It's entirely possible that many of you have never used or possibly even seen up close a manual typewriter.
To me, a manual typewriter is the main character in the fantasy of being a writer.
Oh sure, I type this blog post on a computer, but my first love was a manual typewriter...because that's what the real writers in old movies used...and old movies were my reality as a child.
Lately, I have found myself very resistant to writing on the computer...which is usually fine, I hand write most of my new projects first anyway, but I didn't want to do that either.
I needed some magic...and the Universe sent me the answer through a great book, "The Help." The book is beautifully written, engaging, compelling, everything you want in a good thought-provoking read...and even more, it gave me the answer...one of the main characters was an aspiring writer who lugged around a manual typewriter.
And so inspired, I got my little manual typewriter out of her box and set her up to work.
I am a writer again.
The typewriter satisfies my senses. I feel the keys working with me, hear the words going onto paper, smell the old typewriter and ink, see the stack of pages pile up (I repurpose the blank sides of old script pages).
The history of being a writer exists with me in these moments...the old newspaper people working toward deadlines, the writers who typed up the classic novels that we love...myself when I wrote my first complete book - a dog training manual - in 3rd grade...and then, in my 20's when I wrote my first play on a manual.
My current typewriter was saved from the streets of New York. She sat on a pile of trash bags by the curb. I couldn't leave her there. Now, she returns the favor by bringing back the magic of being a writer to my life.
What brings out your magic?
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