the magic is in the mess

embracing the raw, real side of the creative process

Selling things on FB Marketplace is always an adventure. You never know who you’ll meet. Most exchanges are brief and all business. Occasionally they lead to deeper connections. This just happened to me.

I was first contacted by Williams son. William has neither social media nor email. He likes youtube. He likes to text. William also loves to type. Back in fifty seven William could type two hundred words a minute. These days, he types a bit more slowly.

And on the machine I sold him - an old Olivetti 22, manual typewriter - I can’t imagine anyone having a word count like that these days. I’m glad William has the typewriter now. It’s elegant. It’s old. It’s a magical throw back to a time when things had more direct consequences - press a button the right way and it makes a mark on a piece of paper. It’s simple. It’s a lot like William.

I met William in a parking lot a half an hour away from here. I showed him the typewriter. It worked. He paid me. Then? Then we started chin waggin’. Befor…