Wednesday, October 24, 2012

The Typewriter only looks romantic.

This seems to be turning into a writer's diary.  Sorry about that.

At last night's writer's group I was saying how much easier it is to write with digital.  That the last time I was seriously trying to be a writer I was using a typewriter.

Hell, if this technology had been around back then, I probably would never have quit!

Sarah ---who is young, she couldn't know how primitive we were -- said she wasn't so sure.  That writing on a typewriter would make a book more cohesive.  That many writers she noticed seem to cut and patch and it shows.

I can see the danger.

I guess I always figured I'd still have to do a final, irrevocable draft -- whether on a computer or a typewriter.

Anyway, I've heard this nostolgia for typewriters before -- how it forces the writer to slow down, think, make every word count.

And having done both, I can tell you that there is no comparison.  Give me digital, or give me ... unfinished books!

1 comment:

Anita said...

Writing on a typewriter vs digital is a lot like living in a tent vs a house. Sure it's good for some things (slowing down for example) and it might be good to do the former every so often, but for most people it only makes sense to do the latter :).