A story in the New York Daily News reports that some writers are taking advantage of a new-fangled tech device called...a typewriter.
OK, an old-fangled tech device.
The article quotes Matt Cidoni, 17: “I loved the instantaneousness of it, and immediately seeing the words on the page.” The high school senior now owns ten typewriters (his favorite is the Royal 10), writes a blog about typewriters and hand-types his school assignments. “The teachers love it. They think it’s neat.”
Some are returning to typewriters to escape the distractions that come with the computer: "Jack Tassia, 55, of Elmhurst, bought himself a Smith Corona last week, hoping it would help him focus. “If I’m on the computer, which I’ve also used to write, I feel like a lot of times I get distracted, either by emails or any stuff that comes up online,” he said."
Colleen Ferraioli, who owns Brooklyn shops Brownstone Treasures and Yesterday’s News, said,“It’s become very popular with young writers. They’ll actually bring a typewriter around rather than a laptop and they’ll work that way.” (Hmm, my guess is they're trying to look cool.)
One of the happiest days of my early life was when my parents presented me with a typewriter--I've forgotten the model, but it was one of those ancient uprights, like the one in the illustration, that my father picked up at a garage sale. Years later the appearance of the IBM Selectric, with its sphere of keys and its correction tape, seemed like an amazing advance.
So, yes, I like the romantic image of the old typewriter. I wouldn't mind having one sitting somewhere in my office.
But go back to writing on one? Lugging it around to the local coffee shop? Stopping to roll up the paper, erase an error and find you've made a little hole in the paper?
Not likely.
PS: Here's an interesting feature on 12 writers who still refuse to use computers--at least for all their creative writing. For instance, apparenlty J. K. Rowling still prefers to do first drafts by hand and edits as she transfers it to computer. Link: http://www.accreditedonlinecolleges.org/blog/2012/12-writers-who-still-refuse-to-use-computers/
(Whatever you use to write, you'll find a great deal of helpful information in my book, "Your Writing Coach," published by Nicholas Brealey and available as a traditional printed book or as a Kindle e-book.)
