Let me start out by saying I am completely sincere in this – no snark involved.

I’ve spent most of my life as a writer, and during the Vast majority of that time, I’ve abjured the Written word. Probably because my penmanship is atrocious – it’s either block letter scrawl, or, if I’m especially idiotic, a 5-year old’s version of cursive. The keyboard is this man’s best friend.

I EDC two text-friendly devices, and carry up to four. Yeah. Weighty. But legible, and wired up. I do carry a pen and paper, but I can’t think of more than a dozen times in the past decade I’ve had to resort to them – a quick jot phone number, mainly.

So the question is not Why you collect or EDC pens (collecting is what we do best), but what Normal use you’ve actually have for them during the course of your regular carry. Mind you, not what you Could use them for, or Might use them for, or In-An-Emergency-I-Could-Perform-A-Tracheotomy use them for: just what use you find in your usual rambles. I have an innate fear that I’ve been doing something wrong…