There is something quite romantic about a typewriter, but as writers of the modern era, some of us would find it absolutely horrifying to be denied our spell-checkers and word count features. In fact, most people would begin rioting in the streets, overturning cars, and torching places of business upon discovering that the foul, smelly beast lacked a backspace button. There’s something that our technologically superior word processors do lack, however, and that is the organic feel that one gets from the mechanical clacking and ringing of an old 20’s model typewriter, and this is exactly the niche that Visual Typewriter seeks to fill.
Just for some background, I’ve suffered from ADD since childhood, but – after finally being officially diagnosed and taking a short trip to the pharmacy – I found a high coffee intake, and locking myself away in my office for hours on end was a far more affordable, questionably-effective alternative to my $200/mo. medication.
The amazing thing that I found with this software is that it helps with keeping me “keyed in”. Where I used to stop writing in order to correct mistakes the moment my word processor detected them, I now find myself powering through an article focusing intently on just getting my thoughts on the page.
Most word processors have stats at the bottom of the screen informing you of the current word count and what page you’re on. For me, this is an unforgivable distraction, because my mind is already trying to find itself a task more physically involved.
“That grass sure is getting tall… Hmm. I’m only halfway through the first page. I could probably break away and get that done real quick… Probably won’t take more than a half hour at the most…”
Next thing you know, I’m out on the mower and by the time I’ve gotten back to the computer, three hours have passed, and my train of thought is completely gone. Most of the time that results in me having to refresh myself on the material, and start all over from scratch because I can’t pick back up on the original tone of the article.
I find that not having any of those distractions – helpful as they may be – has greatly improved my productivity. Watching the virtual keys as they strike each letter onto the page fills me with a strange sense of excitement. A direct connection with my work that I haven’t felt in years. It gives you a respect and understanding of what those who came before us had to endure as they painstakingly composed their manuscripts, cursing as they threw out a near finished page because they spelled “the” wrong down there in line two of the third paragraph, but don’t let that scare you off.
Visual Typewriter comes with options that allow you to utilize spell-checking (It’s not very well integrated, and is my one major gripe about the software, but it does work.), word wrapping, and that oh-so-precious backspace button. Now, of course this will all take away from the authenticity, but these are a great addition for those wanting to tackle larger projects with less hassle.
Sadly, as much as I love this software, I really can’t give it my full endorsement. Some of you are going to love it, and others are going to downright hate it. Although it can export into .PDF, plain text, HTML, and JPEG, most of us are going to be pairing this up with a word processor for our final edits. If you use random letters, some of the “weak” letters won’t show up in the text file, and if you’re following any kind of guidelines, chances are you’re going to have to manually format your document.
Even with the negative aspects, I still enjoy using Visual Typewriter, because I wind up getting more accomplished even with the extra time I spend in the editing process. As I stated before, it won’t be for everyone, but thankfully there’s a 15-Day Trial in order for you to make your mind up as to whether or not you want to pay the registration fee. It is available for download at Nolad.com, and carries a price tag of $19.95 for the full version.