Royal Deluxe Typewriter

A new typewriter and photo on the blog. Laurie picked this one up for me at a local flea market. It's a Royal Deluxe, probably from the late 30s or early 40s. I cleaned it up a little, bought some ribbons, and it types great!

I know it's strange, but I like doing a first draft on the typewriter. I set up the tab to produce the paragraph indent, set the carriage return to double space, and go. It is relaxing not to worry about anything except the ding of the bell.

I can actually type faster than the little machine can keep up. Combinations like "er" and "th" produce jammed keys. Too many years of "keyboarding" have made my speed irregular. Proper typewriter technigue is to hit the keys with a steady rhythm - no bursts of speed allowed.
It's a lot of fun to spew out that first draft, keys clicking away, story appearing as if by magic on the printed page. The irregular type is also appealing, a sharp contrast to the computer-perfect printout.

Once the first draft is done, I mark it up with a red pen and type it into the computer. Call it a draft-and-a-half.