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Typewriter

I'm guessing this thread won't get too many responses, but I'll give it a shot nonetheless.

Do any of the writers out there use a typewriter as part of their writing process? I've begun to draft my articles, etc. by hand--and it's made the whole writing process a lot less stressful. (With a word processor, I struggled with perfectionism: I used to write a first paragraph, delete it, write it again, polish it, delete it, and so on, until an imminent deadline forced me to pull an all-nighter and pound the whole thing out.)

The advantage of the typewriter, of course, is that it forces you to write from begining to end before revising. You can only go forward--this would seem to take away of the urge to tinker with what already been written--it would also seem to raise one's comfort with a sh*tty first draft.

I know that I would eventually enter the end product into a computer. But what particularly draws me to the typewriter is the idea of producing one physical page at a time. There's something balanced, measured, and satisfying in this approach.

Any one had any success in using a typewriter? If not, does anyone no how to achieve a similar writing process on a computer--i.e., how to enforce the discipline of going forward one page at a time, and not going back until you're done with the whole first draft?

Thanks in advance for the advice.

TOPICS: Lofi
caseykoons's picture

Dedicated drafting app

My suggestion is to avoid the word processor for the drafting stage and only move into it when you're ready to edit. I find that using an app dedicated to drafting makes you more inclined to write. I use Scrivener for large projects myself, but Writeroom or even a modified TextEdit works well for smaller projects.

Some tips:

  • Set the font in you drafting app to something larger and more casual then you would use in the final paper. The goal here is easy readability and a tangible difference in font-style will quickly tell your eyes whether or not you supposed to write or edit.

  • Full screen. Many apps have full screen modes, and Afloat can give one to apps that don't. Full screen can aid the illusion that you're using a dedicated typing machine and keep you from getting distracted from widgets elsewhere on the screen.

  • Inverted color. Provided by Writeroom by default and achievable with Universal Access "Switch to Black on White", or Alcor's Nocturne (free), an inverted color scheme helps the above two goals. It both signals visually to the mind that something different is to take place and makes your computer seem more like an old terminal. It can ease readability also.

 
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