“I wonder, though, would I still write if it meant depending on a mechanical hammer to strike letters onto a blank sheet of paper—clacking out each thought as slow as progress?” I have wondered that same thing! Oh! And remember how hard it was to correct typos with those sheets of paper”Ko-rec-type?” Just the fear of making a typo on an assignment ensured that I would make several. A nightmare. I love technology. lol
Wonderful account of typing class and what typing once meant. I laugh every time I remember how men had to rely on women to type for them, because most men couldn't type. As someone who type 8 copies of my first book, let me say that the real problem was that every edit, every altered or added word, meant re-typing the entire sheet, and sometimes, the entire chapter.
In high school, we had a teacher who would tear your carefully typed essay in pieces if you misspelled "a lot" as "alot." That meant retyping the entire thing. I honestly don't think I could do it for an entire manuscript! That really speaks to your determination to write and see your words in the world!!
What a fun post (aside from the gender pay gap, which is a perpetual bummer). My mom started her career in education as a typing teacher. In the early 1990's I learned to type on a. . . typewriter also! I mostly remember listening to cassette tapes telling us the letters to type to end up with an image of a sailboat or a pumpkin.
How times have changed and yet still have so far to go.
I took typing at school as well and it was the key to getting well paying part time work while I attended university.
I don’t think they even teach kids how to touch type and yet they do a lot of their exams online. How much faster they would be if they knew how to touch type. (Although learning how to format a page for a poster on an electric typewriter is absolutely redundant now 😄)
"The brown fox jumps over the lazy dog" was like a time machine - holy cow. Nailed it. Raised three (now young women) to think as business owners who will hire a CEO :) Think brave and never be afraid to break things - especially old systems. Love your work.
I love everything about this Catherine and can relate SO hard! The typing class, the teacher, all of it. I was right there with you in the room reading this. (And wishing we had many more female CEO’s!!)
I felt a little bit of that old anxiety at the mention of the timed tests. I also took shorthand, but only used it to take quick notes in college. I never became a secretary but was always glad I had learned typing at such a young age. Thanks for reminding me of my typing classes.
Now this was a fun jog down memory lane! Kids these days will never know 😁😁
I took typing in high school as well but being a few years behind you (51 now) we learned typing on computers. The black screens with green, pixelated characters lol.
Going back further though, when I was a child my mom had an electric typewriter at home and I thought it was the most futuristic thing in the world! It had that backspace correction key which was revolutionary at the time.
Typing was my entry to a marketing career. And I remember those black screens with green characters and how it was a big deal to print a dot-matrix sketch of Snoopy using X's for his outline. If only workplace equality kept up with the speed of technology!
Typing was my entry into an advertising job. Ditto. Thank you for the memories. I was just describing typing class to my daughter the other day when she raised her eyebrows at a hail of keystrokes from her otherwise lame mom, who wasn’t looking at the keys. :-) I’ll ask what her group thinks cc means. Funny!
“I wonder, though, would I still write if it meant depending on a mechanical hammer to strike letters onto a blank sheet of paper—clacking out each thought as slow as progress?” I have wondered that same thing! Oh! And remember how hard it was to correct typos with those sheets of paper”Ko-rec-type?” Just the fear of making a typo on an assignment ensured that I would make several. A nightmare. I love technology. lol
Me too! I bought an old manual typewriter, but it's only a prop!
Wonderful account of typing class and what typing once meant. I laugh every time I remember how men had to rely on women to type for them, because most men couldn't type. As someone who type 8 copies of my first book, let me say that the real problem was that every edit, every altered or added word, meant re-typing the entire sheet, and sometimes, the entire chapter.
In high school, we had a teacher who would tear your carefully typed essay in pieces if you misspelled "a lot" as "alot." That meant retyping the entire thing. I honestly don't think I could do it for an entire manuscript! That really speaks to your determination to write and see your words in the world!!
What a fun post (aside from the gender pay gap, which is a perpetual bummer). My mom started her career in education as a typing teacher. In the early 1990's I learned to type on a. . . typewriter also! I mostly remember listening to cassette tapes telling us the letters to type to end up with an image of a sailboat or a pumpkin.
How times have changed and yet still have so far to go.
I took typing at school as well and it was the key to getting well paying part time work while I attended university.
I don’t think they even teach kids how to touch type and yet they do a lot of their exams online. How much faster they would be if they knew how to touch type. (Although learning how to format a page for a poster on an electric typewriter is absolutely redundant now 😄)
"The brown fox jumps over the lazy dog" was like a time machine - holy cow. Nailed it. Raised three (now young women) to think as business owners who will hire a CEO :) Think brave and never be afraid to break things - especially old systems. Love your work.
Thank you Sandy!
Most days I backspace more than go forward, but these days I am less afraid of making mistakes. Yes. This.
I love everything about this Catherine and can relate SO hard! The typing class, the teacher, all of it. I was right there with you in the room reading this. (And wishing we had many more female CEO’s!!)
Yup!
Thanks for the kind words!
I felt a little bit of that old anxiety at the mention of the timed tests. I also took shorthand, but only used it to take quick notes in college. I never became a secretary but was always glad I had learned typing at such a young age. Thanks for reminding me of my typing classes.
Now this was a fun jog down memory lane! Kids these days will never know 😁😁
I took typing in high school as well but being a few years behind you (51 now) we learned typing on computers. The black screens with green, pixelated characters lol.
Going back further though, when I was a child my mom had an electric typewriter at home and I thought it was the most futuristic thing in the world! It had that backspace correction key which was revolutionary at the time.
Man, how life changes huh?
Typing was my entry to a marketing career. And I remember those black screens with green characters and how it was a big deal to print a dot-matrix sketch of Snoopy using X's for his outline. If only workplace equality kept up with the speed of technology!
Typing was my entry into an advertising job. Ditto. Thank you for the memories. I was just describing typing class to my daughter the other day when she raised her eyebrows at a hail of keystrokes from her otherwise lame mom, who wasn’t looking at the keys. :-) I’ll ask what her group thinks cc means. Funny!
Thanks for the comment!
Ain't that the truth!
I love your content, Cathy.
Thanks Katie!!