Do the tech moguls move you around like a pawn?

Or does your life revolve around the only writing machine that is free.

I've lived in a place of digital overwhelm. I consider myself highly intuitive, sometimes clairvoyant.

I wrote a novel once and what I'd written turned out to be reality some years later. It was never published: I don’t think I wrote it for that purpose. It was for a higher purpose. At the very least, a different purpose.

The reason I mention this is because...

Digital overwhelm has robbed me time and time again of my god-given abilities.

And a typewriter has been the vehicle that has lifted me out of digital overwhelm.

The reasons are simple:

We aren’t meant to carry on a thousand conversations at a time in our head.

If we evolve to that end, then the most precious conversations, with the ones in front of us, are scattered to the wind; relationships suffer.

The reasons to adopt a vintage typewriter into your daily writing practice are manifold:

A client just ordered a Smith Corona Silent because he's a crypto trader and is burned out on constant screen use.

Another ordered a Remington 5 because he's a graphic designer and wants to write non-digitally in his off hours.

A consultant client ordered a Hermes 3000 because they send typewritten notes to clients, as that extra touch. (Ever read Bluefishing?)

Hollywood screenwriters have ordered typewriters for focused screenwriting.

And MANY frustrated parents for digitally saturated teens. (I know that challenge intimately).

The past.

Let’s face it, many of us walk through this world with a nostalgia for the past, which we carry close to our breast like a piece of our identity.

As I look back, my happiest adult days were spent revolving around a typewriter, in this case a Smith Corona Silent is what I remember most fondly, though there were others, too.

I'd just go live, meet someone, a little romance, a little adventure along a river, and then back to the writing machine: no particular aim, just to churn truth through my system.

I fell in love with language, and through language, life.

I don’t think most writers take this sacred path, because they’re too busy trying to sell themselves: too desperate to get readers.

You don’t need readers: you need truth. Readers may or may not be drawn to your truth, but at least your soul will be full of vitality: your whispered destiny blooming louder and louder.

I love, LOVE writing in a room with a view, or on a balcony, in a non-screen way, so that my vision isn't obstructed by the screen-refresh hypnotic societal mechanism.

Though I sometimes resort to a Remarkable 2 with Typefolio sometimes and an Astrohaus Freewrite sometimes, I STILL feel the burn of a nearby screen on those. They do the trick in a pinch.

Oh, I miss those old days. Though they're not as far away as I think.

Since I run the Classic Typewriter Company, that ties me up some of the time. Fortunately it still leaves some room for scribbling? Is it enough? Life is in the process of being refined, always.

My enemies are clickbait, digital notifications, as well as hand-held supercomputers doubling as 'cells' for consciousness. Darkness is my enemy, and it doubles as my friend.

If your hand or the device in it is causing you to stray, chop it off or throw it away.

Another nice benefit is the message a typewriter sends: if you're on a screen, people assume you're wasting at least some time. On a typewriter though, how could it be? And my daughter's eyes don't glaze over as I write on the patio. She doesn't beg to watch a show. She just runs around the yard, serenaded by my clacking.

In any case, here's to real writing wherever we can.

Write on,

Steven Budden Jr.

The Classic Typewriter Company