April 22:
As of this moment, my typewriter has run out of ink. The superstitious part of me says that if I leave it be for a couple days, it will learn how to write again. In the meantime, I am without one of the few tools I needed to continue this work. At first, I wasn’t sure what to do. Ordering an ink ribbon online will take multiple days, and writing on my laptop wasn’t an option. The computer is the death of productivity.
Then I remembered pictures I had seen of Stephen King drafting novels on legal pad. Knowing my handwriting, it wasn’t a perfect option, but it was far better than using my laptop. And I like it. I don’t know that I prefer it to the typewriter, but it feels natural. Like the typewriter, the legal pad has only one function: writing. My laptop serves me in too many ways; when I am stuck (which is often), it is too easy to move on to something else. Even with all this time to do nothing but writing, it seems I still find ways to procrastinate.
Here are the first drafts. They are as illegible as you would expect, but I will leave them here for the determined few.
I really like how you are writing poetry without using your computer. It is so interesting to see your rough drafts and thought process. Keep up the great work!
It will be interesting to see if the types of poetry you write are different based on whether you are writing them by hand vs. on your computer.