One look at my bedspread would be enough to tell you that I love colors – all of the colors, at the same time. In fact, my whole room is pretty colorful. Throughout college I took notes with different colored gel pens, and at work I post my daily fun fact on my whiteboard in […]
For the next week, we’re going to be doing something different on the Pencils Blog. In addition to pencil news and updates, our staff will be writing short stories using prompts from 642 Things to Write About, the most popular book in the Pencils.com Bookstore. This story, by Gina Verrastro, is based on the following prompt: You find […]
Once upon a time, a tenth-grade English teacher sought to impress upon her students the importance of following MLA guidelines to the letter. One such guideline was that essays must be printed on paper of a particular weight. That night, twenty-some sophomores went home and told their parents they needed paper of a certain weight, […]
I write a piece of trivia on my whiteboard at work every morning. It started as a way to lure visitors to my remote cubicle without bankrupting me the way a candy bowl would. Then I moved closer to the rest of my department, and everyone looks forward to the Daily Fun Fact. It’s a […]
This year marks the second opportunity for pencil artists to compete for the Derwent Art Prize. Artists over the age of 18 from all over the world are invited to submit pieces done in pencil, pastel, graphite, charcoal or colored pencil. The grand prize is £6,000, and there are several other cash prizes up for […]
On April 12, a disastrous hardware failure crippled U.S. immigration courts when the system that maintains the courts’ dockets crashed. The system is still not fully functional after six weeks. Immigrants and their family members calling the courts’ hotline for information on pending cases are greeted by a message citing “system issues” as the reason that […]
No matter what you’re writing – short fiction, legal briefs, AP English essays – whether you’re writing it longhand or on a computer, it’s important to have a comfortable environment that is conducive to productivity. As an avid writer during childhood, an English major in college, a fiction editor, an English Master’s student, an aspiring […]
Kershaw Throws Pencil Strikes ESPN recently featured pencils prominently in their commercial for Sports Center. Apple Plays Off Our Pencil-Related Emotions So did Apple, for promoting the iPad Air. Samsung Prods With Their Own Pencil Parody And then there was the Samsung parody, showcasing the Galaxy. There’s no doubt about it – pencils look […]
Mother’s Day is on Sunday, May 11 this year. Chances are, your mother is a pretty awesome lady who deserves the very best. If that is the case, check out some of the great gifts we have right here at Pencils.com that would be perfect additions to her special day. Custom Pencils Of course you’ll […]
Growing up, there was a junk drawer in my parents’ kitchen populated by all the usual suspects: bent paperclips, snapped rubber bands, crumpled post-it notes. By far the most prevalent objects in the drawer, however, were pencils. There were the stubs of pencils much-used, broken pencils, pencils with empty tips where the graphite had broken […]
