Last weekend, it was time for another typewriter letter-writing event at the stationery store, The Paper Mouse in West Newton, Massachusetts. I first held one there in April.
Ready …
I checked in with the store’s co-owner, Jenny Zhang. Twelve attendees had signed up for the two-hour paid workshop.
So, fourteen typewriters to get ready—one for each attendee, plus a few spares. I set out the first machines to check over. Had I put a non-slip mat in the typewriter’s case? Had I labeled the machine? More importantly, did it work?!
Time to play The Dice Game.
Sometimes, when faced with a long list of equally urgent, small tasks, I get over the inertia of beginning by playing The Dice Game. It’s a strategy from the book, The Anti-Planner: How to Get Stuff Done When You Don’t Feel Like It by Dani Donovan. Originally intended to help with symptoms of ADHD, this book of ‘recipes’ for focus and action is helpful for anyone who feels scattered, which, in these days of online distraction, is most of us.
“The Dice Game
Make a list of things you need to do.
Give each item an array of numbers from 1-20.
Roll a 20-sided die.
Write the number rolled, circle the corresponding item, and start doing it right away. (This 3-fold response leads to action.)”
Here’s my scruffy Dice Game list of typewriters for the event. Roll - test - clean - finish - put the machine by the door, ready to go. Roll, again.
A happy, scruffy Dice Game list, all checked off
I had fourteen machines checked and sorted, and ready to go in a few pleasant hours.
Some of the machines had sluggish keys. I worked a little rubbing alcohol into the segment until they worked smoothly. One had been out in frequent use since the last event and had mucky typeslugs full of ink. A quick spuce up with a small stiff brush, rubbing alcohol, and a few toothpicks, and the print quality was as good as new.
Three typewriters were new to me since the last event, so needed tags. I looked up the date of manufacture on the Typewriter Database and typed a luggage label for each machine—typeface sample, name, date. Plus one for its case, so I could reunite each machine and case promptly after the event.
I was excited to remember I had a new-to-me turquoise Royal Quiet De Luxe, bought from Tom Furrier as Cambridge Typewriter was closing. The machine came with an American Profile magazine article tucked inside the lid—an interview with typewriter repairman and author Anthony Casillo from around 2010.
The QDL is in great condition and an attractive machine for letter-writing events.
Royal Quiet De Luxe, from the last days of Cambridge Typewriter this spring
Ready, Set …
It was time to drive the machines over to the store and set up.
The event space at The Paper Mouse Atelier. I set up the typewriters in order of age, 1929 to 1980
Ready, Set, … Go!
The first arrivals, Rocco and Rebecca, arrived twenty minutes early and immediately claimed the turquoise QDL and its neighbor, the green Smith-Corona Silent-Super that sports a blue-green ribbon. The other attendees arrived, each decided on a machine, and were soon figuring out how their typewriter worked. I provided scrap paper for the task, along with a stack of vintage typewriter paper. And after a brief talk from me, they were off, typing, in a great room-filling clatter of typewriter fun.
Some attendees brought postcards and letters to answer, and enjoyed the Crown Mills paper and envelopes provided by the stationery store, along with stickers, seals, and a fountain pen for each to keep. Others wrote stories, or even a whole year’s worth of affirmations to glue into their 2026 Hobinichi planner. Thinking ahead!
Friends came together, or couples, or a mother and son. Some came alone. But all joined in with the satisfying clatter of machines working hard, time offline, making in the company of others.
My favorite sound of the day was the random cadence of different-toned bells dinging from all parts of the room.
After the two-hour paid event, there was an hour’s open house. Some of the original attendees lingered and talked and kept on typing, while customers from the stationery store also stopped by to type.
Cleanup was quicker than the last time I did this, and the lingering to talk afterward, longer. Nearly everyone who came also enjoyed shopping at the lovely Paper Mouse store, me included.
Ready to drive home. But not before browsing at the lovely stationery store, a few doors down from the event space.
Roslindale Open Studios This Weekend
In Boston this weekend? The Boston neighborhood of Roslindale has an Open Studios event.
I’ll be at one of the business venues—Joanne Rossman’s: Purveyor of the Unnecessary & the Irresistible, 6 Birch St, Roslindale, MA—Saturday, October 18th, from 11-5—for more typewriter letter writing!
Come and type a letter on one of three vintage typewriters. Stationery provided.
Open Studios takes place over the whole weekend, but I’ll be there on Saturday only.
(This event is supported by a grant from the Mayor’s Office of Arts and Culture and the City of Boston.)
