A couple years ago, while working toward a creative writing/publishing MFA, I found an IBM Selectric II on Craigslist. I'd done all my writing on computers up t

A couple years ago, while working toward a creative writing/publishing MFA, I found an IBM Selectric II on Craigslist. I'd done all my writing on computers up to that point, but I loved the idea of using a typewriter for first drafts. There was something romantic about the idea. It seemed like a more intimate way to write. Its owner was a retiree moving to Florida. He'd bought it in the late 60s to write his dissertation but hadn't used it since. It had sat in a corner of his office under its original dust cover for forty years, though he'd had it serviced a few months earlier. The first thing I noticed was the weight of the thing when I carried it out to my car. It's a tank. The second thing I noticed was the sound it made when I brought it home and switched it on. There was no mistake I was dealing with a piece of machinery, humming, waiting for me to get to work. It looked great, too. As soon as I sat down to write, I worried that it would bother my neighbors. My apartment walls were thin enough that I could hear anything louder than a cough, so when I discovered that typing each letter was like firing a cannon, it was clear that late-night writing sessions were out of the picture unless I wanted to make enemies. But I was right about using it for first drafts. On the computer, it's easy to second-guess myself, go back, change things, and re-write too much before the story is even finished. A first draft is supposed to be the shitty, rough, inconsistent sketch of a thing, and my Selectric forces me to press onward. It's awesome. Each key press is satisfying, each carriage return is a mechanical thunk that lets me know I'm making progress. Watching pages stack up on the desk next to it is a reward itself. I still do my rewrites and edits on my computer, copying from the typed pages, but I'm so happy that I have this monster machine to keep me honest and get the first versions of stories down.