The nice UPS man roused me from my sick-bed today with a lovely surprise: my Omas Arco fountain pen. I'd sent it to John Mottishaw in LA to customize the nib to a fine/medium stub to match another nib he'd done for me and it came back a thing transformed. You haven't lived until you've had a Mottishawed nib. Gorgeous, especially with the flexibility inherent in those Omas nibs anyway. It was almost too much excitement for one day under the circumstances and I slumped back into bed.

Pat... I did all my notes for my last two novels with the VP you customised for me. I write all my books on a PC, because I just can't write 450K words a year longhand, but there's a definite ritual to the notes and planning stage - I can only do that with a top-notch pen, a Moleskine notebook, and Clairefontaine paper. I can't imagine outlining a novel with a ballpoint on naff paper. Ugh.... KT