Phoenix Theory Speed-building Tips 5

QUICK TIP

There are some letters/sounds which are more commonly confused than others. For example, B- and D-, final "sh" and "ch," N- and M-, N- and Y-, -K and -X. Regardless of which letters you may be confusing, they still represent hesitation and lost speed and need to be corrected NOW. For example, if you’re one of many students who say, "I’m always misstroking D- for -B or B- for D-," use your language dictionary, type a list of words beginning with B and D randomly mixed together, and make writing that list part of your daily practice until you’ve created such strong muscle memory for the D- sound and the B- sound that your fingers automatically move to the correct stroking position whenever you hear either sound. Each one of these areas of hesitation you eliminate adds to your writing SPEED.

Creating lists of words for "beginning sounds" is simple because you can take them right from your language dictionary. If anyone needs help compiling a list of words with problem ending sounds, holler. I can create a list from one of my sources and post it here.

Would you like to know how someone writing at 200 wpm can write exactly the same number of words in exactly the same length of time as someone who’s writing at 220 wpm? Sounds like a trick question or a silly riddle, doesn’t it? But it’s NOT a trick. In fact, it’s a very real and very common scenario.

Let’s take just one minute of writing: 200 words dictated at 200 wpm. Suzy writes at a very steady, even pace, finishes writing the 200 words in exactly one minute. Johnny writes sporadically, in bursts. He hustles like crazy for 15 seconds, pauses for a couple of seconds, scrambles like mad again for 15 seconds, hesitates for a couple of seconds, and continues this pattern throughout the dictation. Johnny also finishes writing the 200 words in exactly one minute.

So what’s the big deal; what’s the difference? The DIFFERENCE is that Johnny scrambled, then hesitated, scrambled, then hesitated; so during the time he was actually STROKING, he HAD TO WRITE AT 222.5 WPM in order to write exactly the same words in exactly the same length of time as Suzy, who moseyed along at a steady, comfortable pace of 200 wpm. So who’s writing "smarter"? The writer who writes with a steady, even stroking rhythm will invariably (1) win the race, (2) have better control over his/her writing (e.g., better stroking accuracy); (3) be less stressed and do considerably less damage to his/her nervous system, (4) be able to write for much longer periods of time with considerably less fatigue.

Start by writing at a comfortable speed and FORCING YOURSELF to write with a steady, even stroking rhythm, as though you were stroking in time to a metronome: stroke, stroke, stroke, stroke. Because of the inconsistency in the density of material from one sentence to the next, and depending on pauses for inflection/punctuation, etc., it’s only natural that at times you’ll fall a little further behind the speaker and then catch up, fall behind again and catch up. With a little experience, you’ll become very comfortable with this fluctuation because you’ll KNOW that when you just continue with your nice, steady stroking rhythm you WILL catch right back up. If on occasion you feel like you’re falling far enough behind the dictation that you may not be able to retain what was said, try speeding up your tempo just a bit, but DON’T panic and don’t abandon your stroking rhythm. And if on occasion you do fall far enough behind that you can no longer remember what was said, pick up with the next word you hear and just continue stroking in rhythm.

Practice and practice and practice. I never personally used a metronome to work on stroking rhythm. But I’ve read comments from working reporters who have stated that actually writing against a metronome was invaluable to them in developing/improving their stroking rhythm. It’s certainly worth a try.

When you combine the ability to write behind the speaker and the ability to write with a regular stroking rhythm, YOU’RE IN CONTROL! And that is the greatest, the most empowering feeling you can have on the steno keyboard. Even if the speaker talks in fits and starts, talking 90 miles an hour, and then pausing, going again like a bat out of hell, and then pausing, YOU don’t have to write at "90 miles an hour," your writing doesn’t have to be as spastic—and as hard on your nervous system—as his/her speech is. Remember, when you’ve developed the retention, the ability to write behind the speaker, and the ability to stroke with a steady, even rhythm, you can saunter along at 200 wpm and still finish writing a couple of seconds after a "spastic" speaker who’s talking 240 wpm in fits and starts!!!

These two aspects of writing—steady, even stroking rhythm and trailing behind the speaker—are so important to your writing speed and comfort, make them part of every day’s practice.