Alice Buell Lawrence

I’m writing this on a Bluetooth keyboard, the keyboard on my laptop broken long ago. It’s a bit annoying, and it’s probably time to get a new machine. I just haven’t done it yet. Besides, I don’t do my writing on my laptop. It’s where I edit and polish.

I’m an avid Freewrite user, having both a traditional Typewriter model (the lemon one) and a Traveler. The Traveler goes with me everywhere, which has frequently come in handy. I don’t own a smartphone, so when everyone else is on their screens, I get a moment to write, to capture the space I’m in.

The typewriter really shines, though: it’s the device on which I easily type the fastest. I fly on that thing. I keep it on my old desk, the one that’s been scuffed and dinged over the years as I keep on moving, never quite settling anywhere. The typewriter sits on top, a few feet from my bed. I get up and capture those lost echoes of dreams that way.

I have a small desk as well, one I picked up a couple of years ago from World Market. I think it’s called a secretary’s desk. That one I keep in the main room, near the record player. This way I can be somewhat social as I work, or at least not as cloistered.

So I have the items to do the job, to be a writer in renown as well as practice. No excuses. I produce plenty of work, too. I’ll write more about that, but I have a pile of drafts that I keep picking over, tweaking wording here and there. I’ve just never really taken the time to try and publish any of it. That’s what I want to change. If I have one dream, it would be to see one of my books in a bookshop. I have plenty more of them to write.

Plenty of chances.