I never assume that I’ve “preserved them in digital form”; I’ve just reproduced them and published them, which is great but not the same thing. So I save my paper typecasts. Why? So I can read them when I’m 80 and remember. I keep them in little art portfolios that hold about 40 typecasts apiece.
I havent had the chance to do too many typecasts so at this point each is special because they are still rare. I suppose that once i get the ball rolling and eventually have dozens to hundreds and perhaps even thousands of typecasts, they may be less special since they will be numerous. Still, i can only fathom keeping them. Much like Richard said in his above comment, i think id get a kick out of looking back and re-reading it one day. I picture this: I’d likely say in my 80+ year old head, “How silly i was back in 2012!”
I don’t consider any of my typecasts to be worth preserving. Once both sides of the paper are used, the sheet goes into the recycle bin. That’s why I use scrap paper for them. YMMV
Seriously, you type on both sides? Doesn’t the first used side show through? I think being able to see the first side would distract me too much to try to use the other side. If, however, I couldn’t see the other side, I think I’d use both sides as well. It would certainly save paper.
I save ’em, mainly because I publish only about a third of what I type, and they tend to all go in the same pile. once that pile gets unruly, it goes into the plastic bin with the previous unruly piles in storage. There’s no filing system except that it’s all roughly chronological – like strata in a core sample.
Some years ago I went thru the piles that comprised the 1980’s, scanned everything I considered worth saving, digitally recorded everything that was on tapes I wanted to keep and tossed most of the paper. The tapes I kept, but I expect them to someday be unreadable. The digital copies I archived on a couple hard drives and made copies on DVD-ROM. As bigger hard drives get cheaper, I occasionally re-archive the stuff on the drives to newer drives.
My wife hates my ‘hoarding gene’ that I have passed on to our son. I have TIME magazines from the early ’80s, GQ and Premiere magazines (1990-2008!) and a whole heap of other crap right up to today. I even keep some cool-looking tags off pairs of Levi’s. They make handy bookmarks.
Regarding my typecasts, they go into a box with other papers (bank statements from last year, pay-slips from my last job, etc) and when this box gets full, I get out the paper shredder and pay the kids a fin (is that still five bucks? Been a while since I read any Hammett) to destroy it all. I would like to think that my typecasts are safe and permanent in the typosphere, but The Reverend Ted’s procedure of burning stuff onto CD/DVD-ROMs makes a whole lotta sense to me. I think I’ll give it a try.
Buster, I have over 4,000 books in storage, a staggering number of wristwatch catalogues collected from over ten years in the industry, ideas and synopsis’ for screenplays that I may never finish, and various drafts of a Bond fan fiction (yes, at my age) scattered throughout my house.
Lately, I’ve found that it’s quite liberating to toss stuff. And archiving whatever I decide is worth keeping onto CD-ROM sounds like a wise (and space-saving) move.
But I really need to get rid of those TIME magazines…once I’ve torn all the cool cigarette and alcohol ads out of them.
My wife buys old magazines purely for the ads. We found an awesome place near us that has TIME from the 50’s on for $2 a piece, along with tons of other publications. She even found ads for an asbestos factory located in the small PA town where I grew up. They now hang, framed, in our dining room.
I have one of those accordion folder things (in a nice, translucent purple) that I keep all of my typecasts in. Just in case something happens and all the info is lost, it is nice to have a physical copy. Why throw it out? It doesn’t take up hardly any space, as long as you are not saving thousands of pages.
My typings get three hole punched and bound in a binder, while the smaller sized sheets get taped to a standard size sheet that is then three hole punched and bound, all arranged chronologically. Kinda sorta apocalypse-proof, save thermonuclear war or paper-hungry zombies.
Though she might be tempted to discard my entire office-full of clutter, my Better Half is infinitely patient, or thereabouts.
I recently threw a bunch of typecasts out, because I don’t think they are really worth saving — nothing literary or profound that I would want to read again when I’m 80.
It will be interesting to see if blogs (and Blogger) still exist in 22 years!
I type my blog posts on the blank backs of scrap paper; the front side is inevitably printed music parts that James or I have composed — that have some sort of error on them (or have been revised).
As I usually include a lot of digital photos on my posts, that adds another element of complication about saving. I’d have to print them out along with the typecasts in order to truly preserve the flavor of blog posts.
Blog posts are sort of ephemeral, wisps in the wind, here today and gone tomorrow. There is something very freeing and attractive about that for me.
I save them, but they aren’t really organized in any way. As soon as I’ve scanned them, they either stay on the scanner until I need to use it for something else, or they end up on the table next to the scanner. From there when the pile gets too high I take them and put them in a file cabinet with all my other typewritten stuff, including journal entries and other random stuff I wrote.
Streamlines DeLuxe 
I never assume that I’ve “preserved them in digital form”; I’ve just reproduced them and published them, which is great but not the same thing. So I save my paper typecasts. Why? So I can read them when I’m 80 and remember. I keep them in little art portfolios that hold about 40 typecasts apiece.
That’s a very good point of which I’ve thought myself. I consider digital media to be unreliable. Who knows if WordPress will be around tomorrow?
I think I save my typed papers in case my children wish to read them someday. I doubt they will, but one never knows.
I havent had the chance to do too many typecasts so at this point each is special because they are still rare. I suppose that once i get the ball rolling and eventually have dozens to hundreds and perhaps even thousands of typecasts, they may be less special since they will be numerous. Still, i can only fathom keeping them. Much like Richard said in his above comment, i think id get a kick out of looking back and re-reading it one day. I picture this: I’d likely say in my 80+ year old head, “How silly i was back in 2012!”
Yeah, if/when the file gets too large, I may decide to pick and choose what’s worth keeping, and then discard the rest.
I don’t consider any of my typecasts to be worth preserving. Once both sides of the paper are used, the sheet goes into the recycle bin. That’s why I use scrap paper for them. YMMV
Seriously, you type on both sides? Doesn’t the first used side show through? I think being able to see the first side would distract me too much to try to use the other side. If, however, I couldn’t see the other side, I think I’d use both sides as well. It would certainly save paper.
I save ’em, mainly because I publish only about a third of what I type, and they tend to all go in the same pile. once that pile gets unruly, it goes into the plastic bin with the previous unruly piles in storage. There’s no filing system except that it’s all roughly chronological – like strata in a core sample.
Some years ago I went thru the piles that comprised the 1980’s, scanned everything I considered worth saving, digitally recorded everything that was on tapes I wanted to keep and tossed most of the paper. The tapes I kept, but I expect them to someday be unreadable. The digital copies I archived on a couple hard drives and made copies on DVD-ROM. As bigger hard drives get cheaper, I occasionally re-archive the stuff on the drives to newer drives.
My wife hates my ‘hoarding gene’ that I have passed on to our son. I have TIME magazines from the early ’80s, GQ and Premiere magazines (1990-2008!) and a whole heap of other crap right up to today. I even keep some cool-looking tags off pairs of Levi’s. They make handy bookmarks.
Regarding my typecasts, they go into a box with other papers (bank statements from last year, pay-slips from my last job, etc) and when this box gets full, I get out the paper shredder and pay the kids a fin (is that still five bucks? Been a while since I read any Hammett) to destroy it all. I would like to think that my typecasts are safe and permanent in the typosphere, but The Reverend Ted’s procedure of burning stuff onto CD/DVD-ROMs makes a whole lotta sense to me. I think I’ll give it a try.
Buster, I have over 4,000 books in storage, a staggering number of wristwatch catalogues collected from over ten years in the industry, ideas and synopsis’ for screenplays that I may never finish, and various drafts of a Bond fan fiction (yes, at my age) scattered throughout my house.
Lately, I’ve found that it’s quite liberating to toss stuff. And archiving whatever I decide is worth keeping onto CD-ROM sounds like a wise (and space-saving) move.
But I really need to get rid of those TIME magazines…once I’ve torn all the cool cigarette and alcohol ads out of them.
My wife buys old magazines purely for the ads. We found an awesome place near us that has TIME from the 50’s on for $2 a piece, along with tons of other publications. She even found ads for an asbestos factory located in the small PA town where I grew up. They now hang, framed, in our dining room.
Yeah, old ads are pretty cool.
I have one of those accordion folder things (in a nice, translucent purple) that I keep all of my typecasts in. Just in case something happens and all the info is lost, it is nice to have a physical copy. Why throw it out? It doesn’t take up hardly any space, as long as you are not saving thousands of pages.
My typings get three hole punched and bound in a binder, while the smaller sized sheets get taped to a standard size sheet that is then three hole punched and bound, all arranged chronologically. Kinda sorta apocalypse-proof, save thermonuclear war or paper-hungry zombies.
Though she might be tempted to discard my entire office-full of clutter, my Better Half is infinitely patient, or thereabouts.
-Joe
My wife is the minimalist. It’s probably a good thing she balances me in that way.
Interesting question.
I recently threw a bunch of typecasts out, because I don’t think they are really worth saving — nothing literary or profound that I would want to read again when I’m 80.
It will be interesting to see if blogs (and Blogger) still exist in 22 years!
I type my blog posts on the blank backs of scrap paper; the front side is inevitably printed music parts that James or I have composed — that have some sort of error on them (or have been revised).
As I usually include a lot of digital photos on my posts, that adds another element of complication about saving. I’d have to print them out along with the typecasts in order to truly preserve the flavor of blog posts.
Blog posts are sort of ephemeral, wisps in the wind, here today and gone tomorrow. There is something very freeing and attractive about that for me.
I save them, but they aren’t really organized in any way. As soon as I’ve scanned them, they either stay on the scanner until I need to use it for something else, or they end up on the table next to the scanner. From there when the pile gets too high I take them and put them in a file cabinet with all my other typewritten stuff, including journal entries and other random stuff I wrote.
tl;dr: yes.
Hi — just wanted to invite you to e-mail me (polt@xavier.edu) if you want to discuss S. Cal. further.