Hmmm, the square indent is what makes it easier for me, it acts as a resevoir for the glue, allowing a more even coating. Just make sure that the head fits flush against the paper, letting the glue act as lubricant, allowing the glue pen to glide agross the paper. Maintain an even pressure, lifting the pen only when you finish a line of glue, otherwise you can end up with glue globs when you start a second line of glue running off of the first. If you can't help but start a second line then leave a tiny gap between the two. (1/32nd to 1/16th of an inch, a millimeter or less).

While you have to keep the pen angled you do not need to keeo the angle in line with the movement of the pen. It moves along sidewise just fine.

Drawing the pen towards you rather than across or away seems easier to me, and don't 'scribble' to fill an area with glue, instead do a series of lines. If you are feeling twitchy about an even coating of glue for a large area you can draw a straight edge across the glue evening it out, but I have found that burnishing the paper afterwards, like in the instructions, works great.

But then again, I used to use nib pens, so flow problems aren't something new to me. Heck in 1976 I used quill pens... Gods they were a pain! (I was playing Benjamin Franklin for a school project for the Bicentennial, since I did calligraphy I got stuck actually doing some writing. Quills need constant sharpening as the points get mushy. You sharpened them with a 'pen knife'.)

The Auld Grump, hope this helps, and I hope that I am not stating the obvious.

*EDIT* I have noticed that it can gather together, shrinking a tad, but not enough to cause a problem. I have also noticed occassional stringers, the only suggestions that I can give for that is to have waxed paper near the line you are gluing, drwing the pen off over the waxed paper. Or, do what I usually end up doing, draw the pen off back along the glued line as you lift it so that the string goes where there is already glue. Try both and see which you like - I generally have the waxed paper handy, then ignore it. Only on really delicate pieces do I actually use it. And for delicate but non structural parts try a glue stick, using the stronger UHU for structural parts.

*EDIT 2* On my recent Wizard's tower I used a spray adhesive for the large areas of the double layered walls. It had the opposite problem in regards to 'grabbing' quickly. I grabs on almost instantly, and if you need to pull it apart afterwords you might as well throw it away and start over, I haven't made my mind up about this glue yet, it orks great for gluing masterboard to foam core or to insulation foam, and the joins on the tower seem very secure, but I wasted about three sheets of cardstock when gluing walls.

I've been using them more and more lately, and I think I finally have the hang of it. The biggest thing about them is not to use too much. Less is more. If you put too much on (which is really easy to do), it takes a lot longer to dry, and the two surfaces won't immediately stick, it will be very loose and move around. It will also tend to warp more when it dries, cause strings, and is way messier in general.

If you have glue beaded on the surface of what you're gluing, you have too much. You should have a thin film at most (similar to if you were using a gluestick), and that way the two surfaces will bond almost immediately. That is one of the nice things about the square applicator; its easy to clean it off quickly with a damp paper towel, then spread (or remove) some of the glue on your surface, thinning it out. If I get too much on, I'll even let it sit for 30-60 seconds to harden a little, then put the surfaces together.

The glue pen applicator is a lot like my Accord's brakes - its really touchy, and easy to put too much pressure on. In fact, I was storing them with my pens (upside down), but stopped doing that because too much glue was consistently coming through the applicator. Now I store them hole-side up, so that I have to squeeze to get the glue coming.

I've also been experimenting with Uhu gluesticks (the apply on purple/dry clear sticks, like the Elmer's school glue). Its not much different than school glue, but it seems to stick better. I like to use gluesticks (as opposed to glue pens) in spots where I am going to put direct pressure on the glued surfaces - interior tabs especially. Glue sticks seem to work better on un-printed areas as well.