Weekly Writing: Sightless writing

This week's writing prompt is inspired by the newest addition to my typewriter collection:

… as well as by Harold Taw, author of the fabulous novel Adventures of the Karaoke King. When I showed off this photo on Facebook, I mentioned with amazement that back in the late 1800s and early 1900s, when this typewriter was new, those who used it couldn't see the paper on which they were typing. And then Harold pointed out that the idea of not seeing what you're typing (that is, being unable to edit yourself) sounded rather liberating, and I realized that he's absolutely right. As an obsessive self-editor, I was inspired to give it a try myself — and to encourage you to try it, too. So, here's this week's exercise (by the way, I really enjoyed it, even though my pages looked as if the cat had written them):

Turn off your computer monitor, or put on a blindfold (whatever works) and write. If you need some help getting started, use one of the prompts below … but the important thing is not to look at what you're writing and not to edit yourself. Just type away.

Prompts:

- Write "I remember" and freewrite from there.

- Choose an object in the room and write about it.

- Write about something that happened to you yesterday.