Tuesday, April 19, 2011

April 2011 A to Z Blogging Challenge

What is the A to Z Challenge? It’s blogging a letter of the alphabet every day the month of April (with Sundays off for good behavior.) It began April 1st, with the letter A and ends April 30th, with the letter Z. You can click here to see who else is participating in this challenge.




Today's post is for the letter:


As a writer, I am fond of my pencil. Until I became so busy that writing longhand was almost impossible, I used my pencil often. Now, I mostly use it when I am coordinating virtual book tours.

I found this website tonight that provides a history of the pencil.  The information is fascinating. Did you know that early American settlers depended upon England for their pencils until the war cut off imports? This led to a Concord, Massachusetts cabinet maker named William Monroe designing America's first wood pencils in 1812.

Have you ever gone into an office supply store and purchased a package of Dixon Ticonderoga pencils? Well, amazingly enough, The Joseph Dixon Crucible Company, which is now Dixon Ticonderoga, is responsible for the American pencil industry taking off. Their website says their origins date back to 1795!

I hadn't ever really considered the history of the pencil until I sat down to write this post, which is a shame because pencils and writers go hand in hand.

Do you write longhand? Were you familiar with pencil history?

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