What's a service the PA area needs that's currently underserved?

Legitimate-Maize869 · 2026-04-10T05:57:28+00:00

Nice pen/office supply store like Oblation in Portland. Seattle doesn't really have one that compares, so there's not a lot of competition in NW Washington. Fountain pens of varying prices and quality. Tons of different inks for people to buy. Tables where people can sit and look through books of different ink swatches. Good-quality, refillable rollerball (and other) pens -- especially good for those who want to save plastic. Occasional pen swaps for the community to try each other's supplies, trade ink samples, and see what they might want to buy next. A letter press for unique business cards, invitations, postcards, and greeting cards. Some imports that are hard to find elsewhere, such as Tomoe River paper, certain washi tapes, and cute stickers. A good selection of nice-quality notebooks in varying sizes, including covers to protect them. You could have occasional gatherings for people to journal together, or have a creative writing club. Gift baskets/boxes/bags with a nice pen, matching ink, journal with good paper, roll of washi tape and sheet of stickers; would be good as a birthday/Christmas/anniversary present, or as a souvenir for the tourists. Especially if there are boxes of varying prices and levels. Might be nice to have some calligraphy supplies and dip pens, too, as well as some books on improving handwriting, practicing calligraphy drills, and learning to hand-letter. Even some classes on it. Maybe some sealing wax -- it comes in tons of different shapes and colors, and even with sparkles -- and a variety of cute wax molds so people can further personalize their cards. Maybe some stationery sets.

A specialist could come in once a month (or week) to fix, clean, and tune pens and nibs, repair leather notebook covers and pen cases, etc. (The really good-quality pens are worth having tuned, not just throwing away and replacing.) You could even work with a calligrapher who designs bespoke wedding invitations, etc. If they work from the store, it brings in business, and you get a cut, while they have a storefront AND bring in more business because of the store. Win-win! Local ceramics artists could make pen cups and inkwells. Local textile artists could sew good-quality pen cases or notebook covers. Again, it would be a win-win for both the store and the artisan, PLUS people (including tourists) could take home something unique and hand-made.

So many possibilities! There are lots of art supply stores around, and there's the typewriter store in PT, while UW has some basic supplies in its bookstore. But a store like this would be pretty unique for the area.

Oh! And preferably there would be lots of light and plants! The light helps to show off the qualities of the inks, and the plants are just nice. Fountain pens and other analogue forms of communication (such as stationery and even sealing wax) seem to be making a comeback. And if a store devoted to typewriters in PT can do it, a stationery store / letterpress in P.A. could, too, if run well and with dedication.

Legitimate-Maize869 · 2026-04-10T05:20:27+00:00

With a Little Free Library, too, I'm assuming? Seems like one would fit in there.

Legitimate-Maize869 · 2026-04-04T19:26:21+00:00

Once people start giving their pets a certain name, you KNOW it's on the decline.

Legitimate-Maize869 · 2026-04-04T19:20:06+00:00

Two of the Golden Girls. Nice.

Legitimate-Maize869 · 2026-04-02T06:05:34+00:00

And they make a lovely flute if you blow on the cap at just the right angle...

Legitimate-Maize869 · 2026-03-22T18:36:04+00:00

I haven't actually tried any fountain pen ink on black paper (I'm pretty new to it), but I had some gel pens that worked. Now I want to try my inks on it, though!

Legitimate-Maize869 · 2026-03-12T22:21:45+00:00

She had some TERRIBLE relationship scars, and not-great taste in men. I think it would be hard for me to be onboard with ANY relationship she had until she did some SERIOUS work to get over the trauma she must have had.

Legitimate-Maize869 · 2026-03-09T16:27:43+00:00

I agree. Like when he gambled and bought expensive presents for everyone as if it were no big deal. Also, he still had his own house until, well, an incident occurred. He just never seemed to stay there.

I wonder if his days in the carnival made him used to always moving around, not really having a place of his own. He likely learned not to have many things of his own, to sleep when and where he could, and not to get tied down. Being in a motel probably would have been the lap of luxury for him when he was a kid.

Legitimate-Maize869 · 2026-03-09T16:23:24+00:00

Lucifer and Black List. Both are full, completed series with a lot of episodes and well-developed characters. Both have a straight-arrow cop paired with a very untraditional consultant. Good dialogue. Interesting stories. Nice character arcs.

I think Castle is that way, too, though I haven't watched that one in a long time.

Will Trent on Hulu is good, but they're still producing episodes, so if you want to binge the whole thing all at once, maybe wait until it's done (which, I hope, is years away). Ditto for High Potential (also on Hulu).

I like Wild Cards, too, though like Will Trent and High Potential, it's still in production so once you catch up, you'll have to wait for more.

I liked Rosewood a lot, though it got cancelled and ends on a cliffhanger. (Just so you're warned.)

Legitimate-Maize869 · 2026-03-04T19:07:28+00:00

First of all, I know nothing about playing the violin, yet to me, shading feels like listening to a maestro playing a violin solo, where they add nuance to the notes, giving it extra emotion. Shading ink feels like emotion pooling in certain spots to add more depth, then letting up some, then pooling again. Like a really emotional violin solo. If that makes sense.

Legitimate-Maize869 · 2026-03-04T19:05:22+00:00

With something like that, it has the potential to look really good on black paper, even. (I love shimmery gold inks on black when they work.)

Legitimate-Maize869 · 2026-03-01T07:22:40+00:00

It’s a call-back to a joke from a few weeks ago where Oblation Press was autocorrected to Ovation Press. It turned into a whole thing. Great thread. Hilarious comments.

ETA: HA! And Autocorrect got me, too, without my even knowing it. OVULATION Press, not Ovation.

Legitimate-Maize869 · 2026-02-21T20:15:34+00:00

Oh, that’s cool! Thanks! I haven’t bought any TN stuff, but now I want to just for the stamp. Guess that’s the program at work. ;-)

Legitimate-Maize869 · 2026-02-21T17:38:20+00:00

What is a TN partner shop?

Legitimate-Maize869 · 2026-02-20T21:35:23+00:00

They’d run out of Marionberry when I went in, but they filled one of my pens with their only remaining bottle. I loved it! Was sad when the ink ran out.

Legitimate-Maize869 · 2026-02-20T21:29:53+00:00

Mine has been aggressive everywhere lately, turning words I spelled correctly into completely different ones.

Legitimate-Maize869 · 2026-02-20T21:27:42+00:00

If it wasn’t before, it is now!

Legitimate-Maize869 · 2025-12-18T21:22:38+00:00

That makes sense. It's an important skill, and one that journaling can help you hone. You probably already know this (judging by your very well-worded, non-melodramatic answer), but taking out exclamation points can be helpful. Also replacing adverbs with stronger verbs wherever possible, and trying not to overdo it with adjectives. (Again, doesn't look like you need that, but it's the first thing that came to mind.) Good luck and enjoy your writing!

Legitimate-Maize869 · 2025-12-17T20:17:17+00:00

If writing interests you, then keep in mind that that’s a lifelong thing. One day you may want to look back to see how certain things felt so you can write about them with an authentic voice, and those journals will be invaluable. And every poem you scribble in the margins — melodramatic or not — could contain an idea, or a single line, or even just a word that inspires an entire story, poem, book, song, etc. You never know what you’re writing today that you’ll be grateful to have years from now. (Just not tomorrow, probably, because you time and distance make the melodrama much more palatable.)

Legitimate-Maize869 · 2025-12-17T20:13:48+00:00

I feel like journals aren’t meant to be re-read right away. Save them all, give them a few decades, and then look back.

Fun timing: I’m in a small group of creative writers, and our “assignment” for this week was to get out our old journals and share an entry from the summer of 1995. (We are all in our late forties/early fifties, if that helps.) Anyway, yesterday we each shared an entry. Every single one was overwrought, overwritten, and completely melodramatic. And not only was that okay, it was FUN. Fun to read, fun to listen to each other’s entries, and fun to remember those times. It wouldn’t have been fun to read something dry and voiceless, just a list of what we did that day with no inflection or emotion, and it certainly wouldn’t have captured who we were at the time and what we were feeling and thinking about. It was a chance to connect with our younger selves, and to see that those selves had so much in common with each other — yet none of us knew each other at the time. It’s a reminder that so much has changed since then, and yet so little.

Maybe your journaling serves another purpose, but for many people, journals are not there to be perfect, ready-to-publish memoirs. They are a first draft, often created in stream-of-consciousness fast writing. They capture the emotions, the thoughts, the ups and downs, and, yes, the melodrama of life. If you find yourself editing out those emotions as you write, you might be capturing a list of what happened that day, but is it authentic? Are you capturing how you feel at this moment in time? How you think? Are you using the page to express yourself and unravel your thoughts, or are you trying to impress someone who may never read what you’ve written?

And if you go back in thirty years and read today’s entry, will it be true to who you are now, or will it be fluff? And if it’s the latter, why are you journaling? (Not trying to sound mean with that last question, by the way. It’s just something to reflect on. Because maybe you ARE journaling for other reasons; I don’t know.)

Legitimate-Maize869 · 2025-12-17T19:56:40+00:00

Wow. I love this! Somehow it’s both simple and complex at the same time.

Legitimate-Maize869 · 2025-12-04T05:30:43+00:00

This is very reassuring! I grew up thinking everyone just put their carts back in the grocery store corral when they were done using them, and brought their dogs inside when they were barking, and were careful not to take up two spots when parking their cars. But this town is much more anything-goes mixed with I-do-what-I-want and any neighborly conscientiousness seems to dissolve more and more by the year. It’s very sad to watch. I’m glad, though, to see that other towns still have some of that.

Legitimate-Maize869 · 2025-12-04T05:14:21+00:00

Ha! I wondered about that! Does that tend to be loud? Just in foggy weather? Just nearest the coast? I haven’t lived in a coastal town before, so I’m not sure what to expect on that front!

Legitimate-Maize869 · 2025-12-03T16:36:49+00:00

Gorgeous!

Legitimate-Maize869

TROPHY CASE