Paper and Pencil Forever
By Trinity Nguyen
Image by Kate Johnson
The thing about loving paper and pencils is that everything that could've been said about them has already been said. There's a certain comfort to that, knowing that these tools have worked well enough to last thousands of years.
I don't have any great revelations about why I love pencils so much, just that I've learned that some things are worth the extra care, that it's nice to have something so small that makes your day a little bit more enjoyable. There are the benefits of being able to remember what you write more, but that’s not always my goal when writing by hand. Sometimes it’s the opposite, how loose you can get when writing with pencils and pens that you can’t while typing. For me, it’s easier to write my stream of consciousness this way, throwing down words that I don’t have to completely understand because I’ve written on paper for the majority of my life. It’s great when I need to think about an idea and I figure out how I feel about a topic.
I use Blackwing pencils. Many prominent artists have used them to write their books or music, or sketch out their designs. I would like to say that their history doesn’t affect my enjoyment of the pencils and the writing experience, but I think it does make me treat them and what I write with them differently. When I was younger, I used to think that using the tools that professionals used would make my work immediately better or more legitimate. But now I try to shift that mindset into finding tools that match you and what you do. With pencils, I’m often using them to learn something new, so I believe you should use whatever impedes that process the least. Sometimes, it’s like the sensation of the pencil scratching against paper signals to my brain what kind of mindset I’m in or what kind of writing I’m doing.
Of course you don't need the most high quality tools to write, but it makes the process more fun. Anything that gets you excited to make something is worth it to me.
