First, I'd like to apologize to the author, Alyson B. Stanfield, for having taken a year to read and review this book. She graciously gave me a copy and in between my busy schedule, and reading the book, I got lost. In fact, I started this book three times over. Not because it was a bad book but because it was so chock full of good advice that every time I picked it up and read a bit more, my mind would churn and I'd go off to put some of her advice into practice. Time passed and I'd have to go and start it all over, just so I could make sure I gave the book a proper reading to write this review.

I'd Rather Be In the Studio is an amazing book that, while targeting artists looking to build their business and promote themselves, I'd highly recommend it to anyone looking to promote their passions. Stanfield structures the book around eight basic excuses that artists (and writers, *ahem* *cough*) conjure up when faced with marketing and self-promoting themselves and their work— excuses such as "I don't have the time," or "There aren't enough hours in the day to do it all," or "I'm an introvert." Stanfield refutes each excuse in detail before going into the action-chapters that help to combat each excuse. For example, she mentions in the "My art speaks for itself" excuse that an artist's work never really speaks for itself, that when others say things about an artist's piece of art, they are simply reacting to it (good or bad). Then she follows up this section with two chapters: one that shows you how to harness the power of an artist statement, and another on speaking or teaching as an expert in the field.

OK, folks. Here we have a line of pens that are so cheap they would thrill Scrooge McDuck. And I mean cheap as in inexpensive, not cheap as in poorly made.

[NOTE: I will add pictures in a bit, but I wanted to get this out - use the links to see the pens at the sellers]

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First Impressions (8/10) – Nice, simple, solid pen.

Appearance & Design (9/10) – Classic design in seven different colors of both pen body and matching inks.

Weight & Dimensions (8/10) – Average weight and dimension for a full size pen. Very comfortable in the hand.

Nib & Performance (8/10) – I got one of the "Fine 03" nibs. Jet Pens also carries a "Medium 05" nib. It writes very smooth with no visible feathering on the cheap index cards I use.

Filling System (10+/10) - Here's the Magic ! The Preppy is easily converted into an Eyedropper pen, using the entire pen barrel to hold ink. JetPens sells the O-ring gaskets needed for this conversion and they have even posted a How-To article here

Cost & Value (10/10) – Pens are US$ 3 each from either Jet Pens or J-Stationeryand a 10-pack of O-rings costs US$ 3 from JetPens. Refill cartridges are US$ 1.50 for two and they come in LOTS of different colors.

Conclusion (Final score[53]: 8.8) - Some folks on FountainPen Network have grouched a bit about these pens leaking or clogging occasionally, but I believe you are getting a great pen for the money.

And it does not end there !

Platinum Preppy comes as a highlighter and a felt-tip marker (they call them Sign Pens) for US$2.25 each. When you want to change color, they sell replacement tips for both the highlighter and the sign-pen in a two-pack for US$1.50

Noodler's Ink offers package deals of large bottles of ink with eyedroppers. Some (not all) also include an eyedropper converted Preppy pen. JetPens offers eight different eyedropper bottles here, three of which include a free pen. They offer one more here that includes two pens and a white ink here that includes a free sign pen marker. The Noodler's Firefly Yellow ink is the only highlighter ink at JetPens, but Noodler's makes several different colors intended for highlighters.

Earlier this year the fine folks at Exaclair, Inc. (distributors of Quo Vadis, Rhodia, and Clairfontaine notebook lines) sent me out a little goodie box. In this box, was a Quo Vadis Habana notebook. For the past few months I’ve been using this journal to chronicle my tarot degree homework. As you can see from the image, I even customized the Habana with a sticker a friend made for me. Now, it’s time to share my thoughts on the notebook with you all.

I received a Large Habana notebook and it measures 6 1/4 x 9 1/4". It’s about an inch longer and wider than the large Moleskine. For me, this doesn’t pose a problem but for people who are comfortable and familiar with the smaller size, it may take some getting used to. A paper band touting the features of the notebook sits wrapped around the notebook. I quickly removed this band before snapping any photos, guess I was too eager to break in the new toy. A pamphlet sits inside the book cover that talks about Quo Vadis and Clairfontaine's commitment to helping our natural resources by making greener paper processes and products. Click the link to read the rest of my review.

I've been searching for the perfect writing software for awhile now. I know that this mythical software won't improve my writing skills per se. But having the right type of writing software does help keep what I write and its structure organized while I work on choosing the precise words and setting them down onto the virtual page. As such, I've used several different applications geared towards writing professionals, and I think I have found the right application for both my writing needs and style. It's called Scrivener and it’s published by Literature and Latte.

Over the years I've found that writing a book or novel requires much more than just starting at the beginning and working your way to THE END. Writing the first draft gets messy and sometimes authors don't want to write the whole piece from the beginning. Instead we may want to focus on character sketches, world building, or we may just want to get the most exciting climatic scene written first. Using a traditional word processor where everything is entered into a single document, containing multiple non-linear thoughts on a myriad of subjects, is hard to do. MS Word was not designed for creative, chaotic writing that jumps around; it doesn't conform to non-linear thought patterns. If I were using Word to do heavy writing, the moment I decide to skip 100 pages into the text to first revise a scene and then move somewhere else to jot a note about a character, I'd end up spending more time searching for the two locations than I'd spend actually typing in the text itself. That's where modular writing and Scrivener come into play.

Recently I've had a growing interest in finding books that help creatives grow their own business. They seem to be few and far between. I reviewed Craft, Inc. last year and found it a great resource for starting your own business. However, while it covered many aspects of running a business, I found that it wasn't good for actually teaching you how to set-up and create your own business from conception to reality. Enter Lisa Sonora Beam and The Creative Entrepreneur. Billed as a "DIY Visual Guidebook for Making Business Ideas Real", this book not only teaches readers the fundamentals of building a business to match their creative dream, but it presents the core business concepts in a way that makes them easy for creative personalities to understand.

The Creative Entrepreneur developed out of workshops that Beam created and offered "creatives" who wanted to take their craft and turn them into viable business opportunities. She does not believe that artists need to starve in order to succeed. This book is her legacy; it shows artists that they, too, can grasp business concepts that turn their artistic visions into concrete and functioning business plans—no matter what they are. At first glance, this book looks more like an art technique book than a business fundamentals primer. Don't let the shiny fool you; The Creative Entrepreneur packs an informative punch. Beam introduces the book by explaining how the visual journalling process aides in the process of business creation. She encourages readers to follow along with the exercises in this book, just as if they were sitting in on one of her workshops.

The Creative Entrepreneur: A DIY Visual Guidebook for Making Business Ideas Real author: Lisa Sonora Beam asin: 1592534597

Two years ago, I wrote a two-part series on tagging. A tag is like a keyword. Tags help you sort things by groups to which you assign meaning to. You can assign multiple tags to a single item so it becomes meaningful in different groups. Ever since I stumbled upon the idea of tagging, I've been fascinated. Then I found out about Gene Smith's Tagging: People-Powered Metadata for the Social Web. A book that I hoped would shed some more light on the tagging phenomenon.

As I patiently waited for the book to arrive, I imagined that it would expand upon various tag methodologies and how one could get more out of using a tagging system or site. There is a bit of that in the book, but it is not Smith's main goal. Instead, Tagging takes the reader on a survey of various tagging methodologies and how various online sites use tagging systems to achieve their goals. He studies these techniques in a way that would help software coders create their own tag systems.

Smith writes his material from a coder's perspective. The book's structure is very linear, as each chapter builds upon the knowledge presented in the last. Chapters 1-5 do go into details on what tagging is, why tagging is important, how folksonomies work, and what tag interfaces look like. Chapters 6 and 7 dive down into the nitty-gritty of how tag system are put together with code. These two chapters give guidelines, business analysis, and technical details (GUI, navigational, and code snippets) to help programmers design and develop their own tagging system for an Intranet or home-brew web application. Finally, Smith includes three case study appendixes. Here he analyzes and compares various social bookmarking sites, media sharing sites, and personal information management systems.

I wish I could recommend Tagging for everyone, but I can't. I think this book offers software developers the biggest benefit. It was an enjoyable but hard read for me. Since I’m not a coder, much of the tech and code discussions didn't make sense to my non-codery brain. I'll be giving this one to kender to read, and maybe he and his company can get more out of it than I did. Tagging is published by New Riders and the book retails for $39.99.

Tagging: People-powered Metadata for the Social Web (Voices That Matter) author: Gene Smith asin: 0321529170

Those of you new to D*I*Y Planner in the past year or two may or may not know about my tarot love affair. I'd have to say it goes beyond the metaphysical. I use the cards for more than divination: journaling with the cards and involving them in my creative writing, for example. In 2006, I wrote about how tarot can help generate story ideas. Rkfoster also wrote about tarot and paper-based planning.

I consistently tell people that the cards are an excellent writer's companion. The pictures speak to the imagination, the cards weave stories when set side by side in a reading. In addition, the symbolism just begs to be written about in a narrative form. I've always wanted to write a book on tarot--one that goes into detail on using the cards for creative inspiration. However, Corrine Kenner beat me to it. Her Tarot for Writers demystifies tarot and shows writers how to use a deck in fueling their creativity and writing practice. Tarot for Writers is jam packed with techniques, writing samples, and reference sections on both the meanings and symbols found in tarot.

The book has three main sections. Part one gives you the low-down on what tarot cards are, their history, and how to use them. Kenner introduces tarot in a way that doesn't confuse or scare people who have never worked with a deck before. Part two gets to the fun stuff. These seven chapters discuss prompts, games, spreads and general information on applying the tarot to every aspect of the writing craft from plot to characters to setting and more. There's even a chapter on using a tarot deck as your own Writing Coach. Part three takes you on a card-by-card tour of what each card means, its literary connections and archetypes, and gives a list of prompts to kickstart the muse. Finally, Kenner ends with a glossary of tarot terms and symbolism--which for me was a nice touch. I tend to use a lot of symbolism in my own work and I can see myself using the symbolism glossary as a handy reference guide.

Tarot for Writers author: Corrine Kenner asin: 0738714577

I’ve been a huge fan of Leo Babauta’s ZenHabits for awhile now. His combination of Buddhist zen philosophy and advise on living “less” has helped me gain some insight and perspective on freeing myself and time. When he announced he was writing a book, I knew it was going to be special. The Power of Less was released last month and it is, indeed, something special.

The Power of Less is very well written and clearly organized. At 170 pages long, it’s a pretty quick read (at least for me). Which makes the book a living testament that Babauta puts what his methodology to good use. The introduction sets the tone by giving you the reasons why “less” is more. Today’s world runs at breakneck speed. Our jobs ask us to do more, give more, and stay longer to get these things done. The answer isn’t to do more or be faster— it’s to do less. Babauta likens his process to haiku, where you have to strip the non-essential information and dig down to find the core, or what matters most. What Babauta does with his book, then, is to take you through writing a haiku for your life. Using six simple principles. Less is the new more and when you put Babauta’s six principles to work, you’ll learn how to be more effective by doing less.

Power of Less, The: The Fine Art of Limiting Yourself to the Essential...in Business and in Life author: Leo Babauta asin: 1401309704

When Doug started his Cheap Pen Reviews, I foolishly offered to review a few more that I had purchased in recent months.

Through my participation at D*I*Y Planner, I rediscovered fountain pens. I really forget how I first found this site. But I recall at some point, someone mentioned fountain pens and I got re-hooked. An old, neglected hobby of mine is calligraphy, so I have had a lot of experience with various ink pens, mostly dip pens due to the sort of inks I would use. I recall using a Schaeffer cartridge pen way back in high school (late 60's).

While cruising the internet looking for new pens to try and play with, I stumbled across JetPens. This site sells all sorts of Japanese-style pens: from fountain to gellies. I ordered a Pilot Petit1 and a Ohto Tasche Fountain Pen. This review covers the Pilot Petit1. I will review the Tasche next.

Credit where due: I have copied the following review format from Fountain Pen Network. Thanks, guys.

Ok, deep breath, back straight, knees together, hands over head, and jump in...