The Biggest Obstacle To Professional Writing Is The Necessity For Changing A Typewriter Ribbon.
I Didn't Even Have A Computer Until Like 10 Years Ago. I Was Still Using A Typewriter Until 2002.
What A Story That Would Make! How Many Men And Women Go Through The Same Rivers, Menaced By The Same Sharp Clichés, The Same Jagged Dangers That Have Threatened Us! If The Idea Stands Up, I Thought, It Would Be Worth Uncovering The Typewriter! How Richard-years-ago Would Have Wanted To Know: What Happens When We Set Off Searching For A Soulmate Who Doesn't Exist, And Find Her?
I Don't Even Own A Computer. I Write By Hand Then I Type It Up On An Old Manual Typewriter. But I Cross Out A Lot - I'm Not Writing In Stone Tablets, It's Just Ink On Paper. I Don't Feel Comfortable Without A Pen Or A Pencil In My Hand. I Can't Think With My Fingers On The Keyboard. Words Are Generated For Me By Gripping The Pen, And Pressing The Point On The Paper.
I Type 90 Words Per Minute On The Typewriter; I Type 100 Words Per Minute On The Word Processor. But, Of Course, I Don't Keep That Up Indefinitely - Every Once In A While I Do Have To Think A Few Seconds.
When I Sit Down At The Typewriter, I Write. Someone Once Asked Me If I Had A Fixed Routine Before I Start, Like Setting Up Exercises, Sharpening Pencils, Or Having A Drink Of Orange Juice. I Said, "no, The Only Thing I Do Before I Start Writing Is To Make Sure That I'm Close Enough To The Typewriter To Reach The Keys."
Whenever I Have Endured Or Accomplished Some Difficult Task -- Such As Watching Television, Going Out Socially Or Sleeping -- I Always Look Forward To Rewarding Myself With The Small Pleasure Of Getting Back To My Typewriter And Writing Something.
When Success Happens To An English Writer, He Acquires A New Typewriter. When Success Happens To An American Writer, He Acquires A New Life.
When Success Happens To An English Writer, He Acquires A New Typewriter. When Success Happens To An American Writer, He Acquires A New Life.
Usually, The Way I Write Is To Sit Down At A Typewriter After That Year Or So Of What Passes For Thinking, And I Write A First Draft Quite Rapidly. Read It Over. Make A Few Pencil Corrections, Where I Think I've Got The Rhythms Wrong In The Speeches, For Example, And Then Retype The Whole Thing. And In The Retyping I Discover That Maybe One Or Two More Speeches Will Come In. One Or Two More Things Will Happen, But Not Much.
Naturally, No Writer Who's Any Good At All Would Sit Down And Put A Sheet Of Paper In A Typewriter And Start Typing A Play Unless He Knew What He Was Writing About.
