Are Writing and Typing are Mutually Exclusive?

Writing is one of the few things in my life that has always come naturally for me.  I have the ability to hear words in a certain way, almost like musical notes.  I've never worried that much about the rules of grammar, I simply listen to the sound of the words and I write intuitively.  It's always worked for me and I thought everyone else did this too.  Hell, for that matter I also thought that everybody else got an easy A in college English.  It's not until recently I've discovered this is not the case for many people.

Typing however has always been my Waterloo.  I think typing was about the only D I got in high school.  Sure, I could pass English and social studies with flying colors, but put me in front of a typewriter and I was done for.  I don't know if I have some form of dyslexia or not, but for some reason my fingers always seem to get mixed up and I frequently get letters transposed.  Or sometimes I'll make some other typo, and the spell check doesn't always catch it.  It's never effected my ability to choose the right words, it just aggravates me at times when I'm trying to put them on the computer screen.

Back in the days before computers, which I'm sure is the Dark Ages for some, I used to do all my writing in spiral bound notebooks, and I was forever scratching out words and editing in the margins.  By the time I was done I had something that looked more like a treasure map than prose, so even though typing can be a giant pain in the butt for me, I'd still have a hard time giving up my notebook computer and going back to notebook paper.  

Then there's the ability to spell. I was the spelling champ in my second-grade class.  That's also where where I hit my peak and it's been a downhill spiral ever since, as my well worn dictionary will attest.  Nowadays I use the Internet version of the dictionary and I find it's really handy and saves me a lot of time. Spell checkers can help, but they're not totally foolproof, so I still use the dictionary on a regular basis. 

So what's my point?  We all have our challenges, sometimes even doing the things we excel in.  And maybe that's a good thing since it helps keep us humble.

My thought for the day.

GM