Happy (Birthday) National (Pie/Handwriting) Day!

The Year of World Leaders

InCoWriMo is just around the corner, and I've been dutifully collecting my addresses for letters. Ultimately, I'd like to write and receive a letter from every state in the U.S., every continent, and -- after a lot of letters and money for stamps -- every country on the map (my letter to Antarctica is on its way...).

But where do I start? Where do you get addresses from? What do you write?!

My students have asked me these questions countless times over the last couple of weeks, and before I joined InCoWriMo last year, I had the same questions. Depending on who you write to, Google can be your friend. Additionally, the forums on InCoWriMo have an address swapping thread for people who want to participate. While I don't recommend students post their own address, I do encourage them to write letters to family and friends. Or better, to a favorite singer or actor/actress. Better still, your favorite author!

Then the next set of questions rolls in:
     "Does anyone ever write back?"
     "Of course."
     "Like who?"
     "Well, I've been writing back and forth with someone from Sweden, and another from Australia."
     "Yeah, but anyone famous?"
     "How about the Prime Minister of Canada and Buckingham Palace?"
     "Who?"

At this point, I usually just shake my head and move on, but I was excited to get those letters back. It has inspired me to write to more world leaders as well. Nothing ground breaking or deeply emotional. Just a "Hi! How's it going?" kind of letter with a "Do you use a fountain pen?" thrown in for good measure. Who knows? Maybe they will write back (I'm talking to you, Mr. President. I am still waiting on my reply from last year.)

I'll include a list of people who I've got addresses for, and if anyone can help make the last on happen, you'll be my favorite.

So, who are you writing to?

"The List"

1. The President of Russia, Vladimir Putin
2. The Prime Minister of Australia, Tony Abbott
3. The Prime Minister of New Zealand, John Key
4. The Mythbusters (okay, not a world leader, but I'd vote for them)
5. Mike Rowe (see Mythbusters above...)
6. The Mayor of Greenwich, England, Angela Cornforth (this would be a letter from the beginning of time... Get it? Greenwich, England? The Prime Meridian?)
7. The President of Italy, Giorgio Napolitano
8. His Holiness Pope Francis (yup, The Pope!)
9. His Holiness the Dalai Llama (yup, him too!)
10. The Emperor of Japan, Akihito
11. Robert Iger, CEO Walt Disney Company (again, not a world leader, but I do love Disney)
12. Howard Schultz, CEO Starbucks (I drink enough of his coffee, might as well)
13. The King of Sweden, Carl XVI Gustaf
14. The President of Ireland, Michael D. Higgings
15. The President of France, Francois Hollande
16. The President of Mexico, Felipe Calderon
17. Alton Brown (I used his turkey recipe this Christmas and wanted to thank him)
18. The President of the United States, Barack Obama (again...)
19. and (though I'm not sure how I can ever get this accomplished...) the International Space Station (Thanks Mrs. Champion for that request)

There will be more, and I'll post when I get them (and when I get a reply!).

InCoWriMo (Vintagel Social Media)

I honestly can't take credit for that title. I read it on a pen blog Anderson Pens website (yes, I read pen blogs...), and I thought it was too clever to pass up.

InCoWriMo stands for International Correspondence Writing Month. It was started by the Fountain Pen Geeks (FPGeeks for those of us in the know) last year as an off-shoot of NaNoWriMo. InCoWriMo takes place in February and tasks you with writing a letter or postcard a day to anyone. I participated successfully last year, and it was a blast. Not only did I receive letters from across the country, but also Sweden, England, Australia and Canada. I even got a letter back from the Prime Minister of Canada (with a signed photo), and a letter from Queen Elizabeth's Lady in Waiting.

This year I am broadening my scope. I'm in the process of collecting addresses from every state, as well as the Heads of State for various countries. I'd like to be able to send and receive a letter from all 50 states in the US (I only got 8 letters back from the US last year), as well as every continent (still waiting on that letter back from Antarctica).

If you are interested, I invite you to head over to the FPGeeks blog and check out their posts on InCoWriMo. There is an address share in the forums, and you can get lots of addresses there (and maybe even find a new pen pal). Additionally, Google is a wonderful resource for looking up addresses of just about any public figure you can find (I'm on the search for the Mythbusters' address...). If you really want to get into the spirit of InCoWriMo, head over to the Anderson's website (they are generous sponsors of the HMS Young Writers) and purchase the first ever InCoWriMo Writing Kit, where you get a fountain pen, bottle of ink, note cards and envelops to start your letter writing adventure.

I hope that some of you will join me in February as we send handwritten letters around the world. My address will be there, and I'd love to hear from you.

And we're out

Well, that's it. All the pens are gone. All 88 of them, and I'm still one short (time to put in an order. Hmmm, what's on MY Christmas list that I can drop in the cart. I mean, you know, to make the shipping worth it...).

Every pen that went out to kids has been greatly appreciated, not only by me, but by the kids themselves. I've even had other students -- and even teachers -- search me out to see if I have any more of those "fancy" pens everyone else got ("I'll buy one..."). It may just be the novelty of the fountain pen, but the kids have had a blast using them in class and showing them off to their friends.

The ink choices have been a little surprising. I have filled most of the pens with blue ink (my personal favorite), but I honestly thought there would have been more greens and reds and the not-so-safe-everyday colors. I bet I'll get more of those once everyone starts to run out of ink (and two already have! That's a lot of writing to do in a week).

December (and the winter break in three days) should bring about more of the stories getting typed and saved to Figment.com. I plan to start posting excerpts from the participants stories when we get back in January. And if I happen to throw in a snippet of my story as well... Hey, why not.

Have a safe and happy holidays, and I hope everyone gets the pen (and ink, and paper) that they asked Santa for.

"Dear Santa,

     I have been a really good guy this year, and for Christmas, I'd like a clip-less TWSBI Micarta with a fine nib, and/or an Edison Collier in Persimmon Swirl with a fine nib..." 

It's time for prizes!

With the weather as it was (and still is) on Friday, we got a late start to school (and I could barely get to work), and had to delay the gifting of prizes until this morning. That being said, here are the winners and their choice pens:

Gia C. gets the Rotring Skynn.

The Retro 51 Ace of Spades went to Conner S., a high schooler

who just finished her fourth year of NaNoWriMo.

Ashly B. chose the Picaso, Santos O. the Hero,
De'Vion W. the Duke, and Chris B. the Jinhao.
*Wyatt R. & AC W. each took home the
Sheaffer Budget pens.

Anthony A. took the Lamy Sarafi after his
first successful NaNoWriMo.

Alyssa G. has already been using the
Franklin-Christoph Piper pen she chose.
*Alex W. & Rebekah D. now have one as well.

Ashton C., Zach H., and Mikayla S. each
have their very own Pelikano. *Jacob K. & Fernanda L.
 grabbed a blue Pelikano.

Bre S., Jessica S., Caleb S., and Sabena S.
(huh...all last names 'S') have a Platinum Preppy.
*And the long list of additional owners: Isaiah Z., Laura L.,
Louis A., David S., Regina B., Jose R., Braedon W.,
Jacob C., Jasmine S., Kim F., Christian M., Caulier A.,
Stephany A., Danny T., John B., Eddie S., Daniel C.,
John M., Izaak S., Adam T., TJ W.,  Cori B., JJ R.,
Cesar S., Zach L., Camryn S., Aeron B.,Paul G.,
Madison M., Rebecca S., Kelli R., & Scarlet M.

TWSBI's go to Sarah R., Sierra W., Avery E., Riley L.,
Brittany G., Ariana A.,Carmen F., Maci C., Maya J., and
Cadi B. (there were a lot of TWSBI's, and still a few left).
*Now include Pernisha V., Cooper S., Atanacio R., Matt P., Rafael R., Dustin K., Phaedra G., Aryn B., Liam C., & Abbigail L. as proud owners

Casey S. is the proud owner of a Kaweco Sport (which
is currently the pen inked up and in my pocket). *Nayeli C.,
Marco N., Trace L., Ally W. & Antonio R. also have Kawecos.

Two of the Sheaffers (the 100 & 300) went to
Scott B., and Sarah S. *Grace W. walked
away with the calligraphy set.

This one hurt the most to give away, but this student most definitely
deserved it. Ashley H. not only finished her word count, but wrote
over 60,000 words in the month of November.

Inks of choice so far:

• J. Herbin Rose Cyclamen -- TWSBI 540
• Pelikan Brilliant Green -- Jinhao Coleto
• Noodler's Libery Elisium -- Sheaffer Prelude 300
• Private Reserve DC Supershow Blue -- TWSBI 540
• Private Reserve Sherwood Green -- (my own) Kaweco Sport Ice
• Pilot Iroshizuku Kon-peki -- (my own) TWSBI mini 1.1mm stub
• Noodler's Shah's Rose
• Pelikan Turquoise -- Picaso 
• Diamine Red Dragon -- TWSBI 540
• Noodler's Ellis Island -- TWSBI mini
• Pilot Iroshizuku Ku-Jaku -- TWSBI 540
• Noodler's Blue -- TWSBI 540
• Noodler's Black Swan in Australian Roses -- TWSBI 540
• Rohrer & Klingner Blu Mare -- TWSBI 540
• Private Reserve Electric DC Blue -- TWSBI 540
• J. Herbin Lierre Sauvage
• Noodler's Black
• Diamine Ancient Copper
• Waterman Inspired Blue -- TWSBI 540

Only three winners left to pick prizes, then everyone else that participated gets got their chance. Each one of the winners is also receiving a journal provided by Franklin-Christoph. Thanks again for encouraging these young writers, and spread the word.

And the winners are...

Lots of writers, not quite as many winners (which is to be expected). There were around 90 students that actively participated in NaNoWriMo this year, and about a third of them met or exceeded their word goal (even my 5 year old daughter met her word goal!). Twenty-nine students put pen-to-paper or fingers-to-keyboards and worked throughout November to finish something that very few people can say they've done -- write the own novel. Here is a list of the winners, plus the number of times they have written:

1. Liam C. (1st year)
2. Nayeli C. (2nd year)
3. Carmen F. (3rd year)
4. Scott B. (1st year)
5. Avery E. (1st year)
6. Anthony A. (1st year)
7. Ashly B. (1st year)
8. Ashley H. (2nd year, and she wrote over 50,000 words!)
9. Casey S. (1st year)
10. Chris B. (1st year)
11. Conner S. (4th year!)
12. Ariana A. (1st year)
13. Sierra W. (1st year)
14. Jessica S. (1st year)
15. Maya J. (3rd year)
16. Maci C. (2nd year)
17. Sabena S. (1st year)
18. Riley L. (1st year)
19. Brittany G. (1st year)
20. Santos O. (2nd year)
21. Caleb S. (1st year)
22. Cadi B. (2nd year)
23. Sarah S. (2nd year)
24. De'vion W. (3rd year)
25. Ashton C. (1st year)
26. Alyssa G. (1st year)
27. Bre S. (1st year)
28. Pernisha V. (2nd year)
29. Sarah R. (3rd year)

Congratulations to all of the winners, and to everyone that took on the challenge. Tomorrow we start handing out prizes, and I (hopefully) will be able to give a great pen to all of the participants. By the way, students need check out the Inks & Samples page and choose the color of ink they want to fill their new pen with. Thank you to all of the donors, and especially to the Goulets for all the ink (honestly, I think the vast amount of ink choices is what I love about fountain pens the most...).

The end is nigh

Well, it's been a whirlwind November, and I can't believe that the end is already here. Looking at the HMS Young Writers page, kids are finishing up their word counts and hopefully celebrating their success. Unfortunately, my month of NaNoWriMo ends tonight at just 41,767 words out of 50,000. Despite a few 4,000+ days, I just won't be able to make those final 8,000 before midnight.

I'm okay with that. These last few days have been spent with the family celebrating the holidays, and while I could have locked myself in a room and finished, I realized I'd be missing some special things.


I got to go out with my daughter on her first boat ride ever in Port Aransas, TX while we went dolphin watching. She had a great time, and one that I would have missed if I had skipped to write. Am I disappointed not to make it? Sure, but I've helped introduce a whole new group of kids to writing, and that's what's more important.

So despite these things being constant companions throughout the month,








NaNoWriMo will ends without me being a winner once more (but it was fun trying).

And this may be a couple of days late, but I want to wish everyone a Happy Thanksgiving. Please keep coming back to the sight as we start to post winners, start giving away the prizes donated by our sponsors, and share some of their stories written during November. Please take time to visit their sites or drop them an email to let them know just how much you appreciate their support of our kids.