Several months ago, my grandmother gave me her 1970 Olivetti typewriter. For all those months it's been sitting around my house in its lonely blank-red case, without getting looked at or touched, until last week I finally decided enough was enough, and got my hands on it. After tinkering around with it for a LONG time, I finally figured out how to work most of the buttons and switches, and discovered that it's in really good condition; everything works except for the number 1, but who really needs that button anyway.
As my three year old daughter and I played around with it, we discovered that the ink my grandmother left in there still works (barely) from the 30 or so years ago when it was last used. Being the awesome granddaughter that I am, I promptly typed a letter to my grandmother and then mailed it to her, feeling really cool and old-school (because typing a letter to your grandma is cool, right?). Then I loved playing on it so much that I bought some new ink.
After slowly and painstakingly typing this short letter, I realized two things:
1. My finger muscles are really weak. And...
2. Being forced to write slowly makes me write differently.
Typing on the typewriter worked a whole different brain muscle; it changed the way I think while I write, and gives everything a different flow. I have to push the words onto the page. I can't delete. I can't change what I wrote unless I cross it out with pen later. So, typos and all, the end product is this wonderfully battered-looking piece of paper. It's like writing by hand, only better, because I feel less in control, more erratic, and there's that wonderful clacking noise.
So, as I was coming up for ideas for a second blog post as part of the October Platform Challenge (check out my first blog post here), I thought about periodically having a typewriter-day, in which I crank out a raw, one-page story and put a picture of it on my site. My working title for these are “Raw-Writ Lit.” I figure this plan would work best if I came up with a theme or prompt, and that I emphasize to readers that this is full-on first draft material.
On these “Raw-Writ Lit” days, if anyone would like to join me, please do! But there are a couple of rules, that I'm just making up right now:
1. No computers. If you don't have a typewriter for the Raw-Writ Lit challenge, the story/poem needs to be either handwritten or painted or collaged or created through some other non-computer medium.
2. One page. They don't have to be complete stories, but they need to be one page or shorter.
3. Stick to the theme. Stories can be your own interpretation of the theme, but they need to be somewhat related to the theme.
That's it. If anyone does end up writing from a Raw-Writ Lit theme, feel free to contact me and share.
This week's Raw-Writ theme: ZOMBIE.
Pretty predicable and generic, I know. But I'm in the Halloween mood, and I like zombies sometimes, so... it is what it is. Feel free to take on a loose interpretation of “zombie.”
My Raw-Writ Lit will be posted sometime on Sunday because I have designated Sunday as typewriter-day. Hope this inspires some free thinking and messy writing.
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UPDATE (10/10/15) : I had a little free time today, so here is my Raw-Writ copy of the story "Zombie," a day early. Some of the print came out pretty light, so I hope it's somewhat readable. Like I said, weak fingers. Enjoy!
