I feel like I’ve been doing a decent enough job with this blog since launching it late last year. Sure, I realize that it hasn’t really been all that long, but it has been long enough that I can detect certain differences since I first started off. Because of this, I’ve known for a little while now that something just wasn’t quite right. I just couldn’t put my finger on what it was (no, that’s not meant to be a typing pun). It finally dawned on me when I tried my hand at writing a typewriter review, as I talked about in my last entry here on The Typewritemosphere.
I had sort of lost sight of why I bought a typewriter in the first place, at least in part. I was doing just fine in terms of the quantity of writing going on. Between this blog and all of the letters that I write (I’ve averaged almost one per day, 2 pages each on average, single spaced, for the past six months) I had easily seen to that. But as far as the quality of my writing was concerned, I’d more or less lost the ball in the sun. I believe that this was due in part to my getting so wrapped up in the typewriters themselves. Not that there’s anything wrong with that. It’s just that this wasn’t my intention.
My last entry talked about the disappointment that I felt in regards to my “failed review”. I was being serious, even if I managed to poke fun at myself in the process. Furthermore, reviewing the exchange of comments that followed, I wondered why I was even attempting to write a review in the first place. The reality is that I really don’t have very much experience with these machines. I’m just another guy that really likes typewriters, there are a growing number of us. But if the truth be told, I’m far more concerned with the writing that I create when using one of these machines than I am about the machine itself. It would seem that when it comes to typewriters, what I really dig is the typing itself. I’m good with that.
I go into the above details to help explain how I came to find myself not at a thrift store, antique shop, or an estate sale this past weekend, but at a bookstore instead. Rather than hunting typewriters, I was in search of resources that might help me to improve the overall quality of my writing. You see, I’ve been down this path before when I comes to things like cameras and guitars for example. What started as a desire to become a better photographer or a more skilled guitarist, turned into more of a game of gear acquisition. While l` still enjoy both photography and playing guitar, I’d surely be much better at both things had I not been so distracted by the gear.
I’ve managed to jump off of the gear merry-go-round when it comes to things like cameras and guitars, not to mention HiFi gear, so I imagine that I can do so when it comes to typewriters as well. The real problem is that buying typewriters was the easy part. The hard part is the work that lies ahead of me. You see, I’ve long struggled with the sort of things that many seemingly take for granted such as the parts of speech, sentence structure, and punctuation for example. On top of that, the thought of creating compelling original content that others might actually want to read is somewhat terrifying to me.
This is why I went hunting not for typewriters this past weekend, but for (hopefully) helpful resources to take my writing to the next level. I’ve already got more than enough typewriters for my needs, yet I’ll never find the sort of books that solve the sort of problems that I’m wanting to tackle — primarily because they simply don’t exist. The only way that I can overcome these problems is by putting in the work. The books that I recently purchased might provide some help, but it’s really going to come down to time and effort on my part. While I’ve never had a hard time cranking out large quantities of writing, the thought of trying to improve my writing in the ways that I’m hoping to is rather intimidating to me.
None of this is to say that I’m giving up typewriters. Far from it actually. As I’ve already noted, I love the act of typing itself and typewriters are largely responsible for my renewed interest in writing. I’m certain that I’ll always have a typewriter around for as long as I’m still able to type, likely many of them. I just think that I need to make sure that I’m keeping my focus on the right things given my own ambitions and preferences. According to my friend Anthony, my path for now is pretty straightforward: “just write”.
I guess that I will just have to see how things go. With any luck at all, I’ll be producing content for more than just this blog and the letters that I enjoy writing. I’ve been ramping up my contributions over at One Typed Page, so that’s a start. The fact that I can involve typewriters in all of this is really just the icing on the cake.
AFTERTHOUGHTS: It only makes sense that those who like to write would be drawn to these tools that were constructed for the purpose of writing. But I often feel like my writing isn’t really doing the machine(s) justice. With that in mind, I realize that I need to step up my writing game. I’ve attempted to do this in the past and failed, so it feels as if the odds are already stacked against me. Still, I’ve got nothing to lose but time (which is actually worth a lot if you stop to think about it).
You do a great job of just writing. Finding and reviewing and repairing typewriters seems to make writing easy. I find myself not being able to just write if I don’t have a typewriter to write about. Funny thing is I used to write technical documents as well as radio news and ad copy. One thing that did help me more than my college news reporting and writing classes was the AP style book from the mid 1970s. I don’t like the newer ones.
I’m guessing that most everyone has an easier time of it when writing about something that they’re interested in. That’s one of the reasons I imagined starting a blog about typewriters wouldn’t be overwhelming even though I knew little about them relatively speaking. I remember learning about the AP Stylebook in the single journalism class that I took while in college in the early 80’s. I was imagining that the changing times necessitated the need for the updated versions of the book. It would be interesting to see just how much this book has changed over the years.
First of all, you’re a good writer. Keep it up. Secondly, great writing comes from REwriting. It sounds like you expect the first words you commit to paper to be perfect. But a first draft is more about getting the basic form down, letting your ideas come to life on the page. Through revisions, you can then sculpt what you’ve written into its best form.
So as long as you enjoy it, keep writing, my friend!
Thanks for the thoughts Gregory, much appreciated. In the case of the review, there was definitely rewriting involved (although I was doing that all by way of the typewriter as well.) The more that I rewrote, the more the overall length seemed to grow, lol. While I was frustrated with the end result by the time I had finished, I did enjoy the process, even though I typically only use the typewriter for the rough drafts when working on something longer than a blog entry. Just as I’m definitely still enjoying the overall process of writing in general. I do realize that I just need to keep grinding, or writing in this case.
Ha! The machines serve you, not you them. Never lose sight of that, and never think that “doing the machines justice” is anything but a psyops idea planted in your head by the machines themselves. Banish the thought! They exist in spacetime for *your* pleasure, so do with them what you will. 😀
Understood. However, I made that comment in part due to the fact that most all of my recently found enthusiasm for writing has been brought on by the typewriters themselves — be it directly or indirectly. Obviously any expectations that I have are just those that I develop for myself.
Still, too often in the past with my other pursuits I’ve become overly fascinated with the gear itself rather than focusing on what I could actually do with the gear as a tool to help me expand my talents. I’d like to try to break this habit that in the case of the wonderful typewriters that I’ve picked up over the past few months.
Well actually you have the typewriter as a fantastic tool to write about your photography and music among other interests as well. A short story about a man who is looking for inspiration finds it in an object which he photographs, which inspires him to compose music which becomes a back-drop for another activity.
Good thoughts John and something that I should have a go with. Thanks for that!