Sunday, December 06, 2015

Sunday Musings in Two Parts

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Post-Script: Lack of preparation meant the battery in my digital snap-shooter died before I could acquire Ms. Holm's visage, while the color film in the old Soviet-built rangefinder will have to wait for another few days before I can see the results. But all was not lost, as I hadn't picked up this film camera in a long while, and thus today's outing served as an opportune moment to reacquaint myself with its rather militaristic charm.

Last night we viewed the DVD of "The Typewriter in the 21st Century," and I was most impressed with David McCullough's testimony of having used the same typewriter, for the last 50+ years, to write the bulk of his work. He was very adamant as to why, for him, the typewriter was so very important to his writing process, which is that the speed of thought as a writer is very much the main roadblock in the process, while the speed of recording words into some medium is nowhere nearly so, even with using manual typewriters.

Another important point made was that at least half the writing process is revision, and doing so on paper results in a recording of those interim steps along the way toward a completed work; perhaps not so important for the legacy of one such as I, but for important writers such resources are invaluable to the scholar.

I'd have more to say on the whole subject of writing methodologies, but I'll spare you for today. Early this morning I arose and banged out a lengthy scroll with my Smith-Corona Silent onto the Little Arse Roll of Paper, double-spaced, that ended up being over four feet in length. Being as how this 6" wide roll of 3M-brand white automotive masking paper is rather thin, I rolled up a sheet of printer paper around the platen, which served well as a backing paper.

Here's the thread on Rangefinder Forum wherein I jump the shark with my writerly prowess.

Photos via Fujifilm X10, typecast via Smith-Corona Silent.

1 Comments:

Blogger Blank said...

Nice camera depictions, Joe. They put me in mind of the charming Jason Schneider columns that he used to write for Modern Photography---such compact, evocative descriptions, to which you add those wide-ranging human insights. How about the eleven knobs and levers needed to control the Leica IIIc? Plenty of tactile experience there! Mental experience, too, as you try to remember how to use them all.

Continuing thanks for your writings,
== Michael Höhne

7:49 AM  

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