Thursday, August 24, 2023

A little experiment

 One more note on Mary Oliver, and I’ll try to move on. Here she is, in a conversation with broadcaster Krista Tippett, sneaking in some advice to writers: 

Oh, I very much advise writers not to use a computer.

 

I learned to type when I was 13 and got my first newspaper job when I was 14, writing high school sports. I’m in a deep rut when it comes to keyboards.

But Oliver’s line was so sure, so definitive, that I determined to conduct a little experiment on myself. The past few mornings, I’ve been working with a pencil and stack of index cards. We’ll see what happens.

• Source: Mary Oliver, “Mary Oliver: I got saved by the beauty of the world,” an interview with Krista Tippett; On Being, Feb. 5, 2015.
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