If you have been reading the picture versions of the posts in this typewriter series, you have no doubt noticed that they are riddled with typos and other glitches. That’s what happens when there’s no delete key.
These are first drafts that I’ve been typing. I like the typewriter for that phase of writing. I find that the physicality of the machine helps the words flow in a way that a computer keyboard—even a mechanical one—does not.
I suppose this is rather backwards from earlier times. With the tools available it made more sensee to draft in pencil or pen first and type your finished version.
Our tools are different and so we can have a different workflow. And thank goodness for that! As fun as the typewriter is, I would like it much less if it were the only option, and if I had to produce finished copy on it. I don’t think there’s much nostalgia for making a typo right at the botttom of a page or for fiddling with white-out. I much prefer the modern way of letting every error sail by—it’s going to be scanned and edited anyway so why worry?
So yes, these typewriters are fun. But they are also well and truly obsolete. Remember to be thankful for text editors and word processors.