Pilot G2 Retractable Gel Ink Pen

A few years ago, I was sitting in a club with a group of artists and writers and one of the other novelists suddenly grasped his chest and took on a distressed look. He wasn't having a heart attack, however. It was much more serious than that.

"I've lost my pen," he said. "It's the only one I use."

As he headed to the bar, I silently wished him luck, assuming it had been one of those hundred-dollar gift pens �â'¬" you know, the kind that look really cool but don't work really well? However, we writers can be sentimental about gifts that acknowledge our writerliness, so it made sense.

What he came back with made even more sense. It was his Pilot G2 retractable gel ink pen. These ink pens cost less than $2 a piece. You buy them in packs. But they are the best ink pens in the universe. When he returned, I laughed out loud. Not because I thought he was being silly, but because I always keep several Pilot G2 pens on me and tend to guard them closely. If I loan you one and don't make every effort to get it back, you are a cherished friend indeed.

What's so good about Pilot G2 retractable ink pens? Everything that is important about a writing implement, these things do.

The ink flows well. I've just never found another pen with ink that flows so evenly. If you write a note with a Pilot G2, the resulting script will look as though you printed it from a really nice printer, not like something you scribbled down on the spur of the moment. You won't find thin patches of inks or, worse yet, sticky globs. This can be important if you are writing a note to someone you're trying to impress, like a potential friend of the opposite sex, or a potential boss or agent or God.

That may be the reason it feels so good to write with them. And that is one of my biggest requirements. When I was a kid, I was always the class artist. I was the one who drew crowds of other youngsters around my desk because I could make images on paper come to life. Kids and adults alike thought my future was in the visual arts. Then I took a painting class in high school, and detested the way a paintbrush feels on paper or canvas. That was the end of my art career. If I'm going to do something often, I have to like the way it feels. I probably became a writer because I like the click of keyboard keys, and the feel of certain pens.

There are negative things, of course. While all the above is true for black and blue pens, I tend to have a 50-percent success rate with the red ones. Many of them quit working after one manuscript-correcting session, and not because I've used up all the ink, either. The ink seems to dry up, or else the pen mechanism simply stops. Green ones have a much higher success rate so, when I find a good one, I guard it with my life. If you don't believe me, try to take one from me.

The Pilot G2 ink pens can also be pretty hard to find, but if you frequent office-supply stores like I do, it's not much of an issue. However, if you are planning to leave the country, take a supply with you. I took about 50. I still have at least half left, and I was gone for a year.