Started using a typewriter ... and it's working
- Thread starter L.C. Blackwell
- Start date
And in beautiful condition, too.
Few are as old school as I am, but grading writing papers for five classes a week and once-a-week night classes at the reservation in the '90s prompted a step up from pen and ink. For those students without personal computers, both colleges offered free computer labs.
Long story short, I could do more work not only faster but better with the growth of computer writing tools and online research. I figured the same would apply to my own writing, covered my Selectric, and seldom looked back.
Whenever I do, I think of retyping several blue-penciled drafts from scratch, editing in one medium and writing in another, and then think I'll leave old school to you young folks with lots of time ahead. As Briscoe Darling declared to Andy Taylor, "More power to ya."
Long story short, I could do more work not only faster but better with the growth of computer writing tools and online research. I figured the same would apply to my own writing, covered my Selectric, and seldom looked back.
Whenever I do, I think of retyping several blue-penciled drafts from scratch, editing in one medium and writing in another, and then think I'll leave old school to you young folks with lots of time ahead. As Briscoe Darling declared to Andy Taylor, "More power to ya."
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Happy to hear about your experience with the typewriter. Maybe it will inspire me to wipe the dust off my typewriter and actually use it. I own a typewriter for the last 5 years. I was so excited when I bought it. But it has been ages since I even placed a finger on it. Sigh!
You should pull a Kerouac and tape loads of reams together so you never have to move. Get yourself in to an eight-hour writing trance and I'm sure you'll surprise yourself with what comes out haha
You may find it helps your first drafts. I saw from some of your other comments that you're struggling with those (as I do), and at least for me, it's the best thing I ever did from a writing standpoint. Just don't overdo it at first if you're using a manual (non-electric), because it's really easy to get excited while working on a scene and type your hands and arms into a mess six pages later. I find that doing regular stretches for tendons makes a big difference.