Not My Type

Members of the Short Mystery Fiction Society are sharing typewriter memories. I was neither very fast nor proficient with a typewriter, and was always conscious of how much paper I wasted. Luckily, by the time I had to type term papers, several relatives were on their way to becoming programmers, and I had access to computers and printers.

Working on a magazine in college, I had basic knowledge of MS Word and ClarisWorks, but always preferred WordPerfect.

I've been a Linux/OpenOffice user since 2004. I bought my current computer new for $800 in 2006 and in six years of system updates, it has never slowed down like my two previous Windows machines.

All this said, I brainstorm with a pen and memo pad, which might be conspicuous in public if people ever looked up from their laptops and smartphones.