The good ‘ol days of typewriters

I’m old, or rather, old enough to remember the days before computers. For you younger writers out there, I felt you might enjoy insight in the good old days of typewriters, where we used these archaic machines to write.

I remember when I typed too fast, the keys would literally jam up in the machine. You have to manually separate them. I understand, the reason the keyboard is laid out with the QWERTY style is due to the fact they wanted people to slow down to accommodate this jamming issue.

I remember any mistakes required the liquid paper that came in a tiny bottle where you dabbed over the mistake, let it dry a bit, and typed over it. The stench was sometimes overpowering, and my fellow high schoolers kept telling me it could make me high. I don’t know about that. I hated the smell, regardless.

The noise of a old fashioned typewriter is distinct. When in a room full of typist, it could almost be deafening.  Check out this video of a college kid who brought a typewriter to his class. Hilarious. (video).

Formatting was all done manually. You set the machine to indent, and clicked the indent key each time you started a new paragraph. Fortunately, you could set margins for the page, but header and footers had to be done manually for each page.

No copies. Well, this isn’t entirely true. If you typed with carbon paper, you could make a second copy but otherwise, each story typed was an original. If lost, ripped up, torn, eaten by the family dog, burn up in a fire, or whatever fate befell your manuscript…tough luck.

Ink came in ribbons. You often realized you needed to replace the ribbon when words faded. Hopefully, you’d know enough about your typewriter how to put one of those in correctly.

Fingers often ached. With the typewriters, you had to have a certain strength to your fingers to slam it hard enough so the key forced the ‘hammer’ of the letter to smack against the ribbon to punch to the paper in order to make a dark enough letter. If you didn’t hammer hard enough, the letter was faded.  After typing class, my hands often ached afterward.

So bask in the joy of word processing (or even handwriting) because typewriters soon faded to obscurity and you rarely see them now. For me, I’m thankful. My fingers are also thankful.

Writer’s prompt: Use the photo below for your prompt to answer such questions as to why she’s walking without shoes along the road. What story leads us to this point?

Source: justcallmegrace.tumblr.com via Sharon on Pinterest

Technorati Tags: typewriter,typing,wordprocessing,white out,authors,manuscript,fictions

 

The Keyboard; a writer’s basic tool

I prefer typing over using a pen or pencil. My handwriting is horrible, but my typing skills are above average with up to 90 words per minute. I can type nearly as fast as I can talk, which is also pretty fast at times. Using a computer is my main tool and frankly its what I enjoy using.

Not all keyboards are built the same. You have the typical keyboard with the usual alpha and alpha-numeric keys, but other keyboards offer buttons to control sound such as a mute button for sound and even a ‘hibernation’ button to power down the computer. I’ve seen models that offer programmable buttons that enable users to select whatever program they want when they tap it. For instance, email, the browser, or even a word processor is just a single click away (***See below for a program that can open whatever you want with a single click of an icon)

The keyboard can also vary in feel i the way the buttons feel when you tap them. Some feel ‘squishy’, while others like those on a laptop are a bit cramped, in my opinion, and there’s a trick to finding the right key combinations to do the job you want.

Button size can also vary. For instance, I’ve used keyboards that have tiny backspace buttons, and they frustrate me to no end. I prefer the larger size, easy to use, and easy to find with my pinky.

I often use hotkeys, also known as keyboard shortcuts. When you use commands through the command line toolbar, you’ll find some of the shortcuts listed next to the command. A good example would be go to File then Print, and you’ll see Ctrl + P. By clicking those two keys on the keyboard, you’re doing the same thing as selected the command.

Main hotkeys I use:

Save- Ctrl + S

Copy- Ctrl + C

Paste- Ctrl + V

Shut down the open window – Alt + F4

Opens the ‘Start’ menu- Ctrl + Esc

To switch between open windows – Alt + Tab

And there are tons more you can use depending on the program you use, such as F11 will open the browser window full screen for you. Clicking it again will put it back the way it was.

Care and cleaning. You don’t have to repair keyboards, being they cost so little and are so readily replaceable, but cleaning is important. I use a baby wet wipe to wipe down the keys now and then. I also turn the keyboard over and give a good shake (I do crafts and snack at the computer, my bad, so you’d be amazed at how much glitter, crumbs, and even the occasional paper clip comes out)

Improving your keyboarding skills consists of practice and repetition. Taking a typing class to learn proper finger placement is the most basic, but after that its all practice and practice and practice some more.

Here are some sites to learn typing:

Free Typing Tutor- I like this site because it offers easy to follow tutorials, practice, and even keeps track of your progress. They also offer games and a free typing test with varying skill levels.

Free Typing Games for practice.

With a little practice you can get your skills up and increase writing production.

***I don’t have programmable buttons, and content myself with a program called YLaunch by Spacejock (who has tons of cool programs, all free, and some specific to writers such as YWriter). With one click of the icon, all the programs I use to help me write pop up automatically.

Technorati Tags: writing,keyboard,typing,hotkeys,author

How to write

My handwriting is horrible- just horrible. When you need a Rosetta Stone to decipher your own handwriting, its pretty bad. Printed or cursive, my penmanship appears more of a five year old’ s than a 40+ woman. Some might even use the term ‘scrawl’ or ‘chicken scratches’ to describe  my script.

Typing, on the other hand, I excel at. I think the last word count speed was at 90 words per minute, with few mistakes, and I can type nearly as fast as I can talk. I figure, three years of typing classes certainly helped but it wasn’t until I got a computer (decades later) where I really sharpened my ‘mad typing skillz”.

Typing is becoming so valued in our modern society that schools are passing by on the cursive lessons in favor or typing skills. I’m not really surprised. We’re in a fast moving society, and everything moves to electronic anyway. Being able to input into a computer is not only needed but necessary.

Either way, however, I feel compelled to improve my handwriting skills, and this is what I found;

Improve Handwriting Skills:

I hold my pen wrong. Partly its because of being lazy but also because I was never taught different.

A method a friend shared with me is to wrinkle up a tissue and hold it in the palm of my hand using the two fingers (pinky and ring), while using the other fingers to hold the pencil.

Another tip, from another friend, included changing the size of the pen. Thicker pens tends to handle easily as opposed to the thin Bic pens I normally use.

Ink matters. Sketchy, blotchy ink makes any handwriting look worse. A smooth flowing type ink or gel pens work better.

Tips for Improving Handwriting.

Improve Typing Skills:

Proper placement on the keyboard is first the foremost. The chicken pecking slows your typing down but also forces you to constantly pay attention to where you put your fingers on the keys.

Once you master proper placement, typing becomes second nature, and speed improves.

Memorizing the keyboard. Knowing where the letters and numbers are, also improves typing skills.

Free Typing Lessons online. This site keeps track of your progress.

Check your typing speed. Easy online and free, this service lets you see your words per minute.

With either handwriting or typing remember; Practice, practice, and more practice!

Technorati Tags: typing,handwriting,penmanship,cursive,wpm,improve,writing