I'm a Writer... and I Never Learned How To Type!
When I was about seven or eight years old-- and my friends were all busy wanting to become "football stars" and "astronauts" when they grew up-- I had this idea that I wanted to become a writer; I wanted to "tell stories" when I grew up.
A solitary daisy in the sun
I got started pretty early... at about this same time, my mother bought me some blank exercise books in hopes that I would turn out to be artistic. Alas, it must have been very disappointing to her that I filled those exercise books with words, rather than drawings.
Suffice it to say, I was a pretty solid D-minus art student, but I have kept writing to this day.
Of course, I never really became "a writer." That is, writing has never been my profession, save for a few years of being a technical writer in the IT industry. And I don't really count that, since it was not my own writing, but "writing to order" for large corporations.
Somehow-- even though almost fifty years have passed from then till now-- I have never learned how to type.
Flowers. In Spain, coincidentally...
I started out on my mother's ancient Royal typewriter (which weighed about 700lbs), using the time-honored "hunt and peck" technique... and that has stayed with me ever since.
I'm not exactly sure why I have never "learned to type," although I suspect a couple of factors play in. One, since I generally type about 60wpm with two fingers (with very high accuracy) I just couldn't see the point of "slowing down" in order to learn type "properly" but not much faster.
Part two is a little strange.
I spent my teen years in Spain, and for extra cash I would help new foreign residents walk through the (then) extraordinarily convoluted legal system of our local municipality. Well, the most "powerful" (effectively) person in the municipality was the Notary.
Understand, a Notary in Spain is not like a notary in the USA or most other places... a Notary is tasked with being the keeper of any and all legal records in the area EVER. If Mrs. Ruiz sold a goat to Mrs. Gonzalez in 1738, there will be a paper record of it at a Spanish notary's office.
California Poppies
Anyway, the local notary was this Hobbit-like man in his 60s. And he typed with two fingers.
He insisted on typing most legal documents himself because his secretary was "too slow." So he'd put a piece of paper in his ancient manual typewriter... in in the matter of a couple of minutes, a complex legal document would appear.
No, seriously, you can NOT "imagine." It was like listening to a Gatling gun firing.
In retrospect, I'm sure he "only" typed about 150wpm, but it was very impressive and I determined then that I really didn't need to "learn to type," if he could do what he did in his high office... with two fingers.
And so here I am-- at age 56-- and I still don't know how to type... even though I am, in essence, "a writer."
How about YOU? Are you a good typist? Are there any "skills" in your life that you have never learned "properly" but you are still quite good at, even without proper training? What are they? Leave a comment-- share your experiences-- start the conversation!
(As always, all text and images by the author, unless otherwise specified. This is original content, created expressly for Steemit)
Thanks for the great post. Interesting, the whole world of typing on Qwerty vs. Dvorac, etc. Luckily I did learn, through tortuous days in high school, but I wish I could re-teach myself a more ergo system. But I get by, just type on a vertical keyboard. (https://steemit.com/cats/@ddschteinn/stinky-the-cat-puts-a-post-out-on-steemit) It's at the end of that post, if'n you care to look.
It is a rather odd thing, and does NOT work for the old 'hunt and peck', unless you know all the keys. Get a bad neck otherwise. Have no idea how fast I can go, but works pretty well. And gets many comments when people see it.
HOWEVER< if anyone out there is reading this, and wants to know more about a GREAT ergonomic keyboard for sore hands, arms, etc, feel free to write. I can talk about it for days. ("Obviously, dd")
Thanks for the post, and keep on writing away...no matter how you do it, as you are very good at what you do here. WOW, I really babbled on here, sorry, but I'm impassioned about my keyboard...
That's a very unusual keyboard you have... looks almost more like some kind of customized gaming rig. Fortunately, I haven't had any issues with hand/wrist pain from typing (looking around for some wood... oh... it's a wooden desk, good) so ergonomic keyboards have not been a necessity. The few I have (accidentally) tried have mostly served to highlight that I DO "hunt and peck" and an alternate key layout would take me months/years to learn.
Screw learning how to do things properly! The best stuff I've ever done I did without having a damn clue what I was doing lol.
This has to do with my wife, my first video game, and my son lol But they're the things I love the MOST and am the MOST proud of!
Sometimes you just have to do and learn later :D
Speaking of which, won't you share with me how you do the left and right image with subtitles in markdown? pretty please?
upvoted
@shayne
Hi @shayne, I totally agree... my most beloved things have generally been "happy accidents" where I was pretty much blind and clueless. Not only do we "learn later" but we get to learn things in our own way... a ways that makes sense to US, even if it's not the most common or generally accepted way.
OK, so the post formatting... because I am OLD, I actually create my posts in raw HTML... too many years of coding web pages, I guess. Unfortunately you have to use HTML to use enhanced image formatting. Let me see if I can find you a tutorial...
::: Jeopardy music plays :::
OK, found one of @krnel's old tutorials. Even though this is from last year, the bones of it still apply:
https://steemit.com/steemit/@krnel/steemit-template-tips-and-tutorial-image-alignment
I’m not a good typist. I suck in the same way as you do – only using 2-4 fingers. Hmm this got me thinking hard. The only thing I can think of that I’m good at even without proper training is sports. Any sport that I pick up, where there is no pack of guys that would kill me if they caught me, is usually very intuitive to me even though I often times don’t know consciously what it is I’m doing. Btw yesterday I have opened the registration for the DnD like game for Steemit I’ve been working on and I’m seeking all the talented authors and lovers of storytelling. I would be honoured if you joined :).
Thanks for sharing your thoughts... had to sit and ponder that for a bit. I think the only thing I am really good at in a natural/intuitive sense might be "pattern recognition," which helps me a little to a lot across many areas of life. Give me a box of notes on napkins, studies, photos, sketches, models... and I can almost instantly "see" how it all fits together into a plan for a new product or venture (for example).
Good luck with your DnD project! I'm already part of a couple of Steemit initiatives (mostly behind-the-scenes stuff) so I just wouldn't have any time to give it, sorry.
I learned typing at school I was extremely slow I did the lowest level, and barely made it. At that I had an electric type machine because else I could not make it. I somehow can't get it out my fingers and stress doesn't help.
I type with ten fingers cause I refused to do with two.
I've gotten faster over time, and more relaxed. Typing here on steemit helps and sometimes I get "the mind" out of it, if that makes sense.
60 words per minute, is extremely fast in my opinion :)
If I had to learn typing with two fingers that would be very hard, just like not looking at the keyboard while typing. And I always make plenty mistakes.
Writing isn't faster either.
Nice post thanks for letting me vent my frustrations about typing ;)
No worries... sometimes it does get frustrating. Mostly I get angry when I tend to misspell (mistype) the same word every time. For example, I almost always end up typing "ornage" instead of "orange" even when I am paying attention.
I learned to type in school and i'm really happy for that. I can type numbers without looking and that is very helpful since I do some work on my computer and invoicing etc. I wish I had learned how to work on cars and sailing a boat.
Really, the only time I feel like not knowing how to type is a disadvantage is when I have to copy something from a sheet of paper... that does go slower with two fingers. But I rarely have to do so, so it's not a common problem.
I always laugh and say the best class I ever took was typing in high school. I was the only male in the class and got more dates and attention than from any other activity I would say including being a football player, lol! Plus, it is something I can still benefit from even to this day.
You know, good point... and I think the closest I was to being motivated to take a typing class (in college) was that it could be a good way to meet girls. But I never followed through with it...
I am a terrible typist. I have been using computers for 30 years and have only just progressed from using my two index fingers to incorporating my thumbs.
Well, that puts us even, or you're slightly ahead of me!
I think i'm in the same boat as the rest of ya'll. I feel more relax of the fact it's not only me one struggling to type properly.
You're definitely NOT alone in this boat. I'd probably have done something about it had it ever felt like my (lack of) typing skills was truly holding me back in some way... but I actually type at what's considered "above average" speed with two fingers... so where's the worry?
Interesting share!
Thanks!
I always hunt ad pecked, never learned to type either! And I can still "type" faster than most ...go test your own typing speeds online, just go here
http://typing-speed-test.aoeu.eu/