The Golden Pencil: The Freelance Writer’s Resource

Do You Remember Typewriters?

by Anne Wayman on November 8th, 2005

I learned all my typing skills in a 7th grade typing class. We had old, manual Royals lined up on banquet-type tables. Beside each type writer was a large book, designed like an a-frame so it could stand while we worked on the typing exercises.

Years later, I found myself working for a small community newspaper that used typewriters. It was computerized to the extent that someone had to re-enter the stories so they’d be punched into computer tape. That tape would generate the actual typesetting. Although slow, it apparently was faster and cheaper than actually setting lead type – yes, I’m old enough to have seen that done too.

Not long after that, I got a self-correcting Selectric and thought I was in writer’s heaven. Fortunately, a year or two later, the personal computer began to appear. I purchased an Apple II+, converted the operating system to the precursor to DOS and began to work with WordStar. It was lovely. No longer did I have to retype the whole manuscript to make changes… and it checked my spelling.

Why am I reminiscing about typewriters? Because I’m still scanning in, page by page, the book I wrote on one. It was published; I’ve long had the rights back and an agent is interested in reissuing it. But it needs some serious rewriting.

While scanning does create an editable file, it’s not without it’s own problems. For instance, I used lots of bullets in this book; the software doesn’t really recognize bullets. The software also picks up all sorts of miscellaneous marks on the page – fortunately there’s a delete function. And it’s slow… not as slow as re-entering the manuscript by hand, but slow none-the-less. Plus, it’s boring!

Which doesn’t matter much over the long haul.

Write well and often,

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POSTED IN: Musings From A Freelance Writer