I keep paper in my typewriter at all times and type whatever comes to me. When I am typing, I feel linked to all writers who ever had typewriters. I could be Allen Ginsberg creating "Howl" in the dim light of his kitchen, his glasses owl-like in the dark.
(more) I could be Anais Nin recording her exquisite diaries, graceful, her small fingers light on the keys. I could be Raymond Carver writing another true American story, cigarette dangling from his lip. F. Scott Fizgerald. Carson McCullers. Zora Neale Hurston. Typewriters in attics, in basements, the back rooms of bars, even the back seats of cars. Creativity juiced up and running. Writers covered with the ink with never enough ribbons for their words.
Go right now wherever you are and get a typewriter. Either a manual or an electric is fine. Get a stack of paper and get started. It is so simple. Thread in the paper. Think. See if a few words come to you. Type them down. I assure you, nothing is as satisfying. All the saints of writers who used typewriters will come and stand beside you to whisper in your ears.
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