“Making it up as I go along. I write with a ballpoint pen and scratch out lines and paragraphs, revising them as I make my way into the story, the characters letting me know what comes next. Once I’ve handwritten a page until I like it, I put in on the IBM Wheelwriter 1000. If I compose on a typewriter I’d spend more time x’ing out lines than writing. I don’t use a word processor, I can’t imagine looking at a screen as I write. I have to look at the words on unlined yellow paper, my only writer affectation. I used to aim for five clean pages in an eight-hour day. I’ll settle now for three in a somewhat shorter day, continuing to revise to maintain that sound I want.”
Elmore Leonard
(Novelist—Out of Sight, Get Shorty, Rum Runner)
AARP magazine
July/August 2009
Page 33
[…] “Making it up as I go along. I write with a ballpoint pen and scratch out lines and paragraphs, revising them as I make my way into the story, the characters letting me know what comes next. Once I’ve handwritten a page until I like it, I put in on the IBM Wheelwriter 1000. If […] Original Source… […]
Yes!
It’s either an IBM wheelwriter 1000 for me, or nothing at all! Great post!
There’s something about keeping it simple with a pad and paper that connects us as writers to those who wrote before us – those who also struggled, went against the grain, and shared their perspective of the world and human condition.
There’s something about having the technology to write quickly and efficiently, yet choosing to write longhand like those who came before us.