Typing Typing Typing
I have a typewriter on my desk in my bedroom, and it's probably the most thoughtful gift anyone has ever given me. Not only does it seriously appeal to my overly romantic sensibilities and love of all things retro (wow I'm so cool wow validate my hashtag coolness), but I find it an extremely useful tool when it comes to throwing out some words on a sheet of paper.
Yeah, obviously, because it's a typewriter? Like, I use it to literally write, so, yeah, it's a useful tool? U ok hun?
I think I mean 'tool' in a more metaphorically productive sense, rather than literal.
I love my typewriter for many different things. It's bright orange, for starters. Win. (Wow, it's like my friends know me or something!)
Even more importantly, I love my typewriter because there are absolutely no distractions. There are no email notifications; there's no Twitter; there's nothing to "just quickly check", only to find yourself 45 minutes into a true crime podcast (today's came courtesy of the Moors Murderers and, although extremely fascinating yet quite disturbing, it was not helping me write about points of interest in Madrid.)
Getting distracted is one of the biggest problems I have when I write. When I find my "flow," it's impossible to pull me away from my work; I've been known to start work at 10am and finish at 2am (with a pause at some point to go outside and actually face other humans). Until I get into it, though, you'll find me cleaning or practicing unicycling (sidenote: it's not going well) or doing something completely irrelevant and time-consuming just because it's super easy to turn my attention elsewhere when the words aren't jumping out.
To be fair, I can be extremely disciplined. I'm good at self-restraint when I want to be. However, the Procrastination Princess tiara is one I wear pretty well at the best of times.
And that's why my typewriter is so useful. It's archaic (ok, no, it's from the 70s) but it means I can't get distracted. It's just me and some keys and a sheet of paper. It's just me and some words. And that's what I love most about it.
Ok, it's pretty annoying not having a backspace or an undo button when you make a mistake and it really makes you realise that the 'copy and paste' function is pretty much a lifesaver. But not being able to edit the text like you would on a laptop makes me elaborate my thoughts. No interruptions; just me, typing thoughtfully.
You have to be pretty focused; you can't mess things up. A pathetic tap on the key will leave faded ink that's pretty much impossible to read. If you get overexcited and type too quickly, then quickly want to retract a statement or phrase...oops, too late. Making your mark on the sheet in front of you takes power. You really have to pause and think: is this what I want to say? Is this the tone I want to convey? Do I really want to use that word?
It's like you're strategizing. The tactile ways of the typewriter forces you to think. Sure, you could skip back and cross out faults (I can almost smell the secondary school fascination with Tipex right here from my kitchen!) but they're always going to be on the page. Every strike of the keys is a strike that's filled with truth.
If there's something I've learned from typewriting, it's that I care too much about getting it right. I'd never noticed it before; when you're working from a laptop or a tablet or whatever, you don't realise how much you linger over a completed sentence before you complete erase it and rephrase or rewrite it. You don't realise how much the backspace is your best friend.
But not having the ability to spell-check or auto-save or whatever on my typewriter is kind of what is so beautiful about it. The simple permanence of the words I put down on the page at the risk of all the hassle of not liking or wanting to change them is what writing is all about - at least, to me. It's what we are thinking right then and there, in that particular moment. And marking it down in the permanency of ink gives it a kind of legacy.
This is why I often think that what I write on my typewriter is better than what I write on my laptop (awks bcos lol that's my job but oh well!). I think it's because I take my time with my typewriter. I linger over the keys a lot longer. There is rarely a spelling mistake or a grammatical error or whatever, because I spend minutes pondering over each and every sentence. Compare that to my blog, for example, or early drafts of my articles, and it's actually laughable. You can practically hear the chimes of the clock painstakingly ticking through the ink on the page, sensing the amount of time it took me to just complete that one sentence.
Yeah, obviously, because it's a typewriter? Like, I use it to literally write, so, yeah, it's a useful tool? U ok hun?
I think I mean 'tool' in a more metaphorically productive sense, rather than literal.
I love my typewriter for many different things. It's bright orange, for starters. Win. (Wow, it's like my friends know me or something!)
Even more importantly, I love my typewriter because there are absolutely no distractions. There are no email notifications; there's no Twitter; there's nothing to "just quickly check", only to find yourself 45 minutes into a true crime podcast (today's came courtesy of the Moors Murderers and, although extremely fascinating yet quite disturbing, it was not helping me write about points of interest in Madrid.)
Getting distracted is one of the biggest problems I have when I write. When I find my "flow," it's impossible to pull me away from my work; I've been known to start work at 10am and finish at 2am (with a pause at some point to go outside and actually face other humans). Until I get into it, though, you'll find me cleaning or practicing unicycling (sidenote: it's not going well) or doing something completely irrelevant and time-consuming just because it's super easy to turn my attention elsewhere when the words aren't jumping out.
To be fair, I can be extremely disciplined. I'm good at self-restraint when I want to be. However, the Procrastination Princess tiara is one I wear pretty well at the best of times.
And that's why my typewriter is so useful. It's archaic (ok, no, it's from the 70s) but it means I can't get distracted. It's just me and some keys and a sheet of paper. It's just me and some words. And that's what I love most about it.
Ok, it's pretty annoying not having a backspace or an undo button when you make a mistake and it really makes you realise that the 'copy and paste' function is pretty much a lifesaver. But not being able to edit the text like you would on a laptop makes me elaborate my thoughts. No interruptions; just me, typing thoughtfully.
You have to be pretty focused; you can't mess things up. A pathetic tap on the key will leave faded ink that's pretty much impossible to read. If you get overexcited and type too quickly, then quickly want to retract a statement or phrase...oops, too late. Making your mark on the sheet in front of you takes power. You really have to pause and think: is this what I want to say? Is this the tone I want to convey? Do I really want to use that word?
It's like you're strategizing. The tactile ways of the typewriter forces you to think. Sure, you could skip back and cross out faults (I can almost smell the secondary school fascination with Tipex right here from my kitchen!) but they're always going to be on the page. Every strike of the keys is a strike that's filled with truth.
If there's something I've learned from typewriting, it's that I care too much about getting it right. I'd never noticed it before; when you're working from a laptop or a tablet or whatever, you don't realise how much you linger over a completed sentence before you complete erase it and rephrase or rewrite it. You don't realise how much the backspace is your best friend.
But not having the ability to spell-check or auto-save or whatever on my typewriter is kind of what is so beautiful about it. The simple permanence of the words I put down on the page at the risk of all the hassle of not liking or wanting to change them is what writing is all about - at least, to me. It's what we are thinking right then and there, in that particular moment. And marking it down in the permanency of ink gives it a kind of legacy.
This is why I often think that what I write on my typewriter is better than what I write on my laptop (awks bcos lol that's my job but oh well!). I think it's because I take my time with my typewriter. I linger over the keys a lot longer. There is rarely a spelling mistake or a grammatical error or whatever, because I spend minutes pondering over each and every sentence. Compare that to my blog, for example, or early drafts of my articles, and it's actually laughable. You can practically hear the chimes of the clock painstakingly ticking through the ink on the page, sensing the amount of time it took me to just complete that one sentence.
But, yeah, she's a pretty charming machine. I love her dearly - even if the Q and T keys stick from time to time.
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