It’s another Freewriting Monday. This is my weekly habit—sit down, start writing, and see where it goes. No outline, no plan. Just 500 words on whatever comes to mind.

When I opened up WordPress this morning to start this post, the first thing I noticed was a little stat on the dashboard:
2,517 spam comments blocked.

That’s thanks to my spam plugin. I used to use Akismet, the built-in one from WordPress. It works well, but it’s expensive. And after a while, I stopped thinking it was worth the money.

At first, I switched to a free plugin called WP Spam Free. It worked beautifully. But eventually, like some good things, it stopped working altogether. So now I use Antispam Bee, another free plugin that’s doing a great job so far. If you’re running a WordPress blog, I recommend it. Simple, clean, and free.

That got me thinking about value. What we pay for, what we don’t. And when it’s worth it.

I’m currently on the hunt for a decent fountain pen. Not easy to find here in Peru. I found three recently: one for about $3.50, one for $70, and one for $750.

I liked the $70 pen best. It felt solid, well made. The cheap one looked like it would fall apart after a few days. The $750 MontBlanc was beautiful, sure, but I couldn’t quite bring myself to believe it was ten times better than the one for seventy.

I would have bought the mid-range one, but the shop didn’t sell cartridges for it. No converter either. That might be fine in the UK or the US, but here, it means you’re stuck. So I walked out with the $3.50 pen. It’ll do for now. But when I’m next back in the UK, I’ll pick up something better.

I already have my eye on one. Under $40, includes cartridges, a converter, and even a bottle of ink. If you ever feel like sending me a surprise, now you know.

So, there it is. Nearly 500 words. I started with spam filters and ended up talking about fountain pens. That’s how these Mondays go.

Maybe this post will turn into something more later. Maybe not. Either way, I showed up, and I wrote. And that’s the real point.

Sometimes the free option is the best one. Other times, it’s worth paying for quality. But either way, you need to know what matters to you—and make a start. Even if it’s just 500 words at a time.

Have you tried freewriting before? Let me know in the comments.

Time taken to write 20 minutes
Time from start to finish 22 minutes
Happy with result 5