Write On! – Un(der) Appreciated Accessories

I preparation for my yearly newsletter/blog post listing my daily carry of writing instruments and accessories, I wanted to cover some of the often overlooked, unappreciated, or just under appreciated accessories. I've written about this before in the past, but this will be a full run rather just a repost. While I will include some items I previously wrote about, many of these will be new additions to this list. So often the focus is one the writing instrument itself that we fail to consider the importance of accessories meant to help us maximize our writing instruments or make our daily writing lives easier. I've tried to talk about quite a few of these accessories in other posts in relation to the topic at hand, but many of them deserve to be here, and a few of these on this list will be expounded upon later down the road.

Over the last few years my definition of writing accessories has changed quite a bit and many people might disagree with me, but the most often overlooked accessory is the refill inside the pen. This doesn't apply as much to fountain pens because most fountain pen users obsess over their inks, but I find that many people who use rollerballs or ballpoints tend to overlook the refill and simply buy the same one that's in the pen when they purchased it. Maybe this is because they don't know other refills exist that might elevate their writing experience. Maybe it's just expediency, and when they need a new refill they simply order the same one "cause it worked just fine". Whatever the reason, taking the time to identify the refill you prefer and then experimenting with other refills over time is one of the best ways to maximize your enjoyment when writing. For a long time I overlooked the refill as being a key writing instrument accessory, not anymore if you don't read anything else on this list, this is the one I'll leave you with because it's the most important and most overlooked.

While paper is an important accessory, I inevitably write about paper quite a lot; it frequently gets full blog posts diving into the intricacies of paper and how it changes the writing experience. Instead, I've landed on two "types" of paper to highlight in this blog post. The first is an unappreciated powerhouse for almost everyone who writes in an office environment; the Post-It Note. I use Post-It Notes or something similar so many times a day I can no longer count how many I go through. During the normal week, I'll get handed ten to fifteen Post-It Notes that I need for my job. But they're overlooked and we almost always run out before we reorder them. The second paper item I wanted to highlight is an overlooked powerhouse, good quality cardstock. I've found more uses for good quality card stock over the past four or five years than I even knew existed. Firstly, we test nibs with the card stock but I've also started using it for testing almost all of our pens on. Cardstock makes for a great medium to test out a full page's worth of writing. You get a feel for how the pen writes on "uneven" terrain, it often mimics hand fatigue without the need to write for hours on end. Finally, it's nice to have around when I want to send a hand written note to a vendor or corporate client.

I still think custom rubber stamps are a great addition to your desk. I use them more often than I think I will. I have several serious work related ones that get stamped on incoming or outgoing paperwork, but I also have some fun ones that get used far less frequently when I send a letter because I'm terrible with written correspondence. Which brings me to the next item on the list, quality envelopes. This one is a pet peeve of mine because the majority of the envelopes you can find at an office supply store are terrible. That goes double for the envelopes on Amazon. They almost never stay sealed. Most of them are nearly see-through which means writing on them is going to cause bleed through. They even feel cheap. I can't stress enough that investing in quality envelopes will be a massive stress reliever even if you're only sending out a letter once every few months. We frequently receive mail from customers that comes in open because the seal failed at some point on the journey. Thankfully, the contents are usually still in the envelope, but it just goes to show how important a good envelope is.

Finally, for the honorable mentions. These haven't changed since the last time I wrote a blog post about this topic. I'm not sure they ever will change because they're technically writing instruments, but I think most people don't consider them as such. In any case, here are the two honorable mentions.

The first honorable mention is a decent wood-cased pencil and a pocket knife. This duo is the original EDC for writers on the go, and in today's day-and-age there are tons of amazing wood-cased pencils to choose from. A small knife to sharpen your pencil and said pencil lets you write pretty much anywhere you’re going. I’m not going to get into the specifics of knives, there’s too many to go over, maybe in a future post I’ll cover my favorite knives; for the pencils I do really enjoy Blackwing 602 pencils though I use them sparingly. For a “daily driver” pencil, I keep a box of Palomino HB or ForestChoice pencils in a drawer by my desk. They’re a bit handier than mechanical pencils when I do a LOT of writing in pencil, so I keep a few around for the days when I aim to use a pencil for all of my writing.

The final honorable mention, and something that will ALWAYS be on my list of writing instruments or accessories until they stop making them, is the Bic Cristal pen. I am an unashamed proponent of this pen and its myriad of uses. I will always recommend that you have one of these in your bag. They’re probably the best, most universal, easiest to find, reliable, fill-in-the-blank pen on the market. The 1.0mm Bic Cristal writes like an absolute dream. There’s a reason it has a permanent place in the Museum of Modern Art and is considered ubiquitous in terms of pens; it just works and when it does finally die, you can easily replace it.