Soberish + the Typewriter Experience
More Writers Are Taking A More Mindful Approach to Booze, Typing and Writing First Drafts, Letters and Other Stuff
St. Joseph, Minn. letterpress printshop owner Mary McBruno is known for her linoleum prints, her collection of 100-year-old maple wood type and her admittedly obsessive relationship with her antique Vandercook printing press, inherited from her late father. But she still have a special place in her heart for typewriters and she carves out one ‘late night’ a month for writers, friends and acquaintances to use her collection of manual and type-bar electric machines to write letters, sip wine and nibble cheese, crackers, olives from a charcuterie board.
But not everyone drinks wine and types Increasingly hosts and hostesses with the mostest are finding at least one person, if not more, requests something non-alcoholic. Welcome, friends, to Sober-ish, which could well describe friends, co-workers, family members who only drink once a week or at restaurants, others who give up drinking entirely. But the Sober-ish experience isn’t just limited to social dining and public bars, writers with typewriters are embracing this novel way of relaxing and writing.
I’ve not typed with an alcoholic beverage in a long time, largely because my Wednesday morning ritual is drinking hot (or sometimes iced) coffee in an insulated mug parked on a window ledge, while my Selectric 721 sits on my uneven 1950s lady’s desk. I set the timer around 8:30-9 am. An hour for writing to my Typepals, addressing envelopes and stamping them with my rubber stamp and postage. I sip, type letters, admire the parking lot view and the streetcar view, repeat. This one hour might be the most alive I feel all day. By 10 a.m., the coffee and typing is done. On to the next task.
While writing on a typewriter has this reputation as something best experienced with a glass of wine or a cocktail, more writers are tapping away on their Underwoods, Royals, Hermes, Adlers and Smith-Corona with a strong cup of coffee or herbal tea.
Two cases in point: One typist online says he prefers to stay sober when he’s typing. “That’s my style,” he says. Another says he likes strong coffee; he posted a picture of cup of hot java next to his green-on-green Hermes resting on a table enjoying a view of a Paris street.
The goal to remain clear-eyed and healthy is everywhere now. Men and women who want to lose weight. Adults in remission from cancer who want to eat, live and feel good all day long. College students who discover and prefer flavorful, non-boozy cocktails. These people don’t want to give up all that while they’re relaxing and typing in front of a typewriter.
The new Sober-ish approach to typing and writing means one thing. What you re-read the next morning might actually make sense, it might be even worth rewriting and publishing. That’s not always the case when drinking a bold cocktail or two while typing.
Another advantage to limiting yourself to say, one glass of wine while typing, is that odds are high you’ll savor every drop of your wine because you’re only having one. Or if you’re like me, you’ll skip the wine altogether at an event or if your ‘type’ (in my case, sweet whites) are not available. I’ll save my alcohol calories for another day for a wine I really like.
I actually sipped a shot of Fireball whiskey (chilled first in the fridge) from the tiny plastic vial while writing my first novel, A Fall Guy (Amazon). Once it was gone, it was gone. And I only bought one so that the sipping experience wouldn’t turn into a drinking experience and ruin my writing.
As for Mary McBruno, she’s all about building community whether it’s through the typewriter late-nighters or a letterpress poster workshop. The women who have attended her late-nighters have found the evening unspooled magically with the wine and collection of old typewriters, paper, envelopes and rubber stamps, “everything you need to pen those overdue letters,” she writes on her site.
While Sober-ish is cool and trendy, Mary will continue to offer fine wine at her events because it’s what some attendees love. It’s not a bad deal at $35 (the next typewriter late nighter is Dec. 11). The sipping becomes a memorable experience because it’s done while typing.
Writers with typewriters, what are you drinking while you’re tapping away on your favorite typewriter? What’s the most unusual beverage you’ve had while writing on typewriter?
I find that coffee usually helps me with writing far more than alcohol does.