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...).