RE: Typewriters: The Ultimate Writing Machines
Excellent article, I wish I could be half as good at writing as you are.
I've always enjoyed the look, sound, and feel of a typewriter. When I was younger my mother had an electric one that I used to love loading up with paper and just writing on. I can't remember what it was that I used to write but I'd love to see some of those old pieces of paper, haha. And speaking of the paper, that was something else I loved about using a typewriter, you could feel the words on the page, it wasn't just flat ink, there was real depth caused by the letter stamping into the paper.
When it comes to writing my thoughts or working out ideas I tend to go the pen and paper route but pretty much everything else I do is on a computer, and it really can be very distracting. Having said that I also think being able to access a world of information when you're writing something can be extremely useful, especially when you're a dunce like me who can barely spell even simple words, haha.
You mention Freedom as a paid program that blocks access to the wonderful world wide web of distractions but if I remember correctly there used to be a free google chrome extension that did the same thing, you would set a timer and the internet was inaccessible for the duration.
Oh, and that's a nice looking meerschaum next to that Smith Corona too.
Pen and paper is a great route too - I'll probably write something about my fountain pens in the near future! (Neal Stephenson writes his 1500 page door-stoppers with a fountain pen!)
I know what you mean - for access to information, not to mention spell-check, the computer can't be beat. That's why I'm glad to have both tools at my disposal. (And of course where would we be without photo editing.)
You know that meerschaum has taken 15 years to get that dark. Slow going...
Thanks again for sharing my stuff!
Fountain pens are the jam. My Metropolitan Pilot, only $20 at the store, has lasted me 1.5 years and counting with no problems. I can't even use ballpoint pens anymore.
No access to a typewriter right now though... I did play a show at a community arts space in a tiny town in Indiana, where they had several typewriters, and it was a completely different experience from writing on a laptop. It would be fun to have one around the house.
Like I said, keep your eyes open - it's surprising how often they turn up!
I think I used a super cheap fountain pen years ago when I was in school, I couldn't imagine writing a whole book with one.
Wow, 15 years? That's crazy. It must take generations for some meerschaums to get that full colouration. I wouldn't mind picking myself up a nice meerschaum, maybe I'll eventually be able to buy one with my earnings from steemit. After that I'll start saving for a typewriter, haha.
This meer has pretty thick walls. I'm pretty sure a smaller one would color up a lot faster. I've been working on this one too long, though - it's too late to start over! (To be honest, with 30 pipes in the collection I don't smoke this one all that often.)
Treat yourself to a nice fountain pen someday and you'll be surprised what a pleasure they are to write with. The Lamy Safari pens available on Amazon are very satisfying for a reasonable price, actually.
Thirty pipes is a lot to choose from, it's not surprising you wouldn't smoke any one of them all that often. So far I have one decent Peterson, two cheap, no-name basket pipes, and a couple Missouri Meerschaum corn cobs.
It was only the other day I was thinking about making a post to see if there were many pipe smokers on here. I know youtube and instagram have a fairly active pipe community and thought maybe we could get one going on steemit too.
I might check out that pen. My only worry is that my handwriting is so bad that a fountain pen might be wasted on me, haha. Oh, well, only one way to find out.
I spent about a dozen years working in a couple of tobacco shops, so I tended to accumulate a few briars. Actually I got that meerschaum from a sales rep for free when the shop took on a dozen CAO pipes for its inventory.
Funny, no one has used the "pipe" or "pipes" tag yet. There are just a few "cigar" and "cigars" posts, though, and only handful of "smoking". Maybe we can lead the charge!
Wow, well you really can't go wrong with a free meerschaum, or any free pipe to be fair.
Well, there's no time like the present to try and populate those tags. If you're feeling up to it I think you should be the one to lead the charge, not only because your writing is far better and more engaging than mine, but also because you have more experience. I only started my little pipe smoking hobby at the start of this year whereas you've worked in the industry to some degree, haha.
Either way, I do have a tobacco related post in the works, I just have to get around to actually doing some research on the subject.
Thanks for the compliments. I think your writing is just fine, and the thing about writing is it gets better the more you do it. Like breaking in a pipe!
I will probably have some smoking posts coming up soon. Welcome to the hobby!
Practice makes perfect, right?
I look forward to reading them when you post them.