What to (Type)write About?

What to do when the initial infatuation fades

Aug 29, 2024

For many newcomers, there’s an initial honeymoon period of infatuation with the typewriter’s mechanical nature. Then comes a period of introspection: “What am I going to actually do with it? What’s there to write about?”

Some people sidestep this question by simply collecting more typewriters, but for the typist who desires to create rather than collect, here are several suggestions to get you started.

Letter Writing

Before the current-day age of email and texting, people frequently wrote letters—on real paper—and actually mailed them via the postal service! In fact, studying the letters of famous writers gives us insight into their mindsets and inner-thought lives.

That might sound fun but leave you wondering, “Who am I going to write?” This is a common question. You can start with family and friends, first. Then there’s also a whole world of letter writing at your fingertips through resources such as Type Pals where, after registering, you have access to the postal addresses of other typewriter-oriented writers from around the world.

Once you begin receiving letters, you’ll discover the individual styles of other writers, their favorite papers, envelopes, and formatting methods.

And stamps, too! Letter writing ties you into the world of philately and others who also collect and exchange stamps.

Blogging

Blogging is still very much a valid form of expression, even if the platforms have changed. This newsletter’s platform (Substack) is one such example of blogging in the modern era.

What is blogging, exactly? Think of it as publishing your own online newsletter or magazine. You choose the platform, you create the content, you control the editorial viewpoint, you choose your own publishing schedule. People blog to promote ideas or commercial interests, but also do so just for personal or creative expression. Blogging can have a commercial slant with advertising, or it can be ad-free. There’s no right or wrong way to do it.

Typewriter-oriented blogging has come to be known as “Type-Casting,” due to the practice of posting the text as a photo of the typewritten page itself. When done with sufficient clarity and sized for easy reading, it becomes a very tactile way to express your thoughts while leaving the medium of the typewritten page intact.

There are numerous no-cost blogging platforms—one of the oldest being Blogger. If you are interested in typewriter-oriented blogging, be sure to check out Welcome to the Typosphere and its Mightly Blogroll at the bottom of the page that lists the latest updates from other typewriter bloggers. You can get yours listed there, too, and become part of the blogging Typosphere!

One Typed Page

Perhaps you aren’t interested in starting and maintaining a blog, even if it is free of charge. If so, there’s an alternate method of typewriter blogging—a crowd-sourced blog called One Typed Page. You send in a photo of one typed page of text, and it gets posted the next day, along with pages from other writers. You’ll find voices of a wide variety of writers, some writing about their daily lives, others writing fiction and poetry.

Concerned about privacy? Submit your page anonymously. Along with the assurance of knowing your identity remains private comes the freedom to express yourself intimately and honestly.

Journaling

For years, I’ve practiced typewritten journaling. The length can be short or long and is aimed at no one else but myself. I type private thoughts and brainstorm ideas that may end up as public articles or videos in the future. I archive these typewritten journals in a 3-ring binder.

Memoirs

Using a typewriter to formally document your personal and family history through the retelling of stories is an essential part of ensuring your family heritage remains vital. You can sit with and interview relatives as they recount stories from their past or retell stories passed down to them. Even if they are no longer with you, it can be an important act to put to paper the memories you hold dear, ensuring they live on to future generations through the written word.

Personal Essays

I’ve written numerous personal essays on esoteric subjects. Some of these I deemed too arcane or specific to be worthy of posting publicly, but I’ve taken the effort to write them as well as possible, for the sake of no one else but me. As Stephen King said in his book, On Writing, if you want to be a writer, you’ll find yourself wanting to write, even if but for yourself.

Recipes and Hobbies

Writing doesn’t have to be pretentious or serious; sometimes it’s as simple as getting recipes typed onto cards or documenting some other hobby or activity. This is where the typewriter can be a great tool, especially when getting text onto paper in sizes too small or oddball in size for a computer printer.

Zines

There’s a way of using a typewriter to create a template for an ad hoc paper publication to be photocopied and distributed inexpensively. Zines, short for magazines, have been around since at least the 1960s and have been an accessible way to create your own paper publication.

You can use methods as basic as literal cut-and-paste layout techniques, combining photos, artwork, typewritten text, and collage to make a zine representing your own creative vision. Zines have been used to explore countless personal and social issues, giving voice to creatives who otherwise might not have a voice in the culture.

Once an original is created, it can be reproduced using a copy machine. But you can get as extravagant as you wish, using whatever materials you choose.

Zines are extremely popular, with conventions dedicated to them and their makers.

Once you get a glimpse of the creative possibilities intrinsic to owning a typewriter, the future is completely open-ended.

Until next time,

-Joe and the ABQwerty Type Writer Society

P.S. Want even more on this topic? Check out this video.