Friday, November 15, 2019

Toni Morrison’s pencils

Toni Morrison, from a 1993 Paris Review interview:

What is the physical act of writing like for you?

I write with a pencil.

Would you ever work on a word processor?

Oh, I do that also, but that is much later when everything is put together. I type that into a computer and then I begin to revise. But everything I write for the first time is written with a pencil, maybe a ballpoint if I don’t have a pencil. I’m not picky, but my preference is for yellow legal pads and a nice number two pencil.

Dixon Ticonderoga number two soft?

Exactly.

[From Toni Morrison: The Pieces I Am (dir. Timothy Greenfield-Sanders, 2019). Click for a larger view.]

No Ticonderoga in the documentary. That’s a Paper Mate SharpWriter. But it is a no. 2.

Related reading
All OCA pencil posts (Pinboard)

comments: 2

Berit said...

This instantly put me in mind of CW Pencil Enterprise (and a quick search tells me you are aware if them!), as I've been going often lately. Have you had occasion to visit the newer location on Orchard Street?

Michael Leddy said...

No, just the original location. There’s a similar store in Chicago, Greer, not quite as pencil-centric, which now has a NYC location. More pencils!