Taking Happiness from Ink and Fountain Pens
Inky Archive for April & May 2025
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This is Magic & Ink, where I write about fantasy writing and creative living. In this month’s Inky Archive you can:
Find out why I’ve been absent for two months.
Check out my latest YouTube creations.
It’s an odd thing, happiness. Some people take happiness from gold. Or black pearls. And some of us, far more fortunate, take their happiness from periwinkles.
Patricia A. McKillip, The Changeling Sea
🎂 May Mutterings
Hello, friends!
This is the part of the newsletter where I get to explain why I haven’t published anything on Magic & Ink in two months. The short version, which should be plenty for this venue, is “family illness.” As the primary caregiver, my time and energy have been greatly impacted, and I just haven’t been able to marshal much brainpower for actual writing.1
At least, not polished, organized writing fit for publishing. I have been journaling every day, though. The practice has been really grounding for me, the foundation of my self-care while I get through each difficult day and night. I’m so glad that I made the effort, before all of this happened, to establish a daily writing practice. I’m not sure where my head would be right now without that soothing daily ritual of my pen gliding across the page.
While most other writing is beyond me, I have found time and space to make some videos for my YouTube channel. Mostly simple things — the camera pointed at the desktop while I unbox my newest fountain pen or stationery purchase or play with art supplies while I babble on without much thought. It doesn’t take a lot of planning or production or editing to do, so I feel productive without exceptional effort. Plus, it’s fun and self-indulgent — another key part of my self-care needs.
There’s been good things going on, too:
My daughter got married! It was a lovely ceremony with immediate family and close friends present, followed by a celebratory dinner at a local restaurant. I’m proud of my daughter and her partner for not giving into the hype that demands a huge gala costing tens of thousands of dollars. The money they didn’t spend on a 15-minute event will be better used helping them build their life together.
The jacarandas have bloomed! It took them a while show their petals, but their soft purple crowns are always a balm to my soul on my runs to the store. I hope to steal some time away soon to get some nice photos before they fade in the summer heat.
I’ve gotten several Very Excellent new fountain pens, not to mention some new favorite purple inks. The pens and ink are important — for the above mentioned journaling, of course, but just for the visceral experience of using them. There’s nothing quite like the soft grind of a fountain pen nib on paper. And the aesthetic variety of different pens and inks keep give me moments of happiness when everything else is just really, really hard.
I’d love to hear what good things are happening for you right now — share in the comments, please, so I can share in the celebration!
🕘 Catch Up: April and May in Review
In case you’ve missed it, here’s what I’ve published this month.
On YouTube:
I’ve been slow keeping up with the other great writers here on Substack, but here are a couple of posts that caught my interest this month:
💰If You Want to Support Magic & Ink
Paid subscriptions are on, though the only benefit right now is a discount on developmental editing services, plus the knowledge that you’re helping support my work. I’m working on ideas for premium content and/or community, though, so that will hopefully change in the near future.
In the meantime, if you want to support my work, you can always buy me a chai.
That’s all for this month. I am not sure what June is going to bring. It’ll be an adventure for all of us. Here’s hoping it’s the good kind!
Kindly,
Stace
It’s taken me days to get just this much written.
Hi Stace! Hope the family illness resolves soon and congratulations on your daughter's marriage. Keep inking! ✒️