There’s a clever little anecdote that goes something like this:

After sending astronauts to space, the US realized their ballpoint pens were useless. This was the 1960s—the height of the space race—so NASA spent an absurd amount of money to develop a pen that works in zero gravity. Rumored to cost at least $1 million (about $9 million in today’s dollars), the “space pen” can write upside down, at extreme temperatures, and even underwater. This feat of American inventiveness allowed astronauts to write in space.

Faced with a similar problem, the Russians used a pencil.

It makes a good joke, but the best parts of this story are, sadly, urban legend.

Pencils break off in shards or lead dust, which floats around a spacecraft (and could potentially hurt the machinery).

The pen itself is very real and it may have cost millions to create. But even this part of the story contains mythology: NASA didn’t fund nor encourage the research.

The truth about the pen (from Scientific American) is worth a read, but this story is about how I discovered these pens—and what the heck this has to do with developer content.

The modern version is sometimes referred to as a bullet, because of its shape. It stores smaller than your typical pen but can be opened to full pen size.

That’s one of the features I like about it. The other is that, unlike other ballpoint pens, it always works. And, yes, you can use it to write upside down!

ProgrammableWeb founder John Musser (that’s John with an H) introduced me to this pen. At a Starbucks in Seattle, we were brainstorming together… but we didn’t bring any paper. He grabbed a flier from the counter, flipped over to the blank side, and then revealed this hidden pen from his pocket.

“You can always find a piece of paper, you can’t always find a pen,” he said.

Years later, I’m the guy that carries one of these little writing capsules in his pocket. I’ve bought at least a half dozen over the years. They’re that handy.

John’s advice about pens is equally true of writers for technical content.

You can’t always find a pen, nor is it likely to just happen upon a writer who fits your audience.

That’s where my post on How to Find Developer Content Writers can help.

It’s not as easy as a space pen in your pocket, but you’ll want a strategy that supports both your technical content and your technical content writers.

If you want guidance, reach out to the EveryDeveloper team.

P.S. You can buy your own space pen on Amazon for a lot less than $1 million.