There’s no place like home row

Growing up, we had a typewriter in our house and it was always a pleasure to…well, type on it. Back then, I had to take into consideration how much typewriter ribbon and paper I would be using. I didn’t want to waste the paper or inky ribbon, and that limited the amount of time I could spend typing. Because of this, I considered my “typing time” precious. I would type silly random thoughts so I could get familiar with the keys.

Hello. My name is Connie Ross. How are you today? I am doing very well. Thank you for asking. You have nice manners. By the way, I wanted to let you know the quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog. The nerve! 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10. Have a great day!

For many years, I thought I just liked typing.

Of course, before the typewriter, there was paper and pen. Sometimes paper, sometimes notebooks, sometimes diaries. “Theme” paper was my favorite. I loved the way the pen felt on the paper, especially if there were two or three other sheets underneath to give it that nice cushion. It was fun to fill up the pages with my personal data. I would write my sentences over and over, forwards and backwards, and “stack” more sentences on top of them so the writing was completely illegible. My secrets were safe and I was happy, but if anyone ever saw those pages, they probably thought I was insane.

I thought I just liked practicing penmanship.

In high school and college, I studied foreign languages. I enjoyed writing in Russian, Latin, Spanish and Greek. Many notebooks were filled with cursive and printed scripts of foreign languages.

I thought I just liked learning foreign languages.

It’s funny how the body and mind find ways to guide you to what’s important.

I was 29 years old before I finally realized that I didn’t just like typing and cursive. I loved writing. That’s when I wrote my first 10-minute play and never looked back, until I this prompt.

What I like most about my (blog) writing is that it expresses the fact I simply love writing.

I prefer playwriting to blogging, but am trying to get into a rhythm of doing both. I also enjoy writing poetry, articles (reporting), essays, letters and leaving notes.

Hey, thanks for reading my typing! I hope your typing is going well for you. -Connie