I finally saw the difference a manual typewriter made to my writing in just one week

I've been trying to cut back on screen time and decided to pull my grandma's old Smith Corona out of the closet. For a whole week I wrote my morning journal and a few letters on it instead of using my laptop. The weird thing is my sentences got shorter and I stopped second-guessing every word because you can't just delete and rewrite endlessly. By day four I noticed my handwriting even looked neater because I was thinking more before I typed. The clacking sound actually helped me focus better than any digital tool I've tried. Has anyone else noticed their writing style shifting after going analog for a bit?

2 comments

2 Comments

derekp701mo ago

My grandkids got me a typewriter and it drove me crazy with all that clacking.

brians271mo ago

Started doing the same thing about a year ago after reading about how authors used to draft on typewriters. I use an old Olivetti Lettera and it completely changed my approach to writing emails and letters. The key thing I noticed was that I started planning what I wanted to say before I started typing, because fixing a mistake meant either starting over or using that messy correction tape. By the end of the first week my drafts were tighter and I spent a lot less time editing later on.