Tag: writing

Bookmarked Journal Writing Workshop - Diving For Pearls by Ingrid Jane Jones (ingridjanejones.com)

I did this class on Monday (or at least the Laneway Learning version of it – it’s hosted by the same teacher, just a shorter session) and I have to say, if you ever have trouble working through stress, or want to work on your journaling skills, this class was pretty helpful.

Her online journaling community – where a group of people get together twice a week to journal – is a good way to keep you accountable.

Following on the heels of my previous post, I’ll also be joining this year’s Camp Nano.
With everyone staying at home for the next few weeks – and maybe longer – this may be a good time to get some writing done.

Replied to Blogging in the Second Person: Open Correspondence for a Social Web? by James Shelley (jamesshelley.com)

@jamesshelley  Thank you for your post. I’m going to try to respond to you in the second person, as you suggested in your article. Let me say, it feels very strange and very informal. 😶

Here’s a couple of thoughts (in no particular order):
– comments are usually in 2nd person, whereas reply to blog posts are usually 3rd person (I’d have no qualms about responding to you in the 2nd person if I was replying to you in the comments section/micro.blog reply, but doing this in my own CMS is strange)
– love the idea of blog posts being like letters to each other
– would posts in the 2nd person restrict the conversation between the original poster and the responder? I’d feel rude butting in on someone else’s conversation.

I’ll need to think more about this.

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This is my first typecast, so I’ll keep everything left-aligned to make it easier for me.
So already there is a typo, and the anal part of me is itching to retype the whole thing to fix it up, but that’s not the point of this exercise, is it?
I find, when typing on a typewriter – san first draft – that I have trouble thinking of something to write. More accurately, I am wary of typing anything until I have it semi-formulated in my head.
This, of course, makes sense, as you cannot delete off a typewritten page.
But at the same time I find that my mind is not used to fully forming sentences before committing them to paper; my mind is used to being allowed to see the formless ideas spewed onto the screen before going back to edit them before clicking “send” or “submit”.
I think this exercise might help my writing in some ways. Although in some ways it would force me to write slower, it may force me to think and formulate my ideas more quickly.
Reading the above entry, I could already see some sentence structure that needs improving.
And some spelling.

From my only typewriter,1 the Imperial Good Companion 1943

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For a very long time, I’ve thought about getting a typewriter. Not the electric one, nor the plastic ones from the 60’s or 70’s, but the honest-to-god-all-made-of-metal-could-kill-someone-if-you-threw-it typewriters. 

Recent correspondence between my latest IGGPPC-assigned pen-friend and I got me scouring eBay and Googling for any possible candidates in my area.

My criteria were as follows (in no particular order):

  1. Portable2 not desktop version
  2. Either has local pick-up or real cheap shipping
  3. Is not plastic
  4. Looks pretty (not too banged up)
  5. Not going to burn a hole in my pocket
  6. IN WORKING ORDER (I don’t know enough about typewriters to be able to fix one up)

Of course, some of my criteria conflicted with each other:

  1. Pretty ones were not cheap
  2. Cheap ones that look pretty may not work – and getting them fixed was probably going to cost a pretty penny
  3. Pretty and cheap ones were all overseas – and the shipping would make them UN-cheap
  4. My definition of pretty is pretty subjective and expensive. Apparently, I really like the look of the Underwoods – especially their Noiseless 77, but again, not cheap

After a week of eBay deep-diving – which included a lot of frustration, as all the pretty machines were selling at ridiculously low prices overseas, but were selling for 10x the price in Australia – I managed to snap this little beauty for $80AUD.

It’s an Imperial The Good Companion typewriter and according to the internet, it’s a 1943 model. I’ve still to find where the serial number is on this thing, so if any of you out there know where I should look, please leave a comment.

I am hoping to type my future correspondences with my pen-friend on this typewriter. And maybe, I would even try a hand at typecasting!

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After watching Brian Goulet’s video on séyès (French-ruled) paper, I got really excited to try it out.

From far away it does look like my script is neater than before; it’s certainly straighter!

I’ll need to practice more though; the lines make me write much larger than I’m used to.

If you want to give the French-ruled style a go you can download your own séyès paper and print as many as you need.