Tuesday, December 21, 2010

Typewriter enthusiasts... wait, what?!

I may be the only Mod-Blogger who did much writing on a real typewriter before word processors and computers took over. I wrote many of my school papers on a typewriter. And, quite honestly, I don't miss it one bit. Stuck keys, smudged ink, puddles of white-out, etc. I much prefer a word processor - even the old GEOS on my Commodore 64.

However, clearly, there are those who miss those days. And they may just be legion!

McGettigan believes typewriters are making a comeback.

"A typewriter makes you more linear," McGettigan said. "On a computer, 'Let's throw all these thoughts on a page and we'll force an order into them later.' You've got to bring a quiet mind to typewriting."

Matt types all his papers for high school on a typewriter, which his teachers love.

He has a blog, "Adventures in Typewriterdom," and he types his entries on antique-looking paper and then scans the pages into his computer.

He loves the feel of the manuel typwriter, the precision and the permanance and sound of the keys and the bell at the end of a line and the routine of the carriage return. "It feels like you're getting work done," he said. "When I pull that paper out I feel like I accomplished something."

2 comments:

shadowmom1 said...

I can understand it, but now I'd miss the spell check!

BH said...

I used an old electric typewriter that allowed for single line corrections before hitting carrige return and it would type the line. I also used a normal suitcase typewriter but the ribon kept jamming.

PS. My verification word was a dirty word!