So, type the following and time yourself:
Why am I entering a stupid typing competition when I could be using my time creating something exceptionally clever that could potentially thrust me into the stratosphere together with successful authors like J.K.Rowling, etc.
You have to type it exactly the same as above and your final time involves reading and ensuring it is correct including punctuation and spelling.
Why am I entering a stupid typing competition when I could be using my time creating something exceptionally clever that could potentially thrust me into the stratosphere together with successful authors like J.K.Rowling, etc.
2 minutes 51 seconds for me...
[This message has been edited by skadder (edited July 04, 2008).]
You can't beat me then you got to learn to use more than one finger
Finished at :46 seconds, spent ten more looking it over, but it was correct. Cheers!
Why am I entering a stupid typing competition when I could be using my time creating something exceptionally clever that could potentially thrust me into the stratosphere together with successful authors like J.K.Rowling, etc.
30 seconds + 3 proofreading.
Smokin'
[This message has been edited by KayTi (edited July 04, 2008).]
(it seems adware/spyware-free, but I make no guarantees. It was the first hit on google and I think I have used it before.)
You pick a selection to type from, you type, it measures speed and accuracy. As soon as the sample text appears, begin typing. You can use the backspace key to correct mistakes (which will appear in red in the sample text space) - which is an improvement over other typing tests I've used before.
I typically test in the 90s. This one showed 104 (net, 97% accuracy, 107 WPM gross speed.) Sometimes I'm just in a "mode" where I can type fast. Today is apparently one of those times.
It is well worth the time to learn to touch-type, in my humble opinion. I learned when I was young (thanks to my geek mom and the fact that early computers had very few games, in my family we thought the typing tutor was a game.) Not having to look at the keys to find what you want to type/say is a big benefit, and makes writing fun because my hands can almost keep up with my crazy thought patterns. Almost. And they get twitchy when I hit a dry spot and can't think of anything, which propels me to come up with something just to keep those darn hands busy!
Thirty-seven seconds. Didn't spot any typos before I erased it. Writng my own stuff would've had more typos and backspaces (I did so three times in that sentence, once in this.)
When I started out I programmed a mainframe in Fortran using punched cards. Each card held one line of up to eighty characters. My typing was dismal and I often made mistakes. There was no way to fix bad punched cards; you had to copy the bad card onto a fresh one, up to the last correct character, then start typing the rest of it.
One rather frustrating day I covered the floor with bad cards and asked my manager to send me on a typing course to save time. "No," he said. "You're not a secretary."
Now, I'm a self-taught touch typist. I don't use the correct fingers for the keys, my speed is variable and the backspace key is worn to a fine glossy finish. But, I type faster than I think (which ain't hard) so I'm happier now than in my Fortran days.
Cheers,
Pat
I also remember Fortran IV.
And Basic (on a PDP-10 which used a teletype machine instead of punch cards).
It was in learning Fortran IV and finding that I understood it better a year after I first learned it (without any study of it in between) that gave me the idea that there are some things you only really LEARN after you've given them time to "sink in."
At least, that's how some things work for me, anyway.
Not too shabby 
.
Oh, absolutely, Kathleen.
I think that's because truly understanding something complex means being able to relate its parts, each to the other, and to their place in the whole. That's why, when we get a Eureka moment, we say that "everything fell into place." Some call it "processing", or "internalising", or "making sense of things".
For us as writers that works at several levels. There's the writing process itself, where there are complex relationships between vocabulary and grammar: how we handle them is one aspect of style.
Then there's portraying characters and milieu, the richer when we can make connections between elements of character and environment. Also there's plot, with connections and relationships to other elements of plot, character and milieu.
Those are a lot of pieces to keep in mind--to learn, perhaps--and that's one reason it makes sense to let a story sit for a while, giving it time to "sink in." With time, and maybe a little luck, we get that "Aha!" moment when the relationships between the story elements gell in our mind, it all makes sense, and the right way to write the story finally appears.
As an aside: My tardy typing and muddling manager led to my finding a better way to save time. For oft-repeated functions I made mini-decks of cards which I reused whenever a program called for a common function, to save myself the angst of typing it all again. Later, I discovered that this was a respectable design technique called "structured programming." Learning often also comes from necessity.
Cheers,
Pat
quote:
Am I supposed to compete with the rest of you?
Of course you're not supposed to compete in anything, but it would really be swell if you could every once in awhile.
Right now you're this mysterious diety whose voice can be heard but never can be seen, in a way, that makes you the Wizard of Oz. Why don't you come walk with the rest of mortals, if not only for a few steps?
Aside from this silly little typing test, we would be tickled pink if you could submit an entry in the 13 line challenge. Now that would be great!
[This message has been edited by snapper (edited July 06, 2008).]
I got a "B" in the course despite that, which made it impossible for me to take it seriously. Besides, even then, these computers and cards were obsolete (the first clunky Radio Shack computers were out, and I had already worked a little with one in high school). I didn't mess with computers again until late in the last decade, and certainly never messed with programming again.
I guess I got the "hang" of it---typing them out was never a problem, and the little holes matched up with what I was trying to do, near as I can tell.
(I picked up the habit of holding punch cards up to the light to see if everything was punched out---accounting for why certain political events in late 2000 involving "hanging chads" irritated me no end, beyond the political end of it. I'd seen my card was punched out---why couldn't everyone else?)
*****
Aside from that...well, every would-be writer should learn to touch type, but don't wait until you do, just hunt and peck until you've picked up the skill.
Pick up a Dvorak keyboard if you can...it's easier on the fingers and such...I learned the Qwerty keyboard too well to adapt to it
i suck at typing. i 1 finger type
RFW2nd
quote:
Aside from this silly little typing test, we would be tickled pink if you could submit an entry in the 13 line challenge. Now that would be great!
Really? Hmm.
My biggest issue with how I type is the amount of time I spend on the Back key, especially during a test or when someone stands over my shoulder. I suppose I'll stop stressing over the keyboard after a few more years.
Is anyone on an ergonomic keyboard?
quote:
Why am I entering a stupid typing competition when I could be using my time creating something exceptionally clever that could potentially thrust me into the stratosphere together with successful authors like J.K.Rowling, etc.
Whoa. I guess I'm really slow--it took 6Days to cut & paste it. 