Back in May I was doing some morning writing and an idea for a novel started growing. Afraid of smothering it with too much early excitement, I let it simmer for a while and then I found that it started to come to me, the characters, the plot, the outline of the whole thing, and I have been writing bits here and there. Unlike most of my previous attempts at writing any sort of book, this one seems to be interested in being written. I am not just deciding that I want to write a novel and then trying to coerce my brain into writing it. No, it’s just a story I want to tell and I am starting to get into telling it. It’s a new experience and I am enjoying the process. Feels a bit like how albums happen because, you know, in my process, new albums grow and occur when I decide to make the space for them and listen for songs to show up in my head.

Anyhow, not going to post any plot spoilers here but I will talk a little bit about the technical side of this.

One very important thing for me is my choice of tools that I use to write with. For example, if I sit down to work out a song, it will wind up different if I sit at a piano versus picking up an acoustic guitar versus picking up an electric guitar versus a synthesizer. The tool shapes the outcome. With writing, I have long known that different types of writing technologies lead to me writing differently. A typewriter allows me to be thoughtful and deliberate whereas a modern laptop like the one I am using to write this blog post allows me to be very top of mind and casual. Writing with a pencil on paper really changes things up because it brings out the personal, casual, letter-writing brain, whereas switching to a fountain pen with it’s faster flow maintains the casual brain but brings some fluidity to the process. Whether I drink coffee or water, whether I run a timer or don’t, all of these variables matter to me.

For daily personal journaling I almost exclusive prefer writing with a Parker “51” fountain pen in a lined paper journal.

For blog posts, emails, stuff like that, my Macbook or my Windows laptop, don’t really care all that much although will often connect a mechanical keyboard for “feel”.

Song lyrics are sometimes pencil, sometimes pen, ALWAYS hand written. Very much whatever feels right at the moment. Sometimes there is a writing session in which I sit and scribble half-baked ideas for pages before something materializes.

What about a novel?

Well, after some fiddling around, I have my solution and I have surprised even myself. I am making the most progress on my first draft using my old compact Macintosh SE. Yes, I have one and yes it works. 9-inch, 1-bit, black and white screen, running Microsoft Word 5.1, connected to a black and white inkjet printer, a Stylewriter II. I have multiple ways to save the files to modern machines for editing and backup, that’s not a problem. When it comes to a distraction-free, tactile, and and just plain fun writing machine, the original Macintosh experience is hard to beat. It’s so simple and clean, everything I need and nothing I don’t, and it’s very very satisfying to use.

The 1987 Macintosh SE running Macintosh System Software 7 connected to a Stylewriter II inkjet printer. Bonus points if you noticed the Powerbook 180 (1992) sitting on the table next to it.

A little bit about this machine.  The Macintosh SE is the fourth major Mac model made.  There was the original (1984), then the 512k (1984), the Plus (1986) and then the SE (1987).  SE stands for “System Expansion” because while it shares the closed case compact form factor of the original Macintosh, there is an expansion slot for adding on peripherals.  It is also the first Mac to allow for an internal hard drive or a second floppy drive.  The hard drive options were originally 20MB or 40MB.  Mine is actually running off an internal MicroSD card via an adaptor so I have a much much larger “hard drive” and it’s silent.  That was my reason for choosing an SE instead of one of the earlier models, being able to use a hard drive is just such a better experience than swapping floppies.  Believe it or not, I even have an ethernet adapter for this thing and I can connect it to a modern file share setup on my Linux server and save files to the network.  The SE was introduced 38 years ago, discontinued 35 years ago, has 4MB of RAM, and a 16-bit processor that runs at 7.8mhz.  Not exactly a powerhouse, but who cares?  I’m just typing and printing.

The little Macintosh is going to be the primary machine for the first draft. I may go mobile with a vintage Powerbook now and then and almost certainly will write chapters here or there with a typewriter or freehand, or whatever, but I have decided that the little 1987 Macintosh is the main machine and the novel is now underway.

I am pretty excited to finally have a novel underway that I can be proud of.  Most of the novels I have written in the past were books I would never want to read or allow anybody else to read because, yes, I have written a few.  I have always considered myself basically a writer and musician who happens to have a day job in software engineering to pay the bills.  Those were all kinda terrible though.  I didn’t know at all what I was doing.  Nothing wrong with that, you have to write crap before you can write anything good, but still.  This is going to be a good book and I’m excited.  I’ll post updates on progress as I make it.