Today I wanted to find a picture of a typewriter to accompany a piece I was about to post ... Then I found the above picture and my post became some what irrelevant ...The above typewriter is like the portable Remington that I used through High School and my early days in University to craft my papers, essays and other submitted work ... I used it into my third or fourth year when I took the plunge and together with a friend, purchased Smith Corona Portable Word Processors (Remember THEM candyfliesgirl???). The Smith Corona served me well until my MDiv when I jumped to a full fledged computer ... my floor mates at Harkness Hall at Queen's were THRILLED when the noisy SC was replaced by a quieter high-tech Hewlitt-Packard WP with a dot matrix printer ...
But the old Remington, which still sits tucked in a corner of my old bedroom at Mom's was and remains a cherished friend ... It had belonged to my dad when he joined the Ontario Provincial Police. Complete with its brown, heavy, press board, handled case to lug it around in, it served Dad well ... many of his typed bits and pieces still float around the house - like the little paper disc of phone numbers in the rotary dial of the wall phone !!!
When the Remington became mine to use, I lugged it back and forth in the heavy case, using it to thump out paper after paper ... and it looked very much like the one pictured above, except dad got the heavy duty case rather than the elegent leather case pictured ... I did alot of writing on that old beauty!!
There are days I miss the simplicity of a typewriter ...
Oh, and my original post for today ... Well, I was going to share a secret ...
The secret isn't earth shattering ... it's just admitting to a deepseated desire to become a writer ... My encounter with Thomson Highway offered me the whispered hope that it could, with work, commitment and time actually happen ... Over the last three days I've taken the time ... I want to write ...
If I could do it as my main profession I would be very, very happy ...
Suggestions, help, advice and offers would be appreciated ...
In the meantime, me and my Acer Lap Top will keep spending quality time together exploring the stories that lie in my soul ... it is a tad easier to use than that old Remington ...
Hmmm ... maybe there's a story in THAT !?!?!?!
5 comments:
I've still got the PWP 40 sitting down in the basement... I know for a fact I'll NEVER be able to use it again, as the typewriter ribbon it used has LONG become a thing of the past... But, I banged out all of my essays on that thing (with only FOUR LINES OF DISPLAY ON THE SCREEN), and I still think that the type quality of the papers by far still exceeds anything but a high-powered laser printer. The only time it has budged from the basement in the past decade was when my eldest daughter took it to school as a prop for a project she did on "technology of the past". Woah, did THAT make me feel like a dinosaur...
I've still got the PWP, AND all the disks, AND every. single. damn. essay. I ever wrote on the thing.
The really scary part?!
When I look back on my boxes and boxes of essays... I now have very little memory of actually writing them. I must have been THAT tired.
University was a bitch. I could NEVER do it again-- I've never slogged so hard in my entire life (not even in childbirth, and that's REALLY saying something). But, I made it through somehow, and got that degree-- and did I ever tell you I earned two minors, as well... one of them in religious studies! Because it turns out, you can't do dramatic literature properly without a thorough understanding of it's deeply religious roots.
Nowadays, just writing what I enjoy; writing WHAT I like, WHEN I like, is far, far more satisfying than my academic years ever were.
And the laptop is a FAR superior invention to the ol' PWP 40!!
--Candygirlflies
Hey ... there's a store in Brandon that still carries the ribbons for the old PWP 40 !!!
Shall I pick you up a couple??
They're still only $12 or so !!!
Yes, thumping out a 50 page Thesis four lines at a time, and with a max of 20 pages of memory at a time was a challenge ... I too have fond memories of my PWP 40 ... it's sitting in the back bedroom at Mom's beside the old Remington ...
And you are smack on about writing ... I read some of my essays and papers from back in the day and think - "damned, that WAS brilliant" but I don't remember writing a word of it ...
But the stuff I write for fun and pleasure NOW ... THAT I remember !!
You've made me smile and made a good day great - thanks !!
See, now THIS will age me. I wrote all my high school papers on a typewriter. And one of my graduation presents was a typewriter of my very own that I lugged to college (my sophmore year was very liberating; I braved the computer lab).
I have a secret too (although I'm not sure it qualifies as a secret since I blab about it now and then on my blog)--I want to become a syndicated columnist... *sigh* Oh to write what I love rather than boring old accounting newsletters. Argh.
I taught creative writing part-time when my kids were young(er)and I came to believe that anyone can become a writer if they practice enough and are persistent (submitting work to publishers). It'll happen if you keep at it. At least that's what I keep telling myself. Good luck, Shawn.
Write friend write!
We need books written by real people....real ministers....
You most likely have much wisdom to share. Tell us! Write!!!!
I remember telling you in a blog comment ages ago, "You have a right to be you, and you have to WRITE to be you". In the time that I got to know you in the past couple years, it was so very clear that you are brilliantly gifted in your abilities as a writer.
Don't doubt it, just go with it.
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