The Garden of the Blind

Yesterday, I took a typing test. I typed 72 words per minute in five minutes. That’s 360 keystrokes per minute, or 6 per second, and that doesn’t take into account the number of times I had to backspace and fix typos. I also had 9 mistakes that I didn’t catch and fix, which took my score down to 63 wpm. I wonder why I lose five words for every mistake I made. I typed 70 correct words each minute, but instead of being docked five keystrokes for every mistake, I got docked 25. That’s 225 strokes that were cruelly taken away. In any case, I’m happy with 63 wpm. It’s faster than average, and it’s far faster than I usually type.

Which brings me to my point. I can type pretty fast, but usually it takes me an hour or so to compose a page of writing. Even if it’s just something light and fluffy, like a letter to a friend. I figure that my speed is closer to 10 wpm. And it’s all because I have to stop and carefully choose my words. I work carefully to get the spelling and grammar to acceptable levels, and to avoid being too repetitive. It’s hard work sometimes, especially when I start considering how my intended audience may interpret my remarks (and end up cutting paragraphs or even pages of good material). At least once I have the right words, I can type them up quickly enough.