Copy of Copy of Copy of Copy of Copy Paper

    If you're in school or work at an office, you've probably come across copy paper at some point in your life. It's most commonly seen in letter format, which is around 8.5x11''. I have a stack on my desk--standard, 30% recycled paper with a 92 brightness. It's been there for a while, since it honestly takes a while to go through copy paper if you're not using it for school/work purposes. I've tested out some other types of copy paper like premium, which have a thicker sheet and heavier weight to them. They're nice, but I prefer the lightness of regular 'ol paper. I know you may think that copy paper is primarily meant for printing/copying documents, but what about writing?

    If you really think about it, having a blank sheet of paper for writing is essentially like having a blank text file on your screen. A white void of nothingness, with no lines or marks that taint the page. If I need to write something by hand, I almost always do it on a blank sheet of copy paper because it gives me the same feeling of writing on a blank text file. To me, copy paper is equivalent to opening a terminal window, full screening it, and using Vim or Nano to type, type, type away. I hate writing on lined paper, graph paper, dotted paper, or whatever other crap that's out there. The most friction-less experience comes from having absolutely nothing on your page. 

    I've read quite a few articles online discussing writers' dissatisfaction with distractions when writing with a computer. To combat this, many of them chose to use expensive, kindle-esque writing machines that intentionally strip digital features to enhance productive writing. This might be helpful for a lot of writers, but personally, I don't think I could justify (with myself or anyone else) spending over a hundred dollars on a glorified VTech device. 

   I've thought idly about typewriters for a while after re-watching a scene from YOU where Joe puts a typewriter in the cage for Beck to have her "low-tech writer's retreat". I've always wanted to try one out and see how it feels. With the age of digital technology, going analog might sound pointless, but I still feel like there can be something there when you use antiquated gadgets.