When it comes right down to it, writing is a physical act. It's fingers moving swiftly across blank pages, their crispness glaring at you menacingly, taunting your every word. Writing involves thinking, of course, but if you can't physically write what you want to say, you have a slight problem.
   I bring this up because a thought came to me just this morning. I was writing with a pencil in a tiny notebook and the idea of writing utensils sprung up as I was creating a story about a red-headed girl who had a cat named Whiskers.
   I like to write with both pencils and pens. There is a great distinction between the two, especially for me when I write. I write better and faster when I have a pencil in my hand. Some pens work well too, but I generally love working with pencils.
   But even some pencils are difficult to write with. They have to have a certain type of lead, so that what I write is heavy and dark.
   I was in a craft store the other day and I happened to go by the pen display they had. I must have tried twenty different pens, in various colors, experimenting with how they write. Some were fountain pens, others ballpoint.
   There are so many pens on the market today. Why? Why the need for so many different styles and colors of pens? Is there that much demand for a bigger better writing utensil? Do that many people really use pens anymore to write? Computers are slowly taking over the writing industry, whether we like it or not. If we write something in pen, we will just have to retype it later into the computer, if we want to use it for something other than our own personal use.
   I think that deep down, people still want to write with pens and pencils, and the many pens that are out there reflect this. People must be buying these pens. Of course, taking notes is quite important for students, and that is their major market, the pen companies.
   I used to have a wonderful pen. We had been together for at least five years. It was a great pen--thin, red top with a silver bottom, and it clicked. I loved that pen. It had sentimental value. It was given to me by someone I once knew, who didn't like the pen because is would always gloop up on him and spread ink all over his hand. So I took the pen, gave it a new ink cartridge, and it worked perfectly for me.
   Unfortunately, walking home with it in my coat pocket a few weeks ago, I lost the pen. My pocket has a hole in it, and it fell right through. I tried looking for it, but it was gone. I admit, if I had seen such a nice pen lying on the ground, I would have picked it up too.
   So someone else has my pen. I know this is a pathetic story, but it does get back to what I was originally saying. This was my writing utensil, and I liked writing with it. We had written a lot together. It's hard to just forget about a pen. Don't think I'm nutty, I just like to personify my material objects as if they were people.
   Once you find the right pen, you want to write with it all the time, always. And when you lose it, it's hard to find a replacement. But eventually, you find that special pen or pencil, waiting for you on the shelf in a craft store, and it calls out to you to buy it and bring it home. And you can't even wait till you get home to start writing with it, and you form a smile on your face as you write swiftly in your notebook.
   It's at this moment that you know you have found 'your' pen or pencil. And we each have one. If we look long enough, we will find it.
   Everyone should have these moments--to be so excited about something, to want something so much, be it a pen, or a lover, or food. We should all live each moment in happiness, doing what we love, just for the fun of it.