Although I've added the "Handwriting" flair, I'd like to state - for the record - that I'm not at all satisfied with my handwriting still. I know, I know - sounds like a cop-out. 

However, I've come a long way since school, when my scribbles were deemed truly illegible. And now, I'd like to present my cursive writing. 

With that stated, here's my long fountain pen journey in short. 

Now I turn 28 in two months. And as an adult, I've built a bit of a modest collection of five fountain pens. All of which have helped me further my penmanship. I try to write about four pages a day; a bit more progress is made over the weekends. 

The focus of this post is, of course, my Pilot Custom 74 (M). Hence, I'll write a brief note about it. 

So, I prefer Medium nibs somehow, much to the chagrin of my dad, who gifted this lovely writer to me. However, as Matt Armstrong likes to say - and I paraphrase - not all pens I received were great, but I made them great. And a common problem with Pilot No. 5 nibs is that the tines are too tight. 

Although, it wrote perfectly out of the box. One fine day, the box - with the pen inside - fell from a foot or two, and it developed skipping issues. So, I had to make some adjustments to this nib (I know, nails on a chalkboard). Safe to say, it writes splendidly now. If anyone needs any DIY tips to fix the infamous "tines too tight" problem on their pen, I'd be happy to help. 

That said, don't do what I did. Send it to Pilot instead. Sadly, I'm an impatient bugger.

Anyway, here are the rest of the pens and ink pots in the subsequent frames (with an indulgent one-liner for each.)

\#1 Caran d'Ache Madison - It is a pen from the '70s that was passed down to me after my maternal grandmother's passing. It is a broad nib and a bit leaky, but it writes like glass.

\#2 Sheaffer Sagaris - This is the first pen I bought with my own meagre income of Rs 4000 per month. At the time, it was much cheaper. That said, this pen is totally slept on. It is a smooth and reliable writer - one of my favourites. Again, a Medium nib. 

\#3 TWSBI Eco - This pen grew on me, actually. Only recently did I realise that it is such a fine writer (pun intended) 'cause this pen is a Fine nib. Sorry folks. 

\#4 Another Sheaffer, and this one is a Gift 100 - It was an impulse purchase that was months in the making. I always was enchanted by the coffee brown tone. One fine day, I just walked into the store and took it home. Now, this pen is a decent writer, but Sheaffer has to really fine-tune some of their nibs. I tried looking under my phone camera's lens and noticed the tines were slightly off. That said, it is pleasant to look at and has a nice heft to it. 

Now for the ink pots. I'll just list them from left to right.

J. Herbin Éclat de Saphir, Pilot Iroshizuku Kon-peki (damn it, Goulet!), Pilot Iroshizuku Tsuki-yo, and lastly, Robert Oster Verde de Rio (I wish I had known the stories of this guy before I bought this one.) Other than that, Dad has borrowed my nearly-empty bottle of Diamine Oxblood. Someday, I'll include it in an FP reunion. 

Personally, the Iroshizuku bottles are unparalleled. Also, the notebook I'm using is - you guessed it - the Midori MD. On a final note, this is my fourth Midori notebook so far, and I've reserved it for copying the Berkshire Hathaway Shareholder Letters. 

My FP journey so far