Estée KlarThe Joy of Autism

A year-and-a-half ago, I had an obsession with typewriters. I bought them first for Adam, thinking that he would find the one with the right feel and sound as he was learning his keyboard. For Adam, he enjoys sound and experiments by tapping onto different objects and surfaces. He studies sound as much as he is in love with letters. Adam’s father purchased a wonderful old Remington for me years ago that Adam enjoyed playing with. So, as I was healing from two surgeries for ovarian cancer in 2008 (I am fine, in case you were wondering), I entertained myself on EBay and bought some old electrics. When I was back on my feet, I began stashing them in various locations where I had planned to write.

Tomorrow, I’m going to write on one. Pretty much everyone understands how writing by pen, on the computer or on a typewriter can lead to different kinds of writing. I write my journals in ink. They feel sensuous and intimate when I write that way. The computer is great for blogging and writing articles, and yes, I’ve written a few chapters on the computer and I tend to type very fast. Yet there are just too many distractions here on my computer — Facebook, Twitter — man, I’m a pro. Yet other than the social aspect of this media, who really cares what song I’m listening to? To use the media wisely is to get out the word about the work we wish to promote.

So tomorrow I will see how writing like writers used to write feels like. The only bug may be that the tape might be out of ink and I’ll have to go hunting for some down on Queen Street.

And, if you are into distractions and procrastinations, here’s another site to distract you NaNoWriMo writers that I found today (while I should have been writing, of course — thanks Vicki Forman). I’ll keep you posted when I figure out how to download it.

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