A few months ago I told my friend R. that I’d thrown out the novel I’d been working on for the past few years after realizing that it was hopelessly botched and started something new. A few days later he left this typewriter, a manual Smith-Corona, on my porch as a loan. Truth to tell, while I appreciated the gesture, the typewriter remained in its case until the other week when I got it out for some note-taking. I liked it, invested in a fresh ribbon, and now it’s my new “orgasm pen.”
The two main things I like about the typewriter: You have to move forward — no endless revision with the delete key — and it’s not connected to the Internet. Also, the dog thumps her tail every time the carriage returns even when she’s mid-nap.
Related: Maud recently uncovered this trove of BBC author interviews . There are lots of amazing ones, but my favorite so far is Daphne Du Maurier’s as it opens on her at her typewriter, which would be the standard “the author at work” establishing shot except for DuMaurier’s super-strong finger-punching technique on the keys.
Terry Teachout on the arts in New York City
