First Typewriter Experience

     What a heartwarming experience it is to turn on folks to typewriters for the first time!  In a room full of teenagers, only these two were fascinated by my machines.  Beecher is a senior newspaper staff member and Kishaun is in the jazz band.  Both are very creative types.  ;-)

     Beecher asked where he could buy a typewriter, and as I was explaining ShopGoodwill.com to him, he cut me short and told me his mother works with their graphic design team.  He also buys jewelry and shoes from their website.  He's going to look around this weekend and find an electric machine, because like me, he prefers them.

     They gave me permission to post their first typewriter adventure...

Royal Easter Weekend

     I gifted my sister a custom gold Royal O for her birthday last year. She asked me specifically for a champagne gold with glass keys model to match her décor, a combination that I've never seen before. Unplug Typewriter Co came to the rescue, restoring a scruffy machine with a cork platen into a beautiful work of art that types like a dream. Often when I visit, I'll type a little something about the good times we're having.  It's like a little timeline of our family gatherings.  She's had the typewriter well over a year now and still I'm the sole person who has ever typed anything significant it.

     If I don't go with them, I'm the usual house and pet sitter when my sister's family goes on vacations.  The Royal O is a nice machine and all, but I still prefer the ease of the electric machines.  I brought my Sears Medalist with the intent to type several pages of personal writings and letters to type pals.  This is as far as I got...

Green Ribbon for the IBM Selectric II!

     I was happy enough to find a working green IBM Correcting Selectric II that was fairly easy to clean and tune-up.  Now that I've discovered the colored ribbons that were available, I'm over the moon!  Even though I'm crazy about old manual typewriters, especially black shiny ones with glass keys, I can't keep my hands off electric machines, especially the Smith-Corona 6-series and this beloved Selectric.

What is the strangest thing you've ever found in a typewriter?

Here's the answer to the Typewriter Club Live typing prompt.  I banged it out on my 1954 Royal Quiet Deluxe that got a fully rubber-ducky treatment, AKA dunking in a sink full of hot soapy water and typing the hell out of it.  I joined late in the meeting, like the last 30 minutes, and as always, it's a wonderful chat with like-minded typewriter fans. Though it's virtual, the friendships are real. I missed you, Ted, Bob, Brenda, and many more, especially Sarah who's been away for a long time now. Life does get in the way of typewriter fun. Sometimes I wish I could be living in the mid-century when typewriters were everywhere. Then again, I might not appreciate them as much as I do now, and I'd probably constantly be upset about the huge gaps in gender inequality. I'm glad typewriters have helped to make life better for women!