I am slowly training myself to get back into pen and ink, unconnected writing. After years of being a slave to computer-tied prose (by necessity––it was for SEO-driven online dissemination) I am slowly finding confidence to break free.
The Hemingwriter* (or whatever less offensive thing they call it these days) is a concept to which I wholly subscribe. I want to be able to write without device, to play bamboo flute with kubi or djimbe, write masterworks of prevarication.
To inhabit whichever sunset or star-filled sky I choose.
The Hemingwriter* (or whatever less offensive thing they call it these days) is a concept to which I wholly subscribe. I want to be able to write without device, to play bamboo flute with kubi or djimbe, write masterworks of prevarication.
To inhabit whichever sunset or star-filled sky I choose.
To me, more Tron than acceptable-range vintage.
What is the Hemingwrite?* A Kickstarter-funded web enabled remote prose capturer. A take on the classic typewriter that can be used to create a cloud novel, blog. Inspired by news of Cuba while camping in Tulum and hosteling in Playa over a couple months, I emailed the entrepreneur behind it:
"If you have a prototype developed soon, why not yours truly as a beta tester (traditional writer)? My idea is simple. I will travel to Cuba and use the Hemingwrite over a 3-6 week period to send dispatches from a country that has little to nil Internet connectivity outside of Havana. In other words, Cuba still exists as an Internet-free society. Perfect for SMS text-level transmission."
They didn't have a prototype and long story short, family obligations trumped Cuba and I headed back to California to find that my agent had not found a publisher and I had run out of money.
Fast forward a year: what has been released is revealed as the Tron-looking Freewrite, which Mashable describes as "pretentious hipster nonsense." Hmm... At first glance, they turned what could have been a vintage typewriter into an early 1990s word processor.
Wait... maybe I'll create my own, ask a machine shop and an electronics shop in Dumaguete to coordinate. It is amazing what you can salvage from yesteryear technologies in these latitudes.
#endwriter
"If you have a prototype developed soon, why not yours truly as a beta tester (traditional writer)? My idea is simple. I will travel to Cuba and use the Hemingwrite over a 3-6 week period to send dispatches from a country that has little to nil Internet connectivity outside of Havana. In other words, Cuba still exists as an Internet-free society. Perfect for SMS text-level transmission."
They didn't have a prototype and long story short, family obligations trumped Cuba and I headed back to California to find that my agent had not found a publisher and I had run out of money.
Fast forward a year: what has been released is revealed as the Tron-looking Freewrite, which Mashable describes as "pretentious hipster nonsense." Hmm... At first glance, they turned what could have been a vintage typewriter into an early 1990s word processor.
Wait... maybe I'll create my own, ask a machine shop and an electronics shop in Dumaguete to coordinate. It is amazing what you can salvage from yesteryear technologies in these latitudes.
#endwriter
All that is missing is a Hemingwrite, a flute, and a pale pilsen.
* Hemingway famously carried a Underwood Noiseless Portable throughout Europe, haunting cafes, learning from Gertrude Stein, and experiencing The Sun Also Rises. Controversial because much of what he did reflected the inhumane nature of what he (and many in his generation) went through.
All Rights Reserved Damon Shulenberger
All Rights Reserved Damon Shulenberger
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