My husband found the boxes to my first computer monitor, first fax machine and…get this…my old Smith Corona Typewriter – the one I used for my very first article! My parents bought it for me as a high school graduation gift, and it saw me through many college papers and, later, many articles.
Until I got my first 286 computer, that is. I had landed a PR consulting job with a non-profit food program and was so excited to be out in the work-world. The bookkeeper for the organization was an exceptionally kind and perceptive gentleman. When he realized that I was still doing all my writing on a typewriter, he gently informed me that it was time to get a computer. A computer? I didn’t know anything about computers. The only computer I had ever used was the main frame at the Milwaukee Journal building where I took my news editing class! I had no idea how to buy a computer!
So, this wonderful man took me to Sam’s Club himself and helped me make the purchase. Since then, the only typewriter use in our house was to show the kids the novelty of the thing and to let them practice their ABCs in the early years of home schooling. Then it was tucked underneath the futon in the home office and left there to collect dust. I recently gave it to charity in hopes that some other home school family would find the same use for it. I hadn’t realized that the box was still in storage in the back of the upstairs closet.
Seeing it again brought back great memories. It also drew my mind along the timeline of my writing endeavors. Public Relations consulting. News articles. Feature articles. Magazine articles. My awakening and decision to focus exclusively on Catholic publications. Devotionals. My first column. My first full-length book. Websites. Blogs. My second book. Speaking engagements. My third book. And now…working on my fourth book.
And to think it all started with a pack of 20 lb. bond and an ink ribbon!
