Most young humans have typed words on a keyboard, s-l-o-w-l-y  s-e-a-r-c-h-i-n-g  a-n-d  p-o-k-i-n-g  l-e-t-t-e-r-s with one determined finger.

There is another way, though, a superb skill called touch typing. When you touch type, you don’t need to search for the same letter over and over, and you use all of your fingers at once, not just one.

Fingers gallop over a keyboard like the hooves of a lightning-fast quarter horse!  Fingers become so sure-footed that they don’t even need help from the eyes above! Touch typists need never look down and are free to gaze straight ahead at the computer screen, or out the window or at a fly that is buzzing by.

Touch typing looks so impressive!  But, it can actually help a writer in two important ways.

A very brief discussion of IDEAS and HANDWRITING

Ideas are tremendous! We certainly could not write without them. But ideas are not to be trifled with. They can arrive unexpectedly and all at once. Perhaps most significantly, ideas have been known to sneak away before we are able to grab hold of them.  Often, where ideas are concerned, speed is of the essence.

Now, consider handwriting.  Some elves and humans write beautifully and their handwriting is easily understood. Others of us—despite sincere efforts!—have handwriting that is messy, or worse.  Letters rise and fall and lean and roll, and look like small ships sailing on stormy seas. There are even those of us who return to our own pages, sigh, scratch our heads, rub our chins, and turn to a friend to see what they think our handwriting says!

And what if both of these things happen together:  ideas that storm in and race off, and messy handwriting making our sentences unreadable!  What then?!

New idea: Learn to touch type.  In the human world, there are websites that teach this magnificently useful skill.  Often, there are classes at school.  Just 10 minutes of practice each night will go a long way!

When you start, the pace of your fingers will be a gentle walk.
Soon, with practice, it will feel like a brisk trot.
Eventually, your fingers will gallop over the keyboard so swiftly that you might even see fresh clods of dirt kicked up behind them.