“I write on a computer, but I've run the complete gambit. When I was very young, I wrote with a ballpoint pen in school notebooks. Then I got pretentious and started writing with a dip pen on parchment (I wrote at least a novel-length poem that way). Moved on to a fountain pen. Then a typewriter, then an electric self-correct. Then someone gave me a word processor and I was amazed at being able to fit ten pages on one of those floppy discs.” WayWritingSelfRunningAbleSchoolYoungNovelFitTenComputerPagesMovedLengthPensElectricAmazedFountainNotebookTypewritersPretentiousDipMoved OnDiscsProcessorsGambitFountain PensBallpoint Pens Author:Charles de Lint
“My boyfriend got me a computer three years ago. I'll admit it does make things a lot easier. When I was working on a typewriter and I whited out a line, often I would choose a word to go in the space just because it fit. Now I don't have to do that.” YearsDoeThreeLinesSpaceFitEasierComputerYears AgoThree YearsTypewritersMy Boyfriend Author:David Sedaris
“I'm not a writer. I marvel at writing. I am sometimes absolutely astounded when I read something and I think how in the world did that man or that woman sit down at a typewriter, a computer or a pen and an ink well, and seemingly have nothing come between their heart and that pen.” ThinkingMenWorldWritingWellsHeartSometimesComputerPensInkTypewritersAstounded Author:Kevin Spacey
“When I was young, there was an amazing publication called The Whole Earth Catalog, which was one of the bibles of my generation. It was created by a fellow named Stewart Brand not far from here in Menlo Park, and he brought it to life with his poetic touch. This was in the late 1960's, before personal computers and desktop publishing, so it was all made with typewriters, scissors, and polaroid cameras. It was sort of like Google in paperback form, 35 years before Google came along: it was idealistic, and overflowing with neat tools and great notions.” YearsMadeWholeEarthFormYoungGenerationsComputerLateToolsCamerasFellowsNotionBrandsParksPoeticPublishingGoogle1960sNeatPublicationMy GenerationTypewritersIdealisticScissorsStanford UniversityDesktopPersonal ComputersPolaroidsAmazing JobDesktop Publishing Author:Steve Jobs
“I'm not superstitious in my normal daily life but I get that way about writing, even though I know it's all bullshit. But I began that way and so, that's the way it is. My ritual is I never use a typewriter or computer. I just write it all by hand. It's a ceremony. I go to a stationary store and buy a notebook and then fill it up.” KnowsWayWritingUseHandsNormalComputerStoresDaily LifeRitualBullshitCeremonyNotebookTypewritersSuperstitiousStationary Author:Quentin Tarantino
“I can write faster on a typewriter than you can on a computer. I do 120 words a minute, and you can't do that on a computer.” WritingI CanMinutesComputerFasterTypewriters Book:Conversations with Ray Bradbury Source: Conversations with Ray Bradbury
“When I'm writing it's as if I'm the observer. It's as if that computer screen there -it used to be the typewriter - just kind of dissolves and there's this whirling tunnel of mist and there's a kind of proscenium arch, and then there are my characters, and they say what they say, and I laugh sometimes in surprise at what they say.” IfsWritingKindSometimesCharacterUsedLaughingComputerSurpriseScreensUsed To BeObserversMistTunnelsTypewritersArchesComputer Screen Author:Richard Bach
“I use an IBM Thinkpad. I just use it like a typewriter, but when I started using it in 1987, I thought I won't be able to write anymore, so I thought I'd go back to the typewriter. But you couldn't go back to the typewriter after using the computer.” WritingUseAbleComputerTypewritersIbm Author:Joan Didion
“I write fiction longhand. That's not so much about rejecting technology as being unable to write fiction on a computer for some reason. I don't think I would write it on a typewriter either. I write in a very blind gut instinctive way. It just doesn't feel right. There's a physical connection. And then in nonfiction that's not the case at all. I can't even imagine writing nonfiction by hand.” ThinkingWayFeelsWritingI CanReasonHandsFictionCasesTechnologyImagineComputerConnectionsBlindGutsNonfictionTypewritersFeels RightRejectingWriting Nonfiction Author:Jennifer Egan
“The reason I was able to give up smoking was because of the computer. You couldn't lean a cigarette on a computer, like you could on a typewriter. So it just made it that much more difficult to smoke. So I quit.” GivingMadeReasonAbleDifficultLike YouGiving UpComputerQuittingMade ItSmokeSmokingCigaretteTypewritersI QuitGiving Up Smoking Author:Robert Stone
“When I have a first draft, I have a floor under my feet that I can walk on. And then, especially with the help of the computer, rewriting is so easy to do with the computer, much easier than it used to be with the typewriter. So the books go through numerous drafts.” FirstsI CanBookHelpingUsedEasyWalksFeetEasierComputerUsed To BeTypewritersRewriting Author:Philip Roth
“I write exclusively using computers. Pens and typewriters can fsck right off - I wrote my first half million words in my teens on a manual typewriter (had to trade it for a new one due to keys snapping from metal fatigue) so I am not a pen or typewriter fetishist.” WritingFirstsHalfMillionsKeysComputerTradeDuesPensMetalsTeensFatigueTypewritersManualsSnapping Author:Charles Stross
“I had one typewriter for 50 years, but I have bought seven computers in six years. I suppose that's why Bill Gates is rich, and Underwood is out of business.” YearsRichSixComputerBillsSevenGatesTypewriters Author:Andy Rooney
“I've had a lot of typewriters that I've had relationships with; one still has a piece of masking tape that says "$8" on it. I love working on them. I can't fix a computer or a car, but I can fix a typewriter. I like them because you can write on them late at night, depending on what you're fortifying yourself with, and the next morning you can still figure what you wrote.” WritingStillsI CanNightNextMorningPiecesCarFiguresComputerLateTapeTypewriters Author:Eddie Vedder
“There are times where I would keep three typewriters on a table, and I'd have three complete thoughts going. With computers, you make folders, files - I don't know about those things. I have sheaves of paper polluted with words and paragraphs. I found it a good tool for me. And it keeps your hands strong for guitar playing.” KnowsHandsThreeFoundStrongPaperComputerToolsTablesGuitarFilesParagraphTypewritersGuitar PlayingFolders Author:Eddie Vedder
“I don't even own a computer. I write by hand then I type it up on an old manual typewriter. But I cross out a lot - I'm not writing in stone tablets, it's just ink on paper. I don't feel comfortable without a pen or a pencil in my hand. I can't think with my fingers on the keyboard. Words are generated for me by gripping the pen, and pressing the point on the paper.” ThinkingFeelsWritingI CanHandsTypePaperComfortableComputerStonesCrossesFingersPensOld ManPencilsInkTypewritersManualsKeyboardsGrippingTablets Author:Paul Auster
“I have many stories which don't make it to the computer. When I put it into the computer I make some changes and often add a few sentences here and there. I like the typewriter for first drafts because it means you can't change anything right away, you just have to put it all down.” FirstsMeanStoriesComputerAddSentencesHere And ThereCan't ChangeTypewriters Author:Arthur Bradford
“For me, form is something I locate in the process of writing the poems. What I mean is, I start scribbling, and then try to form the poem - on a typewriter or on my computer - and, by trial and error, try to find the right shape. I just try to keep forming the poem in different ways until it feels right to me.” WayFeelsWritingTryingMeanDifferentFormProcessShapesComputerErrorsTrialsDifferent WaysTypewritersFeels RightTrial And Error Author:Matthew Zapruder
“It all depends on what I'm working on and if there is a deadline involved. Anything that's headed toward a magazine or newspaper is hacked out on the computer; that's a matter of efficiency. I write longer pieces of prose on a typewriter because the act of retyping it for the computer is a useful tactic for revision. Poems tend to be written longhand.” IfsWritingMatterPiecesWrittenDependsInvolvedComputerNewspapersMagazinesProseEfficiencyTacticsDeadlineTypewritersRevisionHacked Author:Kevin Keck
“I didn't even have a computer until like 10 years ago. I was still using a typewriter until 2002.” YearsStillsComputerYears AgoTypewriters Author:Beck
“I like to always stop with a couple of pages that I haven't - that are just raw copy, where I haven't touched it, I haven't tried to revise it, I haven't tried to polish it. It's like having a little bit of a runway. The next day when you sit down, you have the comfort of saying, well, I have got a little bit here, used to be in the typewriter. Now it's in the magic box, the computer.” WellsLittlesUsedNextBitsMagicHavensCoupleComfortComputerLittle BitPagesBoxesUsed To BeTouchedCopiesNext DayPolishTypewritersRunway Author:Stephen King
“There was a time when most people had a choice between two kinds of personal communication, handwriting or using a typewriter. Today, people are invited to choose from a list of (surprisingly exotic) typefaces every time they turn on their computer. I think this has made everyone more aware of the idea that picking a typeface is a conscious choice.” PeopleThinkingKindMadeTwoIdeasTodayTurnsChoicesCommunicationComputerConsciousListsInvitedTurn-onExoticTypewritersHandwritingTypefaces Author:Michael Bierut
“I understand that computers, which I once believed to be but a hermaphrodite typewriter-cum-filing cabinet, offer the cyber literate increased ability to communicate. I do not think this is altogether a bad thing, however it may appear on the surface.” ThinkingMayAbilityOffersComputerCommunicateSurfaceBad ThingsCabinetsTypewritersCyberFilingAbility To CommunicateHermaphroditesFiling Cabinet Author:David Mamet
“There may be writing groups where people meet but it's occasional. You really do it all at your own computer or your own typewriter by yourself.” PeopleWritingMayGroupsComputerOccasionalTypewriters Author:Anne Rice
“I had a TV set and a typewriter and that made me think a computer should be laid out like a typewriter with a video screen.” ThinkingShouldMadeGamesEconomyTvsComputerScreensVideoTypewriters Author:Steve Wozniak
“I don't have a computer. A computer's a typewriter. I already have a typewriter.” ComputerTypewriters Author:Ray Bradbury