It's the little things...

As you know, I'm editing my Nano books - all of which are still without titles (what's up with that? I'm usually pretty good with titles).

Yeah, it's taking time but 200+k can't be done overnight.

Anyway... fountain pens. Yes, indeedy-do, fountain pens, the current bane of my existence. Why? Well, I've got a character writing with one. I have him in my mind, in a lantern-lit library (hey! Alliteration!) surrounded by tall bookcases, sitting at a slightly tilted desk, busily making notes on medieval feasts. The scent of old books permeates the room, the creak of the chair as he shifts position. This is early Victorian England.

I even highlighted the year, 1845, as a marker for research. In this year, Congress approved the annexation of Texas, Florida became a State, the Flagstaff Wars in New Zealand were on, Annapolis opens, the British defeat the Sikhs in Punjab. Rubber bands were invented in England, the Great Irish Potato Famine, Scientific American begins publications. All sorts of neat stuff happened, and I had to resist the temptation to find out more. History, thy name is distraction!

But fountain pens? Nope, they don't come into popular use until the 1850s. Oh, they were around, and have been for centuries, but they weren't so... useful. The modernising of ink flow, the application of air pressure, the development of a more appropriate nib, these didn't happen until later.

Now I know - do not use fountain pens; quills, that's the thing. All is not lost though, it's certainly interesting to find these problems and discover the history behind the invention. Such a small thing to have greater consequences.

And one last small question: Why do mosquitoes wait until you are just about to slip over the edge into sleep to dive bomb, whine and generally piss you off?