An Old-School Writer in a New School World

That beautiful piece of machinery above is the new typewrite I just purchased!

A 1958 Olympia SM 3 Deluxe. It's currently in the mail, being shipped to my work. It was something I've been wanting to get for awhile now - an old-school manual typewriter.

Why?

The first time I wrote each of all the following was done from a manual typewriter: short story, poem, play, script. I have such memories of sitting down in front of this device and having my fingers dance with the keys. At around five years old I sat at a big oak desk next to my grandmother's even bigger oak desk at the tax office she worked. These desks were miniscule compared to Uncle Rayford's massive oak desk that had tax papers, receipts, and envelopes neatly stacked a top it's impressive surface. Papa Bear, Mama Bear, and Baby Bear oak desks all in a converted garage next to my great-Aunt's house.

The manual typewriter also belonged to my great-Aunt, Aunt Sissy. Or, "Sister," as my grandmother calls her. Aunt Sissy is my grandmother's 10 year older sister. When I was young, she always had around fifteen indoor/outdoor cats (it got so bad if you walked into the living room you could count the fleas jumping around your socks), an interest in professional wrestling, and an old Lincoln she would whip into and back out of the the gravel drive-way (that had blind-sides on all sides) with the ease of a stuntdriver. Now at 87, she still drives, still has cats (down to 2-3 at a time now) and still watches wrestling everyday.

Back to her typewriter. Antique is a word so use, but I could also use ancient. Something from the late 20's, this typewriter weighed a ton and you really had to press the circular buttons pretty hard to get the letter to swing up and hit the page, leaving the ink behind on the eggshell paper. It was a work-out to type a paragraph.

But the sound was exsquisite! When I got to typing fast the rhythm was relaxing and kept my mind going. I would get lost in the motion and suddenly have three or four pages written.

When not visiting my grandmother I used my dad's newer plug-in model. It was very high-tech compared to Aunt Sissy's. I loved plugging it in and hitting the on switch, the way it quietly purred and then suddenly roared to life.

As I got older I moved from simple poems and short stories to writing papers for classes, a 3-Act play and even my first screenplay (which was a Western that my friends and I filmed for drama class). And then I moved on to a computer when I was about 16 (yes, I'm old enough to know what it's like to live without a laptop, cellphone or email address - which I didn't get email until my freshman year of college).

But there's always been a connection with myself and a typewriter. And for the last few years I've been feeling like I need to get one. A typewriter introduced me to my love of writing. And for that I am forever grateful!

I may be in a world of the internet, technology and iPhones, but this lady is also going to sit down and write some great, fulfilling and passionate things on that beautiful Olympia typewriter.

Or I could just write some bad poetry and call it a day!