Writting makes you dumberer

With me, it's always "wirting." And sometimes I make a very unfortunate typo in my middle name, because the keys are next to each other: "Pinkston" becomes "Oinkston."

Oinkston! That's no good.

I have heard of writers who are so afraid of editing their work while they write they don't reread closely enough. I know if I'm writing quickly, I might make weird errors such as "their" for "there". I'm very careful when I proofread, and make sure I have at least one other read longer documents before I send 'em. Good luck!

I think when you really get revved up and going, typing is a secondary consideration. I learned how to type after I learned how to write. My preference would be to dictate it and let a secretary type it but alas, I am not rich.

Writing makes you dumberer? I just stick a screwdriver up my butt and call me screwed.

Nine times out of ten I spell 'the' as 'teh', and that's just for starters. My fingers aren't as fast as the words falling out of my brain is usually the problem.

I wirte sotries.

That is all.

Thanks you. That's another one. I'm so glad I'm not alone in this. I thought dementia was setting in a bit early. I do notice my fingers can't always keep up with the brain, and and is often dna.

I make more stupid typos and spelling errors when I'm writing my novels than I do typing e-mails and such too. Like others have said, it's because my brain moves faster than my fingers. I'm very fond of not finishing one sentence before going onto the next, so I end up with things like "He had no idea if it was a but in the end that didn't really matter". Those are confusing when I edit because sometimes I can't remember what words I forgot to type.

So, yeah, making dumb mistakes when you're writing is pretty normal. Just try not to make too many dumb mistakes when you're editing.

1-Have you changed keyboards? Seriously, dif. keyboards have dif. impact needs. Some require a lighter touch, some you need to pound the bastids.

A keyboard set up like: ///\\\ can be easier on the wrists than one this way: |||||||.

2-Have you developed RSI? Repetitive Strain Injury from too much writing--that can affect how you hit the keys.

These programs can be adjusted to give you timed breaks to keep your fingers limber and happy.

workrave-win32-1.8.5-installer.exe
http://www.lcdf.org/xwrits/

dpaterso said:

A porcine detective?

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Nah, you're thinking of the Oinkerton Agency, whose motto was 'WE NEVER SLEEP (except after slopping).'

And they're no relation to Lieutenant Oinkerton, the faithless naval pig who abandoned his Japanese turkey mistress, Madame Butterball.

You can set most word processors to automatically correct your common errors. All mine change 'teh' to 'the', for example.

I find that when I'm typing fastest, I'm making fewest errors. Though my fingers do sometimes get carried away and start typing words I never intended, or completing words in ways that I didn't want.

The real motive

Is this typing thing the real problem, or just a red herring?

Typos and misspelling is why the gods made spell check and editors.

Some of the best writers were horrible spellers.

Just write, the rest will fall into place.

Believe it!

Good luck.

Growing pains

HeronW said:

1-Have you changed keyboards? Seriously, dif. keyboards have dif. impact needs. Some require a lighter touch, some you need to pound the bastids.

A keyboard set up like: ///\\\ can be easier on the wrists than one this way: |||||||.

2-Have you developed RSI? Repetitive Strain Injury from too much writing--that can affect how you hit the keys.

These programs can be adjusted to give you timed breaks to keep your fingers limber and happy.

workrave-win32-1.8.5-installer.exe
http://www.lcdf.org/xwrits/

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I'm a guitarist so I've learned different exercises and stretching techniques to keep my hands, fingers and wrists from getting strained or injured. Shredding on a twelve string - or any acoustic - is a much more punishing workout for my hands, believe me.
Those fancy keyboards would be nice, but I tried them and I didn't feel that much more agile. I've heard the qwerty keyboard became the standard over the Dvorak keyboard because they wanted office drones to actually slow down! I don't get the reasoning behind that either, but some proponents of the keyboard stand by it.

mario_c said:

I've heard the qwerty keyboard became the standard over the Dvorak keyboard because they wanted office drones to actually slow down!

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QWERTY was designed in the 1860s for people using typewriters (manual, mechanical typewriters), and yes, it was designed so that people wouldn't go too fast and mess up the mechanism--the most commonly-used letters were placed on opposite sides of the striking mechanism so they wouldn't jam.

The Dvorak keyboard was invented in 1936, after typewriters had been improved tremendously, and jamming was less of a risk. However, it never caught on.

kg_crow said:

Is this typing thing the real problem, or just a red herring?

Typos and misspelling is why the gods made spell check and editors.

Some of the best writers were horrible spellers.

Just write, the rest will fall into place.

Believe it!

Good luck.

Click to expand...

Spell checkers tend to suck, as they can't catch misused homonyms, one of the worst being the dreaded "it's" (it is, contracted) incorrectly used as the singular neuter possessive (its). A look at many published books could also lead you to think that copy editors aren't as attentive as might be liked.

Learn your tools and do it right yourself. But you don't have to spell correctly in the first draft, if that's any consolation.

There'll be a sentence, or a couple, like:

"He went to the store, and bought some milk there. Then a bear came out of the woods and ate him."

...and my brain will be down the road a bit from where my fingers are, so I'll write "bought some milk thear" while my fingers should be typing "there" and my brain is on "bear."

I always try to misspell "from" as "form", which no spellchecker will ever see.

Since I had the "benefit" of doing most of my productive interpersonal communication online from an early age, I tend to do two or three editing passes over every post for content, spelling, and grammar; for just over thirty years, I've been meticulous about that, in an era where the idea of a spell checker made people laugh hysterically until they finally calmed down enough to say such a thing could never be done and give you a big list of why. Phaeal's list is a pretty good summary, if you don't want to hear extended algorithmic analysis.

And believe me, you haven't lived until you've downloaded porn from a cassette tape over a 300 baud modem across international borders, paying long distance charges the whole time. Not to mention the definition of "porn" was somewhat different in those days.

Thanks to the internet, I'm now always typing "teh" instead of "the" and mixing up "their", "there", and "they're".

Almost everyone encounter this kind of mistakes. I'm also one of those having this trouble with misspelled words. Maybe its because of stress or the eyes are exposed to radiation.

Do you really do term papers, theses, and such for pay?

Heh. It's almost certainly a hand/mind lag. I write long hand most often, and do it even then.

AncientEagle said:

Do you really do term papers, theses, and such for pay?

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I only work as a part-time writer because I spend most of the time with my family and friends.