Early yesterday morning.

I’m a long-form guy, always have been. It’s not that I can’t do a cute, funny, blithe little spot. It’s just that because I can unravel really sticky assignments, I get really sticky assignments.

I guess it’s safe to say, I get the work no one else wants to do.

Yesterday, I got in at 6:30, cup of coffee in hand, and got right down to it. I had been briefed about 18 hours earlier on a speech for a conference for a client.

Like I said, I get the work no one else wants to do.

For serious writing, like a CMO’s speech, I don’t horse around. I don’t listen to music and I work on an old Remington Rand typewriter that I bought used about 20 years ago in a pawnshop in Cairo, Illinois. Working on a typewriter means you aren’t checking the internet every seven minutes. You’re not getting pinged or beeped or otherwise distracted.

I also like the echo of the machine’s clackety clack off the walls and ceiling of the empty workspace. I like the strange looks I get. I like the strong, friendly bell that rings when the carriage reaches the end of a line.

I rolled a sheet of paper in, to write the speech. And I typed. I typed

I typed 1,500 words. Roughly the length of 30 commercials.

I did the work no one else wanted to do.

I was done around 11:15. Then I put my typewriter in the large bottom drawer that’s meant for file folders and I took out my laptop and rewrote as I retyped.

It was pretty good.