What to Write

Let's see... What to write about........What to write about? Hmmmmm. I need a minute to think about it. It’s been a busy week….month….year. In fact, this year, 2022, has been challenging for our family. A lot of unexpected situations. Some of them difficult. Some of them tragic. We have enjoyed some pleasant activities and pulled through some tearful ones. But, that’s neither here nor there as I sit in front of my proverbial typewriter staring at the blank piece of paper waiting to type the first word of this article.

It was a dark and stormy night.

Nope, that’s not gonna be the opening sentence.

But, let’s get back to that typewriter thing for a minute. Anybody remember using an old-fashioned typewriter? I know that many of you have no experience with that relic of the non-digital age. Just for fun, let me walk you through the experience.

Back in my day, Sonny, there were 2 ways to produce documents. I was producing documents as a student, but I also saw my dad produce documents as a minister in a small church.  First, we could write by hand, often double-spaced, on lined paper. Handwriting was taught in school, and we were graded on our precision of forming the letters in print style and in cursive style. One had to know how to write so that others could read the text. Except for doctors. I think they took a class in medical school which undid all their handwriting training. But they were a privileged lot.

See my lovely penmanship?

Secondly, we could type a document. Taking a fresh clean sheet of paper, slipping it into the top of the typewriter, grasping the bars and spinning the roller to get the paper lined up at exactly the right spot so that you could type the first word. It took a minute, but we mastered the skill, and it became second nature. I took a Typing class in high school.  After many sessions of practicing our J K L semi, J K L semi, J K L semi exercises, we were tested by retyping paragraphs and documents. The teacher graded our speed and precision. Too many mistakes meant a failing grade. I wasn’t the fastest or most accurate, but I was fine.  I still have to hunt and peck to find the numbers at the top of the keyboard. But, with vowels and consonants, my fingers usually know where to go when I’m not looking.

Here’s a funny thing. Every now and again I would place my hands incorrectly on the keys, so that my fingers started in the wrong position. Without looking at the keys, I would type a sentence using a mental picture of the keys. My fingers would dance around the keys by reflex. But, when I looked at the paper, the message was garbled, because my hands had started in the wrong position—just one key to the left or right.  Instead of typing.......

It was a dark and stormy night.,

my paper would taunt me with.....

 Oy esd s fstl smf dyp’t,u mohjy/

I think there is a sermon in there about making sure your life is grounded, that you are starting from a position of clarity and certainty, otherwise you might make a mess of things. But, I shan’t pontificate on that right now.

So...... I’m still trying to decide what to write about. As I stare at the blank computer screen, I realize that it is much less intimidating than a blank piece of paper staring at me from a manual typewriter. In either case, the blankness is formidable. The difference is that, as soon as I detect a forced stand-off between me and my blank computer document, I begin to pop over to a different window or open a new tab where I can peruse my social media pages, or read about the newest celebrity gossip, or scoff at the latest political antics of so-and-so, or scan the Today Only Sale at my favorite retailer, or catch up on the newest travel deals, or study my financial records (Ha! As if), or double-check the latest score of my favorite teams. I can distract myself from the task at hand in a million and one ways. All with the tap of my finger. The world is literally at my fingertips.

Have you ever thought about that? How much information is right in front of us everyday 24/7?  It’s a far cry from the old days when I used to call the librarian and ask her to research a question for me. She would look up the information, then call me back with the answer. It’s a far cry from the set of World Book Encyclopedias that we had when I was growing up. The set of 25 thick, heavy, alphabetically ordered books contained all the information that anyone needed to know about anything. Until, it didn’t. Every year, there was new information to add or changes to be made, based on world events and discoveries. World Book released a Year Book every year as a supplement to the collection, catching up on the latest news and correcting outdated information. Can you even imagine that nowadays? I don’t think that World Book Encyclopedia Salesman is a job anymore.

Speaking of research, when I was in 6th grade we were assigned a big research project. For our Social Studies class, we each were given a country to research, write a report, and create a colorful poster display. Our teacher gave each of us the address of the consulate Chamber of Commerce so that we could write to request information about the country. My assigned country was Argentina, so I sent my query to Buenos Aires. After a few weeks a package arrived--brochures, flyers, booklets, and other merchandising items highlighting the best of Argentina. It was a very exciting project. I was most impressed by the information about Gauchos. I thought that those cowboy-like dudes were the coolest thing ever. I was well aware that Gaucho Pants were a fashion item at the time, so I was thrilled to have authentic information straight from the OG.

Years ago, that was the way we had to research things. No computer to look up information. No printer to print pictures. Old school research. It was difficult, and we were not always successful in getting the information that we needed.

I’m not advocating that we go back in time and lose the technology that we have come to rely on. As you might imagine, manual typewriters, while nostalgic, were a real pain to operate, especially when you made a typing mistake and had to backspace to white-out the error. Or when you had to use a sheet of carbon paper to make a duplicate copy of the document. Or when the paper crumpled or tore in the guts of the machine. Or when you had to change the ink ribbon. I understand that Tom Hanks has a big collection of manual typewriters. I think that is probably the best place for them—in a collection where they can be admired.

But, I do think that we could use a break from some of the technology, especially when we use it to distract ourselves from the task at hand. Sitting and staring at a blank piece of paper, while uncomfortable and maybe even depressing, can actually be a good thing. It can force us to think. It can force us to take a breath. It can force us to embrace the silence and listen to the inner voice. I think we could all use a little bit of that from time to time.

So, I will continue staring at the blank screen on my laptop while I try to figure out what to write.

I’ll let you go about your business while I work on this. I appreciate your patience.  In parting, I’ll just say......

Yjsmfld gpt trsfomhz@

Oops, I did it again. Let me try that one more time.

 Thanks for reading!

There, that's better.