One of the most delightful discoveries I have made in recent years is journaling. I am not talking about electronic writing, but actually sitting down with a notebook and a special pen and writing. For some reason, the task is so much more pleasant when you have a writing instrument that you just love to hold. For me that has been a fountain pen.

I never had a fountain pen before. I never had an interest in one either. Why would I want to be bothered with a pen that would dry up or leak ink on my fingers and paper? Nope, not for me.

A couple of years ago we decided to take a European river cruise. And I decided I wanted to journal along the trip And I wanted to write in a leisurely manner in keeping with the idea sailing down a river. I bought a very nice leather bound, gilded edge notebook. And then I decided I wanted a special pen. For some reason, I decided to look at fountain pens.

I did some research and found that nowadays you can get cartridges for those pens. No more messy ink bottles and trying to suck that ink up into the pen. I was encouraged and ordered a fairly inexpensive one from Amazon that was highly rated.

What a different experience from writing with a ballpoint or gel pen! There is something so unique about actually seeing the ink flow from the pen onto the paper. And the slightly scratchy sound that the pen makes as you write is just so satisfying.

Ever since that trip, I have been journaling. Sometimes I will go for a few weeks without writing, other times I write every day. I’ve recently been writing quite a bit and find it is a good way to sort out thoughts and think about some of the bigger questions in life.

My everyday notebook is a Moleskine and my pen is made by Lamy. I wonder how many others still find satisfaction in writing in this manner.

I would love to know what your notebook and pen of choice are.

Happy journaling!