StacyAug 12, 2023

Who learned to type on a real typewriter?

#poll

Please boost for a wider demographic.

I did!
62.5%
Nope
37.5%
Poll ended at .
Show threadRS, Author, Novelist, Prosaist

@dancinyogi
I actually had a manual typewriter. You really had to push each key down hard (and as an 11-year old, that took strength). My Mom saw I was serious at writing and got me a Smith-Corona that had switchable cartridges, one for ink, one for white-out. I really needed that! The keys had a nice feel. My recollection is that I wrote my first novella and my first novel on the machine. After the novella, I was a touch typist. Never took a class.

Soon it was on to a terminal with a typewriter keyboard and a 56K Cat modem to use a time-share computer at university. That seems like so long ago that my memories should be in B&W and sepia-toned.

#writing #writingcommunity #writinglife #typewriter

Aug 12, 2023 at 6:57pmWeb
Show threadMike T.Aug 12, 2023

@sfwrtr @dancinyogi I get great joy from typing on a manual #typewriter, to be honest. I have them set up everywhere the mood may strike me. They are the perfect balance, the perfect writing partner for me. Fast, legible, and just slow enough that I can rethink the sentence before I get to the end of the line, but plenty fast enough when I'm on a roll.

And 56k #modem? Very modern! :)

Show threadRS, Author, Novelist, ProsaistAug 13, 2023

@mftassano @dancinyogi

Wrote the first novella the winter of 75-76. 78 for the modem.

So, do you OCR the typewritten manuscript? You don't gasp retype it!?

Show threadMike T.Aug 13, 2023

@sfwrtr @dancinyogi
I used a #typewriter for #NaNoWriMo one year, but the success of the #OCR depended on typeface and paper quality.

Fortunately, most all of my daily writing is me for alone and so, as with Nanowrimo, needn’t be ocr'd. Or even read again.

My paid writing, of course, had to be submitted in Frame, embedded in the #sourcecode, or (ugh) in Word.

Show threadMartin 🧀Aug 14, 2023
@mftassano @sfwrtr have you checked https://www.usbtypewriter.com/ ? You can still write on paper and get the result on a SD card for easier export.
USB Typewriter

Our classic typing machines have been upgraded to serve as computer keyboards and tablet docking stations. An inspiring fusion of old and new.

USB Typewriter
Show threadRS, Author, Novelist, ProsaistAug 14, 2023
@mart_e @mftassano
That USB typewriter conversion hardware is kind of nuts. I'd consider trying it if I still had any typewriters. I lost track of my Smith Corona electric typewriter when I received an Apple ][ for my 21st birthday.
Show threadStevens R MillerAug 12, 2023

@sfwrtr @dancinyogi

This is no longer relevant, but when I took typing in 1976 I was quite surprised to learn that all typing speed records were set on manuals. By the time electrics came around, the fastest typists were already too fast for the electric machines to be able to keep up with them.

Obviously, computer keyboards have no such issues with speed. But it sure was interesting to hear of a case where the more modern tech was the inferior tech, in a way.