A New Conversation

Anyone who has known me at all is usually pretty clear on how much I hate typing. It didn't matter so much until I started writing a novel, and now I struggle to keep up. You wouldn't think so, but I had a terrific typing teacher. She was a local secretary who volunteered to teach typing at the church school I attended. It meant freshmen would be offered an elective, previously that age had a mandatory study hall. I was not the most well-behaved study hall student (remind me to tell you about the Dead Lady's Coffin), so everyone was glad that there was an alternative. I liked typing. We were working on old-fashioned typewriters and rather old ones at that, but I earned a solid "B," and I was sure I'd do better the next quarter. The next quarter my performance remained the same, but the standards went up. I earned a "C." We were all certain I'd get it next time. Next time, my performance still hadn't improved--at all--earning me an ego flattening "D." My very kind typing teacher quit rather than give me the inevitable "F" in the final quarter.
It still isn't better. I've been typing for years, but I bet if I sat down to the old exercises and tests I'd come out right where I was at 13. It's even worse in some ways because this is my creative work and I decide what goes where. The more I monitored my internal complaining, the more I wanted to start exploring other possibilities. I considered the Fly Pentop, but it didn't seem to be well-established. I hate getting into a rhythm and then discovering they aren't making or supporting the product anymore. Dragon voice-recognition software has been around and will be around, so I gave it a shot. I like it. I need to make a lot of corrections, but that's much easier for me. My speed has doubled and may get even faster as the software and I get "trained." It's a good thing.