Not Another New Years Resolution

This should be an interesting year. I am not one for New Years resolutions, but I would like to see a couple of things come to pass this year. After a bit of directional uncertainty, I believe I have set in motion a course of action that will carry me through the next two years at least. My primary purpose, therefore, is to remain dedicated and diligently pursue my Master’s degree to the best of my ability. After making it through the first semester of postgraduate studies, I now have some experience - and there is some room for improvement. That pursuit will bring with it many challenges and I am resolved to meet them.

Over the summer, I plan to enroll in a class at my local community college – the very same one that was so instrumental in the academic success I have achieved thus far. I will finally, hopefully, learn how to type. Oh, sure, I know where the keys are and I am, after all, a writer, but the art of typing is not one I possess with anything resembling grace or competence. Now part of any child’s curriculum, typing was not a class that most boys enrolled in when I was a kid. Computers were still being programmed with punch cards… the ubiquity of keyboarding was not foreseen by many.

Until I really started writing in earnest, it was a deficiency I could live with. The speed of my typing was, for a time, a benefit. It slowed me down enough so that I could better crystallize my thoughts. However, I cannot type with any real speed without looking at the keyboard and the mistakes generated because of that are becoming an even bigger waste of time. Where the speed limit imposed by my rudimentary typing was once beneficial, it has now become an obstacle… I cannot now get the words out fast enough. And grad school will have me writing far more than ever before.

Oddly enough, I make this decision with a fair amount of trepidation. I am not so sure how well I will take to it. It might prove to be just as challenging as my graduate studies have been, though in a different way. I am not at all sure this old dog can learn this new trick. But there is only one way to find out – indeed, the only way to guarantee failure is in the failure to try. It will also provide me with a distinct comparative measure as the coming spring semester will be completed as a “pre-typing” semester and the fall semester will be completed after my summer typing session.

In the meantime, I will continue to hone my hunting and pecking skills, such as they are. It is not optimal, but it is sufficient.