So I'm at last managing to do some promotion for my novel, 'Cape Town'. This means I've been reading about what to do on-line (which seems to be essential these days). And I was struck my how many writing blogs use the image of an old-fashioned typewriter on their banners.
It's kind of weird, isn't it? I wonder how many of the writers have even seen one of those. And if they had and gave it a try I think they'd be only too glad that manuscripts no longer have to be typed out on those old machines.
When I was young, if you were any kind of a feminist, you were advised not to learn shorthand and typing because that would brand you as a secretary for the rest of your working life. I'm glad I didn't heed that. Finding myself with time to spare between leaving ballet school and going on to university, I took a three-months course.
Well! Those old typewriters! I tell you, half the course was directed towards making your fingers strong enough. We had to slam those keys as if they belonged to a very stiff piano! How different from the gentle tap we use today.
The course served me well, although I'm sorry that over the years I've lost the shorthand skill. Would be so useful for lectures, workshops, conferences. But the typing I learned with a small cloth covering the keyboard? That's such a help when I want to move my handwritten words onto the computer.
Anyhow, all I can conclude is that some romance is attached to those vintage images, that they conjure up thoughts of... the Indiana Jones movie, maybe? Or there's some vicarious connection to authors such as Hemingway?
Being of a butterfly mind, I like to catch what settles in order to observe, admire and explore. So, these are my thoughts on life and how we live... sometimes lighthearted, sometimes serious.
About Me
- Brenda
- If my life were an equilateral triangle, writing would form one side. It's my work, my passion, my purpose. The other two sides? My beloved family and Anthroposophy.