the fact it violated one of my most basic requirements in a pen. While writing, I had to stop and refill it twice, for a total of three fills. I dislike the necessity of stopping in the midst of a thought to fill a pen, and make a special effort to stick to pens that hold enough ink to last for at least a day. I did, finally, switch to another pen to finish when the third fill ran out, but that was with reluctance, and only because my cats were very active, and my bottles of Diamine tucked away in a very inconvenient place, due to their awkward size. Any pen that can leave me happy after interrupting my writing three times in a single day is a special pen indeed. (I must confess that at least some of the problem was my fault; I'm not sure of the exact ink capacity, but while cleaning the pen, I discovered that in my haste, I hadn't been pressing the button firmly enough, so I wasn't allowing the pen to fill properly. But even before I knew this, I was happy with it in spite of what I'd normally consider a fatal flaw.)

The Merlin Perfect is a fairly hard pen to find, and this is the only one I own, so I don't know if every single one sported such an amazing nib. But the design alone, and the possibility of another nib like this one, are enough to make me consider this a pen every writer ought to be on the lookout for. Just be aware, you'll be competing with me... I now desire to own every single Merlin Perfect I can get my hands on. Writing is such fun with one of these in hand, it is harder to stop than to keep going. And the quality of the writing it produces is an inspiration in itself.

Diamine Denim, as its name implies, is a nice, dark blue, what I think of as an indigo. It is nice and wet and smooth, but it is hard for me to really judge this ink. I like it, and I plan on getting another bottle when this one runs low - but the drabbest of inks, the dullest and least attractive shade you could possibly find, would look beautiful flowing out of this nib. I recently began trying Diamine because it is one of two brands Richard Binder specifically mentions as being most trouble-free for use in pens that aren't as easily cleaned out, such as button fillers - and Watermans has a much more limited range of colours.

It is a nice dark blue, a colour that is easy to see, and would be easy enough to mark up using any bright ink for contrast. As such, it could be a nice choice for writing manuscripts, although writers should be aware that this is an ink which may not stand up well to water. If your manuscript gets wet, you could probably read what you had written, but even that is not guranteed. Like most (but not all) inks, Denim is a bit duller and less appealing when dry than it is when it first goes on wet, but it is still a nice looking dark blue.

As a footnote to those who are following what pens I'm using in this manuscript, when the ink ran out for the third time, I finished the day with the Wality 77D I used for my initial notes, still filled with Noodlers Air Corps Blue Black. I wrote 1,903 words, for a total to date of 8,171 words. Despite the fun I'm having trying out different pens, I was sad to think I won't be using my beautiful Perfect pen for a while. I understand the photos I'm posting are not ideal - this is the largest image size Blogger is allowing me to select - but try to look at the writing in the photo above. The interesting aspect of my handwriting, the real character, is due to the pen, while the fact it is still an illegible scrawl is my own fault. That's what you get when you are trying to write fast enough to keep up with your thoughts.

Day Three: Hero 616 with Nikita

For the third day, I chose another inexpensive pen, a Chinese Hero 616. This is a cheap clone of the Parker 51. Actually, it is made in the old factory Parker had in China. When the People's Republic of China took over the factory, they used the original tooling, with a few modifications, to turn out similar pens, made with less expensive materials and much lower quality control standards. The most striking difference between the original '51' and the reworked '616' is the narrow ink window added to the 616. Considering the Hero's heritage, it seems appropriately ironic to fill it with Noodlers Nikita.

I have several of these pens, and the filler in every one is difficult to use. I had not inked this particular pen up yet, and when I tried to fill it, I wasn't sure if it would take up enough ink to be worth writing with. I was completely unable, no matter how many times I squeezed the pressure bar, to draw up enough ink to appear - at all - in the clear sac. Even though these pens are inexpensive, this carelessness with something as simple as the filler unit seems strange. The nibs write well, but they can't even make the pen so it's able to fully load up with ink?

I was annoyed, but I decided that I'd at least give the pen a try before I moved on to something else. Stopping in the middle of writing to refill a pen is a distraction I'd rather avoid, and especially when refilling is so difficult and annoying, but since I'd decided to 'test drive' this Hero, I felt I ought to at least see how it worked. I've been using fountain pens for nearly forty years, but in testing one after another so close together, under the conditions I'm using them under, I'm learning things I've never bothered to pay attention to. In this case, I discovered that even though the pen didn't take up much ink, the fine nib used so little that I was able to keep writing all day without refilling.

I'd still like to have a filler that worked well, so the pen would hold even more ink, but even in the sorry state it came in, it is usable after all. My second surprise was to notice just how much the nib affected how many words I was able to fit on a page. I knew I could fit more words in with a finer nib, of course, but since I usually use the same pen for a certain story, I never noticed just how much difference it can make. For the same reason, I never noticed just how much a particular pen can affect my handwriting. You can tell that it was written by the same person, but every pen and every ink lends a slightly different character to my writing. Until I started this project, I never realised just how pronounced that altered character could be.

As for Nikita, it is a nice, basic red, a pure red for those who want one. It is a bit dry, like most reds, but not excessively so, and it worked and flowed well. I doubt that I'd want to write most of my manuscripts in red, as the colour can be a bit overwhelming in such quantity, but it might be an interesting option in a few cases. Such a manuscript would be very easy to mark up in black or any other dark colour, as the edits would stand out just as plainly as red or orange ink will on a manuscript written in black. And this is an excellent ink to use for marking up.

The Hero is a nice basic writer, but it might be better for markup as well. The fine nib is ideal for that purpose, and the fact that it is neither as comfortable in the hand nor as effortless a writer as the Parker 51 it is based on would make less difference under conditions where it was being used to jot words here and there, rather than writing continuously with it. It isn't a bad pen to write with, and it is cheap enough that it is another excellent choice to take with you when you don't know what might happen. But if you own any good pens, the Hero 616 is not ever going to be one of your favourite writers.

That isn't to say it is a bad pen. For the price, it's a bargain. Despite my misgivings about the amount of ink I could get into it, it wrote with no trouble and let me put 2,781 words on paper, for a total of 6,268 words through the end of the day. For those who are keeping track, to be "on target", I'd need 5,001 words by the end of the third day, so I'm actually slightly ahead of my goal.

Day Two: Eversharp Ventura with Purple Heart

I decided to try a nice vintage Eversharp Ventura that I just got in October but hadn't found the time to try yet, and I filled it up with Noodlers Purple Heart, an ink exclusively available from Goulet Pens. I've heard a lot about Eversharp nibs, but this was the first time I'd ever tried one for myself. And the Purple Heart was just too beautiful a colour to resist.

Since the power was finally back, I wasn't nearly as uncomfortable, but I decided to continue to test my pens and inks under more difficult conditions. I often like to write outdoors in the good weather, or to take a pad and pen with me to write wherever I am, so I determined that I'd go on writing for the month without using a desk. I'd hold the pad in my hand, or prop it up wherever I happened to be. This is a much more difficult way to write, but that makes for an excellent test of how well each pen works under the most difficult possible conditions.

Although I am no expert on Eversharps, this particular Ventura appears to have the smaller nib which indicates it was one of the last Eversharp pens ever produced, possibly in 1957. If that is true, this pen was made while the company struggled, unsuccessfully, to avoid bankruptcy. Still, the nib more than lived up to the Eversharp reputation. It is smooth and wet, and skated across the paper with the same ease and grace an Olympic gold medal skater would skim across the ice. In fact, it often seemed as if I only had to wave the tip of the pen over the page, and it would leave behind a nice line of ink, as if it were a magic wand.

This single experience was enough to make me long to own more Eversharps in the future. Even the fact it ran out of ink just a few lines before I was done writing for the night failed to dampen my enthusiasm. (I continued with the Platinum Preppy, rather than go through the ritual of reinking just to add a few more lines.) Everyone who spends a lot of time writing should have an Eversharp or two to fall back upon on those days when they are desperate to send their thoughts racing across the page, and even a little difficulty may interrupt the process.

The nib even manages to make some of my more ordinary pens seem almost as clumsy as ballpoints. Now I understand why there is such a mystique surrounding Eversharps. The fact that the company went bankrupt while Wearever continued to make fountain pens for more than a decade longer - I bought a Wearever when I was in school, and it was only one of two fountain pens I've ever owned that I loathed - makes it very plain that the quality of a product has absolutely no connection with a company's financial success. If that were so, then Eversharp would still be in business, still making pens like this.

As for the ink, Purple Heart only recently became available, after a period of collaboration between Nathan Tardiff of Noodlers Ink and the Goulets. It is a beautiful, slightly reddish purple, which suits the name perfectly. I think the colour and the name together represent a very classy choice. I was really drawn to the ink, though, because the sample I saw online suggested it would be a unique purple, one that stands out from all the other purple shades available. In that, I was not at all disappointed.

I'm afraid the photo absolutely does not do this ink justice. I am still swamped with odds and ends that piled up while the power was out, so taking the time to scan the page is beyond my ability at the moment, but I wish you could see this ink in all its glory. Although I suspect even a scan would appear flat next to the true richness of the actual ink on the surface of the paper.

As you've probably guessed, I love Purple Heart. The colour is deep and rich, the ink is nice and wet and flows well, and it makes a nice dark line that nevertheless is unmistakably purple. It is well suited for writing a manuscript, and while only the most dedicated purple lovers would want to own no other inks, this is an ink I'd hate to run out of. Even if you aren't writing a war story, so the association fails to prove helpful, this is an ink that looks so nice on the page it encourages you to keep on writing. And, if you're writing a story for which a very impressive and beautiful purple is appropriate, the ink itself is easily enough to inspire you.

All in all, this was a fun day of writing. I woke up feeling dreadful after my long ordeal, I had errands to run... but I ended the day happy, and thoroughly attached to the pen and the ink that I'd tried out for the first time, having had a great experience with both of them. And even after all the delayed errands, I managed to write 1,732 words, for a total of 3,487, which is hardly spectacular but is certainly comfortably more than I needed to stay on target.

Day One: Necessity, Platinum Preppy with Heart of Darkness

As I began to write my novel, the power was still out. It was cold, I was bundled in several layers, and limited to natural light. Under the circumstances, I abandoned my careful plans to begin with a special pen, and decided to snatch the first pen I could lay my hands on that was already inked, likely to give me little trouble, and - most important - easy to replace later if the adverse conditions caused me to drop it or somehow damage it. With those criteria, the choice was a simple one. I reached for my Platinum Preppy filled with Noodlers Heart of Darkness ink.

With pen in hand, I sat down and started to write. I was perched in a chair by the window, writing by the last of the afternoon light, then by a battery powered LED headlamp strapped to my forehead. It wasn't the ideal way to begin a novel, but with my trusty Preppy in hand, at least I was able to do so. Heart of Darkness, as I already knew, flows very well, and goes onto the paper in a smooth, dark line. I found this darkness especially helpful, since I was trying to see what I was doing in such limited light. Even in the cold, I had little trouble with it drying on the page, although I did wait a few seconds before flipping a completed page over.

The pen was easy to grip, and the nib was nice and smooth and wet, so I had as little trouble as possible. It is the "Noodlers" variant eyedropper filler, which is included in the box with the Heart of Darkness ink. In most respects it is identical to any other Platinum Preppy, save for the fact that the internal fitting that accepts a cartridge has been removed, an o-ring has been added to seal the barrel, and Noodlers somehow obtained these without the usual labeling, so the barrel is completely clear. I prefer this, as it makes it very easy to see the ink level at a glance.

I did have one interesting experience in these conditions. I've used eyedroppers, and never before seen the behaviour I've been warned about, where as the ink gets low, the warmth of your hand causes the air in the barrel to expand and excess ink to flow out of the pen. As it happened, the ink was very low when I began, as the barrel was less than a quarter full. The air and the pen were very cold. My hand may have felt chilly, but it was at least thirty degrees warmer than anything else... One reason I believe that I usually don't have any trouble even when an eyedropper filler is getting low is because I usually tilt the nib up in the air every time I pause to think. On this day, huddled against the cold, I failed to do this.

If you've read this far, and read the horror stories about eyedropper fillers "burping", you no doubt imagine that I ruined at least one page of my manuscript. I hate to disappoint you, but even under such "ideal" conditions for an inkatastrophe, all I noticed was a swell of ink atop the nib, and the line it lay down was a little heavier. Of course, as soon as I noticed this, I tilted the nib up to let the ink drain back into the section, then continued. I had a few moments when the nib was covered with a thicker than usual film of ink, but no real problems at all. Even at forty degrees, clutched in a much warmer hand, the dreaded eyedropper filler, scourge of so many fountain pen lovers, failed to foil my novel writing efforts. The moral of the story: if you write a lot, and develop practical habits, such as tilting the nib up in the air whenever you pause, as well as observing the way your pen is behaving, you can avoid a multitude of problems.

The final result was a word count of 1,755 words in all. As anyone who is familiar with NaNo probably already knows by heart, if you can manage to write 1,667 words each and every day of November, by the end of the month, you'll have 50,000 words. In other words, despite being miserable, I was able to meet my goal, even to go over by a tiny margin. I was happy to call that a victory. (And, yes, I counted all the words. It obviously wasn't possible for me to type them in to get a word count, and it turns out counting them is considerably faster, too. Once I'm more caught up, I may begin typing in what I've written, but for the time being, I'll be hand counting the finished pages. As long as you count each page, instead of waiting until you're done for the day, it is a manageable chore.)

My conclusions are simple. Heart of Darkness is an absolute essential to have around. I felt this way before I began my adventure, and the experience of seeing just how well it shows up on the paper even in the worst light has only strengthened my conviction that this is an ink no serious writer should ever be without. As for the Preppy, it isn't the most fun or exciting pen to use, and there's nothing special about it, but it holds enough ink to write multiple chapters without refilling, it is cheap, durable for the price, and even more reliable than I dared to hope. I'd hate to be limited to using nothing but a Preppy, but it's a very good pen to have around for situations where a better or more expensive pen might be at risk. It's also a great pen for clipping into your shirt pocket for taking notes under any and all circumstances. If you lose it or break it, it is easy enough to replace, after all.

Battered But Not Beaten (Yet)

On Saturday, I decided to get in a good walk, since I wasn't sure what the next few days might hold. I believed that I would be just about able to miss the beginning of the storm. I was almost right; I only missed it by about half an hour. I walked a little more than eight miles, and toward the end of that time, it began to rain. At first it was light, barely a sprinkle. The last fifteen minutes or so it was a downpour. I was soaked. I've been wet before, so that didn't trouble me overmuch... I got into the car, hoping the heater would warm me up. Long before I was warm, we smelled exhaust, and assumed we were pulling it in from the car ahead of us. That car went away, and we still smelled exhaust.

It soon became painfully obvious that our own exhaust system was leaking, and the only way to continue safely was to open the windows. I was soaking wet, it was cold outside, and everything that could possibly happen to slow us down did happen. By the time we got home, I was as cold as I've ever been in my life. On top of that, the car was having more and more difficulty running, and it became obvious we'd need to have it towed for a repair before we could use it again. I inhaled a nice warm pizza, and gulped the hottest hot chocolate I could bear to swallow. Finally, I began to thaw, about the time it began snowing. The power flickered a few times, but stayed on until we went to bed. It went out very shortly after that, and the house started cooling off.

I managed to endure the next day, Sunday, fairly well, even though we were unable to go out. The main street we live off was totally blocked, and the side street that leads from it to our house was closed. I walked down, but there were branches down everywhere, and wires on the ground, so I didn't dare approach too closely. There is a back way out, but our car was just not up to the task. Still, some warmth remained in the house, so it wasn't too bad. On Monday, I walked down to take a better look. Trees had toppled, several poles snapped off, and there were wires and even a transformer scattered in the middle of the street. The main wires that served much of our end of the town were involved, as well as the wires leading off that to our street.

I took a bit of a walk, which helped warm me up, but spent the rest of the time huddled in the house, wearing sweaters and jackets. We had no heat, no hot water, no stove, so it was tough. They had no loaner car available at our garage, so we couldn't even do anything about the car. And seeking out a shelter wasn't really an option, not with two cats. We did have friends who delivered a few thermoses of hot water and a nice, hot roasted chicken. We devoured that while it was still warm, and gave the scraps to the cats, who were as anxious for something that wasn't cold as we were. I walked down that night, and there was - finally - a power truck parked by the downed wires. They looked them over, shone lights here and there, and drove off. My heart nearly broke. Sleeping was difficult.

Tuesday was the first day of NaNo, so I had over sixteen hundred words to write if I didn't want to fall behind. I grabbed the first pen I could lay hands on that was inked up, one that I didn't mind using with fingers somewhat numb from the chill. I figured I could always use, and post about, more interesting pens later. Somehow, I made my goal. We also managed to have our car towed off and exchange it for a loaner. We went out and found someplace that already had power, and got hot chocolate and hot food. That was a bigger deal than starting the novel. Power trucks were working down the street, but they appeared to be making little progress. By evening, the power was still out, and the men were just standing around.

We went out for the evening, and when we came back, the power was back on. While that was a wonderful moment - light, and heat! - it did have its pitfalls. Every surface in the house had cooled down. We have steam heat, and with the house so cold, it laboured to take off the chill. The vent that happened to be convenient for the excess steam to escape was the wrong one from my perspective. My computer, monitor, and a number of other things were literally dripping with condensation when I discovered the problem. We wiped everything down, but since I had no way of knowing just how far the moisture had penetrated, I felt I had no choice but to wait more than forty eight hours to give everything time to dry out before I checked to see if it was damaged.

An unrelated issue caused me to get almost no sleep last night. I was finally able to plug in my computer, and connected to the internet for the first time in days just an hour ago. Everything I've checked so far seems to be fine, although I'm most worried about an external hard drive with a huge amount of data on it that I haven't yet had time to warm up and check out. I am, so far, on schedule, and I've used some very interesting pens and inks. I have photos (I even have some photos of the storm damage), but I haven't had the time to transfer them to the computer yet. I haven't written my daily word count for today yet, either. And I'm going to need to get to bed early.

So I hope to start posting as I'm able to find the time. But we're still getting back to normal, and tomorrow we'll have to spend a lot of time shopping and restocking things we dare not go without. I don't know how long it is going to take me to catch up, but I ask you to please be patient. Since both writing posts and posting photos takes up time, I may post about my experience, then add the photos later, or I may try to add them as I write the post. I'm just not sure right now. I do want to offer a very big thank you to those of you who commented; it is encouraging to know that someone out there is reading these words and rooting for me.

As for the last word in the title of this post, I'm not giving up. But I also don't feel confident enough to dare boast. I'm not beaten, and I hope to keep going, but I have just lived through a huge reminder that not everything is within my control. The view out my window is still littered with numerous branches that still boast green leaves, even though they've been snapped from the trees. There are crews down working in the area where the worst damage to the wires happened; it seems that the repairs to date were only temporary ones. So I can't even be sure they won't switch our power off without any warning, for an hour or two.