{"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
Montblanc in pieces, preparing to go to the pen hospital. See the rest of Montblanc’s journey below!<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

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

Around 1988, when I went to college to study philosophy, my forward-thinking uncle, Deal Waters, and my aunt, Laverne, knew that I wanted to become a writer and bought me a beautiful pen to encourage me. The pen was (and still is) a\u00a0Montblanc 4810\u00a0Meisterst\u00fcck<\/em> (German for “masterpiece”) fountain pen. It is one of my most prized possessions.<\/p>\n

Using this pen (and pencils),\u00a0I have written first drafts of all of my novels and story collections. Counting ones that haven’t been published, that makes around a dozen works. I have also written the first drafts of countless speeches, video scripts, essays and articles\u00a0with my Montblanc. Not to mention nearly 20 years of journal entries.<\/p>\n

In all, I’ve probably written a million words with my Montblanc alone.<\/p>\n

Therefore, you can imagine my sadness when, the other day, my Montblanc broke. After 25 years of faithful service, it finally gave in: the screw that connects the two reservoir enclosures snapped off. I was heartbroken.<\/p>\n

\"montblanc_fountain_gp_106514_8\"At that moment I realized why\u00a0it\u2014a mere physical object\u2014meant so much to me: because in buying me the pen, my Uncle Deal and Aunt Laverne\u00a0were supporting\u00a0me in my desire to become a writer before anyone else. I mean before anyone<\/em>. Before I had published a single book, story, magazine article or news\u00a0piece. Before my first and only true mentor, Thomas Gallagher, learned of my desire to write. In fact, I can’t remember a single thing I had written at that time, except for a number of short stories that only my grandfather had read.<\/p>\n

My Uncle Deal was the quintessential Southern gentleman. Real class.\u00a0He graduated from\u00a0the old and prestigious William and Mary in Williamsburg, and\u00a0I remember him as having wonderful manners. My Aunt Laverne was a sharp and determined woman, and I always admired her confidence. They died before I published the Dakota novels or my other recent efforts, but I like to think that they somehow know about my books.<\/p>\n

And how their gift of the Montblanc inspired me more than they could have ever possibly imagined.<\/p>\n

*<\/p>\n

Below:<\/strong> Montblanc’s trip to the pen hospital on Madison Avenue in Manhattan:<\/em><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"Montblanc
Montblanc in his case.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"DSCN8116\"
Montblanc waiting alone at the train station for the next train to Manhattan.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"DSCN8124\"
Montblanc obeying the rules on the train platform.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"DSCN8135\"
Montblanc on the train, looking to me for reassurance. He’s nervous about going to the pen hospital.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"DSCN8141\"
Montblanc arrives in Grand Central Terminal. He’s never been here before.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"DSCN8145\"
Montblanc prepares to get on the subway uptown.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"DSCN8150\"
Montblanc arrives at the Montblanc store\/pen hospital.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"DSCN8151\"
Montblanc is examined by the nice pen doctor. He is due home in two weeks.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

This is the very short story of a man and his pen. Around 1988, when I went to college to study philosophy, my forward-thinking uncle, Deal Waters, and my aunt, Laverne, knew that I wanted to become a writer and bought me a beautiful pen to encourage me. The pen was (and still is) a\u00a0Montblanc … Read more<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":6184,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"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}]}}