I got two pieces of practical advice about writing many, many years ago. One from my mother. The other from one of two writers (Jerry Weinberg or Jerry Pournelle). Which one is lost in leaky memory.
Along about 1969-1970, Mom encouraged me to learn to touch type. This was when keyboards were connected to typewriters rather than computers. Her reasoning was that this would come in handy when I got to college and had to turn in papers on a regular basis. After a summer’s practice I was moderately skilled. Sixty years later, we’re somewhere deeper than muscle memory.
The second piece of advice was to learn to think at the keyboard. Handwritten drafts were too slow to keep up with my brain. Keyboards got closer. This is such routine practice today that it isn’t noticeable. I know that there are those who find the feel of pen on paper helpful to their thinking and writing practices. I am not one of them.
Doing this in the days before word processing was an option made me an oddity. Secretaries typed things. Professionals wrote longhand. Who was I to sit down at a secretary’s desk and write a rough draft? What other heresies might I commit in full view of the hierarchy? These may have been the seeds that led to my study of organizations, innovation, and technology.
There is always a layer of received wisdom that you either submit to or fight. Progress does not come from those who submit.