Being an excellent typist means I’ll never be without work, for one thing. For another, it’s just plain fun to see the words appear on the screen nearly as fast as I can think them.
I taught myself to type on an old manual typewriter that I won in junior high. I’d sit and freewrite (had no idea it had a name) as I watched TV. Wish I had all those old pages now! They were unique snapshots of a time gone by.
In the book Cheaper by the Dozen the dad (an efficiency expert) brings home a typewriter with white caps over the letters and the kids all compete to learn how to touch type. This was my inspiration and my only lesson in how to type. Oddly enough, since no one taught me differently, I actually type “wrong” according to official doctrine-my home keys are f and h, not f and j. When I learned this, I tried to change but it was too late-it was hard-wired into my brain the way I learned it. It’s not really a problem, as I still type upwards of 90 wpm. Just one more thing that makes me unique!
