Technology for decades, under the more general ideology of 'progress', is sold to us essentially 'to save time'. Presumably saving time to do 'higher things' (like meditate) and/or to indulge in some things we'd really prefer to be doing (like a hobby, going for a walk, or sitting in a café). What actually happens is we feel pressure to get more stuff done we're not overly interested in, in the belief we are earning more brownie points for some future reward.
Using a typewriter definitely creates a 'think-before-you-type' mind-set which, I think, produces a different end-product. I find this with making sculptures, and weaving -- the slowness of a process allows more time for us to notice 'an intervention of the gods', a creative surprise, which gives the end product of a project we are working on, a different and more 'human' feel.
I write my poetry first with a fountain-pen on paper, have lots of arrows and crossings-out, and then type it up - but then type it up on my lap-top (and yes, still using the back-space-deleting button a lot).
I'd be interested to know if there's a way to count the number of times I press "backspace" on my apple keyboard. (Seven so far for this comment.) The backspace on my typewriter is a pain in the bum, so I really tend to avoid it.
Backspace on typewriter? It tends to come in handy for typing a load of XXXXXs over faulty words, or for filling in a letter that I have not pressed hard enough to register on the paper, in my haste to type.
Thank you, you have given me an ideas for a piece about one of my distraction-free writing devices. I have never really used typewriters but admire them.
Technology for decades, under the more general ideology of 'progress', is sold to us essentially 'to save time'. Presumably saving time to do 'higher things' (like meditate) and/or to indulge in some things we'd really prefer to be doing (like a hobby, going for a walk, or sitting in a café). What actually happens is we feel pressure to get more stuff done we're not overly interested in, in the belief we are earning more brownie points for some future reward.
Using a typewriter definitely creates a 'think-before-you-type' mind-set which, I think, produces a different end-product. I find this with making sculptures, and weaving -- the slowness of a process allows more time for us to notice 'an intervention of the gods', a creative surprise, which gives the end product of a project we are working on, a different and more 'human' feel.
I write my poetry first with a fountain-pen on paper, have lots of arrows and crossings-out, and then type it up - but then type it up on my lap-top (and yes, still using the back-space-deleting button a lot).
A beautiful reply. Thank you
I'd be interested to know if there's a way to count the number of times I press "backspace" on my apple keyboard. (Seven so far for this comment.) The backspace on my typewriter is a pain in the bum, so I really tend to avoid it.
Backspace on typewriter? It tends to come in handy for typing a load of XXXXXs over faulty words, or for filling in a letter that I have not pressed hard enough to register on the paper, in my haste to type.
Thank you, you have given me an ideas for a piece about one of my distraction-free writing devices. I have never really used typewriters but admire them.