All the Tools You Will Ever Need To Become a Writer

Smaller than a breadbox, cheaper than fancy stuff

I love gadgets and gear, so it was a crushing disappointment to realize that my chosen profession of writing was pretty light on material needs. I imagined it would be fun to get equipment and to talk about it with other writers. I abandoned that fantasy when I traveled with a friend who is a photographer, and every time we left our hotel room she needed to stop and dig through her huge, thousand-pound camera bag to make sure she had the right lenses and the right camera bodies and a big-enough tripod and lights and batteries and, in the olden days, film. While she was still in the midst of that, I would merely pat my pocket to make sure I had a pen and I was good to go.

My kit is simple, and it’s been the same almost since I started writing: a pen and a reporter’s notebook. I’ve switched positions on pens a few times, but for the last several years I’ve been loyal to Pilot Precise V5 RTs.

By the way, I consider a retractable pen essential — I’ve ruined the inside of too many handbags when the cap on my pen has gone missing. The super-fine point of the V5 makes it possible to write in teeny-tiny letters when you’re running out of room, and you can still read what you’ve written — a miracle!