bob@gohydrology.org

Pen or pencil?

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“Pencil or pen?” people always ask …

To which I reply “crayons work, too.”

What I love about crayons …

Are the colors.

Unlike pencils and pens, they come in a box with pretty much the full range of colors that you need. As a kid I remember the green crayon always getting the most use, to the point that other colors were practically untouched by the time green had turned into a shortened and paper frayed nub.

As for the crayon picture featured on this post, it’s a drawing of the place I used to live many years ago on Cape Cod. I’ve always loved a good window that I can look out into the trees. That’s a perfect window for coloring with crayons or writing a long note.

Writing cramp

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Have you ever been swimming …

And got a charlie horse?

A similar cramp happens …

When you write too much with a pencil or pen.

But don’t worry, you’re not going to drown. It’s actually a good sign that your stretching your writing muscles and getting into pensmanshape. A lot like becoming good at anything, it doesn’t happen overnight. You’ve gotta keep at it, fight through it, and shake off the writing cramps.

The reward?

Well, I don’t want to spoil the surprise. But trust me when I say that that writing by hand is an art that, the more you do it, the more it bestows its many rewards. So do you best and keep at it and keep writing through those “hand shaking” cramps.

Shake it off, as I like to say.

Or actually, not say – I meant write!

captain

Captain who?

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First off, it’s not Captain …

It’s Cap’n.

As for the term Killivine …

That’s just another name for a writing instrument. Whether it’s a pencil or pen, I’ll let you be the judge. In my mind, I like to think of myself as a pencil. Why? Maybe it’s the eraser that helps me correct my thoughts. I just love being able to go through a line of thought and then at the conclusion sort of wipe it back to a clean slate. Maybe that’s just the “old chalkboard” purist in me.

Really, when you think about it, the eraser at the end of a pencil is not unlike the old fashioned erasers that teachers used to use to wipe clean the chalk board. Not that I’m in to obliterating information, no – that’s not it. But it is something about a pencil that is more akin to the thinking process.

It’s okay to make errors, it’s just part of the writing journey – whether it’s words or math.

That being said, I love the feel of a good ballpoint pen in my hand.

So yes, I may look like a pencil, but don’t box me in.

At heart, I’m 100 percent killivine.