{"id":6160,"date":"2014-08-24T17:14:32","date_gmt":"2014-08-24T17:14:32","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/orcutt.net\/weblog\/?p=6160"},"modified":"2014-12-20T01:46:22","modified_gmt":"2014-12-20T01:46:22","slug":"me-and-my-montblanc","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/orcutt.net\/weblog\/me-and-my-montblanc\/","title":{"rendered":"Me and My Montblanc"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Montblanc

Mont\u00adblanc in pieces, prepar\u00ading to go to the pen hos\u00adpi\u00adtal. See the rest of Mont\u00adblanc\u2019s jour\u00adney below!<\/p><\/div>\n

This is the very short sto\u00adry of a man and his pen.<\/p>\n

Around 1988, when I went to col\u00adlege to study phi\u00adlos\u00ado\u00adphy, my for\u00adward-think\u00ading uncle, Deal Waters, and my aunt, Lav\u00aderne, knew that I want\u00aded to become a writer and bought me a beau\u00adti\u00adful pen to encour\u00adage me. The pen was (and still is) a Mont\u00adblanc 4810 Meis\u00adter\u00adst\u00fcck<\/em> (Ger\u00adman for \u201cmas\u00adter\u00adpiece\u201d) foun\u00adtain pen. It is one of my most prized pos\u00adses\u00adsions.<\/p>\n

Using this pen (and pen\u00adcils), I have writ\u00adten first drafts of all of my nov\u00adels and sto\u00adry col\u00adlec\u00adtions. Count\u00ading ones that haven\u2019t been pub\u00adlished, that makes around a dozen works. I have also writ\u00adten the first drafts of count\u00adless speech\u00ades, video scripts, essays and arti\u00adcles with my Mont\u00adblanc. Not to men\u00adtion near\u00adly 20 years of jour\u00adnal entries.<\/p>\n

In all, I\u2019ve prob\u00ada\u00adbly writ\u00adten a mil\u00adlion words with my Mont\u00adblanc alone.<\/p>\n

There\u00adfore, you can imag\u00adine my sad\u00adness when, the oth\u00ader day, my Mont\u00adblanc broke. After 25 years of faith\u00adful ser\u00advice, it final\u00adly gave in: the screw that con\u00adnects the two reser\u00advoir enclo\u00adsures snapped off. I was heart\u00adbro\u00adken.<\/p>\n

\"montblanc_fountain_gp_106514_8\"At that moment I real\u00adized why it\u2014a mere phys\u00adi\u00adcal object\u2014meant so much to me: because in buy\u00ading me the pen, my Uncle Deal and Aunt Lav\u00aderne were sup\u00adport\u00ading me in my desire to become a writer before any\u00adone else. I mean before any\u00adone<\/em>. Before I had pub\u00adlished a sin\u00adgle book, sto\u00adry, mag\u00ada\u00adzine arti\u00adcle or news piece. Before my first and only true men\u00adtor, Thomas Gal\u00adlagher, learned of my desire to write. In fact, I can\u2019t remem\u00adber a sin\u00adgle thing I had writ\u00adten at that time, except for a num\u00adber of short sto\u00adries that only my grand\u00adfa\u00adther had read.<\/p>\n

My Uncle Deal was the quin\u00adtes\u00adsen\u00adtial South\u00adern gen\u00adtle\u00adman. Real class. He grad\u00adu\u00adat\u00aded from the old and pres\u00adti\u00adgious William and Mary in Williams\u00adburg, and I remem\u00adber him as hav\u00ading won\u00adder\u00adful man\u00adners. My Aunt Lav\u00aderne was a sharp and deter\u00admined woman, and I always admired her con\u00adfi\u00addence. They died before I pub\u00adlished the Dako\u00adta nov\u00adels or my oth\u00ader recent efforts, but I like to think that they some\u00adhow know about my books.<\/p>\n

And how their gift of the Mont\u00adblanc inspired me more than they could have ever pos\u00adsi\u00adbly imag\u00adined.<\/p>\n

*<\/p>\n

Below:<\/strong> Mont\u00adblanc\u2019s trip to the pen hos\u00adpi\u00adtal on Madi\u00adson Avenue in Man\u00adhat\u00adtan:<\/em><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"Montblanc

Mont\u00adblanc in his case.<\/p><\/div>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"DSCN8116\"

Mont\u00adblanc wait\u00ading alone at the train sta\u00adtion for the next train to Man\u00adhat\u00adtan.<\/p><\/div>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"DSCN8124\"

Mont\u00adblanc obey\u00ading the rules on the train plat\u00adform.<\/p><\/div>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"DSCN8135\"

Mont\u00adblanc on the train, look\u00ading to me for reas\u00adsur\u00adance. He\u2019s ner\u00advous about going to the pen hos\u00adpi\u00adtal.<\/p><\/div>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"DSCN8141\"

Mont\u00adblanc arrives in Grand Cen\u00adtral Ter\u00admi\u00adnal. He\u2019s nev\u00ader been here before.<\/p><\/div>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"DSCN8145\"

Mont\u00adblanc pre\u00adpares to get on the sub\u00adway uptown.<\/p><\/div>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"DSCN8150\"

Mont\u00adblanc arrives at the Mont\u00adblanc store\/pen hos\u00adpi\u00adtal.<\/p><\/div>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"DSCN8151\"

Mont\u00adblanc is exam\u00adined by the nice pen doc\u00adtor. He is due home in two weeks.<\/p><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

This is the very short sto\u00adry of a man and his pen. Around 1988, when I went to col\u00adlege to study phi\u00adlos\u00ado\u00adphy, my for\u00adward-think\u00ading uncle,\u2026<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":6184,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"wp_typography_post_enhancements_disabled":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[16,3,18,19,20,75,36,77,78,23,7,76,39,24,11,43,12,14,15],"tags":[143,140,139,142,93,141,144],"class_list":["post-6160","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-a-real-piece-of-work","category-craft","category-dramaticwriting","category-fiction","category-journalism","category-memoir","category-mystery-writing","category-novels","category-one-hundred-miles-from-manhattan","category-pens","category-personal","category-process","category-short-stories","category-speechwriting","category-dakota-stevens-mysteries-series","category-the-man-the-myth-the-legend","category-the-rich-are-different","category-writingexperiences","category-writingtools","tag-family-heirlooms","tag-montblanc","tag-pens-2","tag-prized-possessions","tag-writing","tag-writing-instruments","tag-writing-tools"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/orcutt.net\/weblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6160","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/orcutt.net\/weblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/orcutt.net\/weblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/orcutt.net\/weblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/orcutt.net\/weblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6160"}],"version-history":[{"count":14,"href":"https:\/\/orcutt.net\/weblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6160\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6323,"href":"https:\/\/orcutt.net\/weblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6160\/revisions\/6323"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/orcutt.net\/weblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/6184"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/orcutt.net\/weblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6160"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/orcutt.net\/weblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6160"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/orcutt.net\/weblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6160"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}