A Little Experimentation on some Free Writing

I've been fooling around with manipulation of the HTML codes in my posts. This is a font supplied by Blogger and it's adequate, but Google fonts has a ton of cooler typefaces that would look better on a Typosphere blog post. Sometimes I use the Alphasmart NEO to compose my posts. Sending the text to this page can be a Little bland, but a little manipulation can make a world of difference.

Here is a post scanned from pages made on a Typestar 5:




Now let's take a look at the same text after being sent to Google Drive, converted to a text file and brought back in with Google Fonts applied:

Suquamish, WA

14 April 2020

     This is a little exercise in freewriting. I wanted to use the Typestar so that I can scan the page when I'm done and then get a word count from Google Docs. Then I will import the text to Blogger to test out some HTML font stuff I've been researching.
     Joe VC put up a nice blog post centering on the current COVID-19 lockdown and setting up a daily schedule to include creativity. He talked about journaling and using tools that are easy to use and among the favorites in our collection of tools for writing. For me there are several choices. I love paper journals and fountain pens. For some this is a new thing but for me it's something I have always used since grade school in the '60s. Back then, fountain pens weren't a thing, ball point pens were. Regarding typing machines, I have always been fond of typewriters, but my family couldn't afford one. They were pricey back then. I would use a friend's or use the ones at a newspaper I worked for. Not as a journalist, but as a janitor, paper collator and paperboy. Now I can afford one, or two... or three. Even with today's jacked up prices for novelty items, they are easy to afford. Sometimes I want to use something typewriter-like, but in a more modern version. On those occasions I use this Typestar to get a paper copy, or I might use an Alphasmart NEO. I like the NEO because I can just grab it and take it along, or use it, spur of the moment, for some quick writing. I don't get a paper copy, but I can upload the text to Google Docs or to a text editor/word processor. At any rate, I'm seldom without a means to record my thoughts.
     That last paragraph could/should have been several paragraphs. Such is a first draft and freewriting. Speaking of freewriting, I would really like an Astrohaus Freewrite. It's another electronic typer, but with a hefty price tag. Someday it may fall into an affordable bracket, or will go on sale as second hand or refurbished. Until then…
     I just measured this Typestar at 1½ line spacing takes five carriage returns to equal one inch. That's a good thing to know when separating pages. Now I can go back and cut the paper between lines for easier scanning.
     On the subject of writing, I have taken to typing up a daily page for a newly created bucket to send my thoughts to. It's called "One Typed Page" and was created for folks to submit a daily page regarding the COVID-19 lockdown and how they are affected on a daily basis. It's been nice. A public journal of sorts. The other day, the creator came up with an idea to break the monotony of daily expression of our dealings in the current situation. He is calling for stories. They will be posted on Sunday. As usual, they can only be a page long, so time for an exercise in creativity and flash fiction.
     That's enough for now. I'm all free wrote out for the moment and I want to get this up and posted.

Rock on and have a great day.

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