Stubby

After some pencil frustration abroad, I got two excellent pencils at the local stationery store in mid-January and have superstitiously clung to them, sharpening them frequently with a tiny children's pencil sharpener - but now I have written them down into stubs! I thought they would just about do me for this book, but I have a few more days' worth of story left to tell, so I took the plunge this morning and bought a new pair...

When I was little, I was often writing with a very short stubby pencil - I like the feel and look of a very soft dark pencil [ED. And stubbiness is the price one pays for this preference!].

More generally, in adulthood, I prefer to write with something whose physical substance can be strikingly perceived as it transfers from the writing implement to the page: the Gelly Roll pens are very good, they leave a lovely thick glistening three-dimensional trail like a snail's!