Influenza A decided it wanted to start the New Year off strong. Before I could get the ball rolling on anything resembling momentum, I found myself bedridden, wondering if the end was nigh as I curled into the viral load with the grace of a blobfish washed ashore at high tide.

Everyone in the house got sick, including my son ~patient zero~ so you can imagine trying to “mom” and “survive the plague” as competing priorities.

So where does one decidedly unemployed, rage-filled, infirm woman find herself? Journaling. That’s right. And not just journaling, but journaling with fountain pens.

An Unexpected Gift

For Christmas this year, my husband gifted me my first fountain pen, a Scrivener medium nib in British racing green. I was thrilled, but also a little intimidated. Fountain pens have always felt daunting, possibly impractical. What do you mean I have to load it with ink? I can barely get coffee grounds into the garbage without some of them escaping into the disgusting valley between the hinge and the insert.

Still, I couldn’t deny the allure of a tool that made me feel like a real writer, even if my penmanship suggests otherwise.

Luckily, the pen came with cartridges because A.) I didn’t have to mess with filling a converter, and B.) I didn’t have ink.

Scrivener Fountain Pen Writing Experience

First impressions: this pen is heavy. After some cursory research, I’ve gathered that this is, in fact, a selling point. Some fountain pens are built like tanks. If you are so inclined and in need of a Clue-style execution, with enough force, you could probably do some damage. You won’t find that in the Amazon specs, but I feel it’s important information.

Weight aside, there is something satisfying about holding a thing of substance. You instantly feel more official.

Writing with it, however, came with a learning curve. Since I usually sit in bed with a journal balanced somewhere between my knees and optimism, finding the correct angle for ink flow took some trial and error. I often felt like I was pressing every ounce of my being into the page just to make the pen cooperate. Eventually, this resolved itself, and I did find myself enjoying the experience, which I can only really attribute to user error.

After about a month, I did genuinely enjoy using it, but curiosity eventually got the better of me. I decided to try another pen, this time cheaper, finer, and paired with actual bottled ink.

Medium vs Extra Fine Fountain Pen Nibs

Enter: the Hongdian M2. I won’t get into a full review of this pen, but it did solve my main issue, namely achieving the thinner lines I prefer thanks to the extra fine tip. It also allowed me to write at a more natural angle. I’ve since realized I hold my pens far more perpendicular to the page than is comfortable for a broader nib. I don’t know if that makes me a less qualified reviewer, but I’m not about to change how I write just to enter the world of fountain pens.

One of my initial fears was ink leaking, but that turned out to be a non-issue, though I’m not entirely sure if that’s because I’m currently using a cartridge. The Hongdian, which I filled myself, does have a tendency for ink to collect at the tip. I learned this is called “nib creep.” It happens often enough that I keep it far away from hard-to-clean surfaces. Is this because I’m bad at filling pens? The pen itself? The ink? I don’t know. I’m just a layman fountain pen enthusiast.

As for Scrivener as a brand, it’s fine. The marketing leans hard into British elegance, but you’ll quickly discover the pens are manufactured in China. I don’t say that as a criticism. I honestly don’t know what isn’t manufactured in China. The pen is decent. That said, for half the price, you could pick up the Hongdian, which looks just as elegant and is also manufactured in China

A Slower Way Forward

There is something grounding about ink. It commits you to the page in a way a keyboard doesn’t. You can’t delete it. You can only keep going, adjust your grip, or turn the page and try again. That felt oddly appropriate for a month spent sick, stalled, and unsure of what comes next.

If nothing else, it made the days feel marked. And right now, that feels like enough.