Jess,

I turned into a pen geek about eight years ago so I have a collection of fountain pens, and later on picked up a collection of good notebooks to go with them. The notebooks were mostly empty for five years and the shelf full of them grew more crowded over time.

I counted them once. I think I have a hundred and thirty, or so? Mostly nice paper, too - quality Japanese notebooks made for writing.

One day I looked at them and realized that I had so many that I would never be able to fill them all out. And then I had to ask myself why I got so many. And the answer was really obvious when I asked myself. I got them because I dreamed about being a writer.

And that's when I realized I needed to fill them out. Some people hit that point and throw their notebooks away because they realize that they can't make the dream happen. I decided the opposite. I recognized that it was a frustrated dream, stymied by my inability to write consistently. But that didn't mean it was an impossible one.

So here I am now, a couple years (and many notebooks) later. I will get through every book on my shelf before I die, and more to boot, as long as nothing ends me early. And you're right; it feels amazing to finish a book or a pen. Actually that's part of the motivation to keep going; ink cartridges and milestone pages in notebooks are now markers of forward progress.

J