Do writers touch-type like secretaries?

Subject: Do writers touch-type like secretaries? Sun Oct 19, 2008 5:41 pm

ANOTHER "STODGHILL SAYS SO" BLOG:

This is a serious question. They say that after he was well-established as a writer, Hemingway wrote 150 words a day. One reason is that before starting to write, he read every word of a story written up to that point. That means that by the time a lengthy piece was finished he would have read it hundreds of times.
Proving that Ernest and I have, or had, one thing in common, that's the way I write. I begin by reading a story from the first word, then add something to it. End of comparison between Hemingway and Ol' Stodg.
But about writers who are touch typists. Do they actually bang out copy at sixty words a minute? Do their brains work that fast? In my prime, my brain moved in the slow lane when I was seated in front of a keyboard. That's why I use two fingers and a thumb. The thumb hits that long thing at the bottom which I believe is called a space bar. Don't quote me on that.
Even during my newspaper days I used two fingers. With deadline at hand those two fingers were flying. So was the trusty right thumb. Most reporters were touch typists so I sometimes wondered if they had fast-lane brains. When my copy was all filed I'd watch someone else. This was most annoying for them if they happened to look up and found my nose a few inches from their keyboard.
My conclusion: they paused to think, then typed their thoughts. My two fingers seldom paused. Those fingers were moving as fast as my brain, or any brain, could put words together. That meant the two fingers worked just as well as two hands. In the end it all came out even.
This, of course, does not include the hunt-and-peck people. Few things are more painful than watching a cop type a report, pausing every few seconds to stare at the keyboard in hope that somewhere on it is the letter G.
So there you have it, the answer to a question that has puzzled even the smartest people down through the ages. All a writer needs are two fingers and one thumb. Aside from a hammer and chisel, paper and pencil, or a typewriter or computer, of course.

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Subject: Re: Do writers touch-type like secretaries? Sun Oct 19, 2008 6:29 pm

I found the first part of your blog especially interesting in how you and Hemingway wrote. I did that for a long time and then reached a block where I tired of reading and the continuation of the story just wasn't continuing. I therefore had to change my tactic.

I use all ten fingers and never look at the keyboard when typing. With the two finger method, I imagine, just imagine mind you, that you must look at the keyboard when typing. In that case, I also imagine that you wouldn't know if you made a mistake until you finished typing. Lots of imagination here Dick, but it could be all wrong.
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Three Star Member Age : 39 Joined : 03 Oct 2008 Posts : 96

I type very quickly, but I've never measured the number of words per minute. I don't look at the keys... in fact, when I'm in full swing I sometimes don't look at the screen either. My brain appears to work much faster than any other part of me, so I just keep going and hope my fingers can keep up.
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Subject: Re: Do writers touch-type like secretaries? Sun Oct 19, 2008 10:19 pm

I do look at the keyboard but am quite aware when a mistake has been made and correct it immediately. I feel my way gives me much greater opportunity to think of a better word or phrase to use as I go along. I am a devoted rewriter so starting from the beginning gives me a better chance to rewrite constantly rather than after a story is finished. On days when I'm working on five or ten stories at the same time I don't start at the beginning, of course, but hop from one to another. The other system is used when a story reaches the point where I'm ready to go ahead to the conclusion. This post, for example, has been rewritten three times. Everyone has their own system so what works for me would not work for others. Four rewrites now.
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Subject: Re: Do writers touch-type like secretaries? Sun Oct 19, 2008 10:44 pm

I type with two hands and watch the screen on the computer. I correct as I go unless I am four sheets to the wind and just have a fun time writing. I smile a lot while I write because I do love my own stories and my own little characters. So, if some of my posts say that I cannot spell worth a whoot, you can bet that I am having a good time.

Love,
Betty
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Three Star Member Age : 39 Joined : 03 Oct 2008 Posts : 96

Subject: Re: Do writers touch-type like secretaries? Mon Oct 20, 2008 12:10 am

Dear Gina,

I think with my mouth open. I probably write that way too. I sleep with my mouth open like a dead person. (The ghost of Jacob Marley comes to mind) Once, when I was little, I woke up with flies in my mouth. Bluuueee! Yucko! I tried after that to sleep with my mouth closed, to no avail, because I could not breathe. I am a mouth wide open sleeper. Thank God I conqured the flies! Now, I have AC and screen doors!!!!

I do love modern convienence and high technology.

Love,
Betty
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Subject: Re: Do writers touch-type like secretaries? Mon Oct 20, 2008 12:22 am

Dear Dick,
I loved Hemingway. He spoke to my spirit when I was 18. Since then, I learned to drink gin and wish I were on the upper deck of a house boat going out to sea. I would love to be catching a huge fish like that old man in his story. That was the only movie I ever saw that was close to word for word from the book.

I read The Sun Also Rises on a vacation in Mexico. Those were the days when Mexico was a romantic place to go. What terrible roads they had and what long distances between little towns. I drove a VW and went for a week. Women did not do that alone in those days, but two girls and I did. We drank Margarita's and picked the limes off the trees. How nice that memory is. Yea! Hemingway and I could have been good friends. Well, we were in a bookish kind of way. It is too bad he did not get to read Wooffer.

Love,
Betty
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Subject: Re: Do writers touch-type like secretaries? Tue Oct 21, 2008 1:20 am

I type with six fingers and a thumb - not exactly secretarial school, but it works. My hands tend to float over the keyboard, and I think of it like playing piano, where they still find the right keys because on some level I know where they are.

I type slower than what I think, and when I am really on a roll I can be typing one thing but thinking ahead and making notes on paper on the side. Other times I can be writing one thing and thinking about a more entertaining project altogether. I chalk it up to a blessing of attention deficit.

I always associate Hemingway with Absinthe, among other fascinating things. I think the way that we all write - a common word for a process that varies tremendously for each of us - is fascinating too.
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Subject: Re: Do writers touch-type like secretaries? Tue Oct 21, 2008 3:02 am

When I write a rough draft of a work of fiction, I tend to max out at about 500 - 600 words per hour. However, I have to sometimes take time to think while typing, so this won't give an accurate measure of my maximum words per minute. I'm actually not sure of my maximum words per minute, but if I go too fast, I tend to make more mistakes.

Subject: Re: Do writers touch-type like secretaries? Tue Oct 21, 2008 3:10 am

Oh how I wish that when I was in high school I had taken typing... now
known as keyboarding. In those days, boys took "Shop" and girlls took
typing. I made a gunrack and several birdhouses. If they had called it
keyboarding back then I may have learned something more useful.

Now I type with two fingers and a thumb from each hand - and I still
look at the keyboard - although much less now than a couple of years
ago. My typing speed is about as fast as I can write in cursive - and
much more legible.

I can backspace and delete with my eyes closed... LOL
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Subject: Re: Do writers touch-type like secretaries? Tue Oct 21, 2008 12:51 pm

I type with all my fingers and one thumb. I had to check this out and have discovered I don't use my left thumb.

I have a benign tremor that my father and grandfather also had, seen in their letters and cards to me where it was obvious in their writing.

In all the tests I had recently, I spent more time explaining this tremor, that it had been checked out and was benign and inherited. Next time I'm taking the cards and letters from my father and grandfather.

And what this has to do with this thread is that the tremor is gone when I type or keyboard and when I play the piano. So I keep writing and playing the piano.

My fairy tale project is almost complete and ready to be published. My sister-in-law has drawn a new cover which is fantastic.

Carol