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My “writerdeck” is a typewriter
May 28, 2026
Old and reliable Olivetti Lettera 22
This is my “writerdeck” —<br>a term I just learned, meaning a sort of distraction free writing<br>device. I really enjoyed that article, because it<br>reminded me of the time I spent when I was young<br>installing<br>FreeDOS and<br>Linux on old<br>386 machines, and how a computer for me was like a<br>little world you could just get lost in. When I was<br>younger I was always looking for that, my Sony<br>Walkman was maybe the first iteration, but I<br>remember dreaming about having my own Gameboy,<br>getting lost in Links Awakening or Ghost Babel<br>— and when I got one, that’s exactly<br>what I did, and probably over-did.
The thundering IBM selectric
When I first bought a typewriter I wanted something<br>that approximated the speed of typing on a computer.<br>I bought an IBM Selectric. I had seen a<br>video somewhere<br>of Hunter S. Thompson extolling the virtues of a<br>fast typewriter, removing the barriers between you<br>and the page, and I had to have one. It really is<br>like typing on a page full of gun powder, and for<br>the type of writing I was doing at the time, sort of<br>stream of consciousness freewriting, it made sense.<br>It was loud, it hummed while it was on, but it had<br>the ability to magically lift mistakes right off the<br>page and I couldn’t type any faster than the<br>metal word ball could punch out the letters. They<br>are heavy as well, and use a special type of ribbon<br>cartridge. I still think they’re amazing<br>machines.
Now though, I value something that requires a little<br>more effort, and not just because the keys take real<br>finger strength to fling the hammers at the page,<br>but also because I can’t just type at a<br>hundred words a minute. I have to think through my<br>thoughts before I start typing, it slows me down.<br>This might be where our “writerdeck”<br>approaches really are quite similar. Intentionally<br>boiling down the essence of the practice. Removing<br>distractions and finding that creative boost in the<br>restrictions.
The unique typeface of the Olivetti<br>Lettera
The Olivetti Lettera 22, an Italian made machine, I<br>absolutely love the font. It is quite portable and<br>comes with a nice carrying case. I keep a set of<br>folders inside the case along with the typewriter,<br>color coded for the type of writing I’m doing:<br>journaling, fiction/freewriting, and projects like<br>video scripts or blog posts. On the left of each<br>folder is just blank pages to pull from and on the<br>right is completed pages. Sometimes I’ll come<br>back to something I wrote months before and pick it<br>back up, or just enjoy reading through it again.
doesn't get much simpler than 3 color coded<br>folders
It’s a marvel of a machine, it has<br>programmable tab stops, good for making lists or<br>simple tables. I have no idea how they achieved that<br>on a completely manual machine. You can change the<br>ribbon color<br>to red at the flip<br>of a switch, and it uses bog standard ribbon you can<br>easily get online from a distributor like<br>Ribbons Unlimited. I also keep a small roll-on whiteout pen in the<br>case, for occasions where I really want to make<br>something clean (mistakes are inevitable) but<br>usually I’ll just x out or dash out my errors.
Really anything can become a little world for you to<br>get lost in, you could collect tens of typewriters<br>and never even write a page, and that might be just<br>what you’re looking for. I collect and use old<br>cameras, less because I care about the images they<br>produce, but more because I’m interested in<br>how they become an extension of myself, how they<br>feel in my hands, their little quirks and<br>interesting design considerations. For writing<br>though, I’m interested in tools that help me<br>get words on the page and for me this works.
I like this idea of a “writerdeck”, I<br>hope it catches on and more people get inspired to<br>write. Sometimes I fear that if we don’t keep<br>creating and sharing real writing that took effort<br>and time and thought, and if people feel that<br>it’s harder and harder and not worth the<br>effort, we’ll only be left with these<br>probabilistic averages that can be readily bought by<br>the token.