A little more than three months ago, I took my first Project Steno class. Today, I’m in my fourth week of Theory II at Stark State College. I used to have a perfectly normal busy life. Now I have my busy life plus three to four hours a day of steno practice, constantly moving my fingers to figure out how I’d write something I hear someone say, wondering how to pass the next test, collapsing exhausted at the end of every day and then dreaming in steno! Is it madness? Perhaps! But I’m genuinely delighted to be learning and grateful to have the opportunity to take this journey.
The first and most important lesson I learned was that practice means progress. The most frustrating part of my day is when I begin practicing and I’m not quite warmed up yet and my fingers are all over the place. As I get going and my fingers get settled, the act of practicing leads to better and better results. I also learned that I have to trust my fingers to do what I’m teaching them to remember to do. The more I try to force them to press the correct keys, the slower and less confident I am; the more I just let myself write, the more accurate I am.
Another very important lesson I’ve learned is to protect my hands. I’m very fortunate to live in a lovely area in Central California, and I enjoy spending most of my off-work and non-study time doing tasks outdoors, such as brush clearance to mitigate wildfire danger. Toward the end of my Theory I course, I was weed whacking and accidentally disturbed a nest of yellow-jackets. One of the places I was stung was the side of my right hand, and by the time I was able to get to a doctor, my hand was twice it’s normal size and I could barely move my fingers. As you can imagine, that adversely affected my ability to write on the machine for a few days while I waited for the steroids and antibiotics to bring down the swelling and the itching. Although my wonderful teacher (Robyn Hennigan at Clark State College) was more than understanding and would have given me some leeway with the deadline to complete my assignments, I didn’t enjoy the notion of falling behind! The second I could force my fingers to start moving again, I was back on my NexGen, finishing my assignments and keeping on schedule.
Currently I’m in week three of Theory II, learning about derivatives, and word endings. Some of it is familiar because I’ve read it in notes written by reporters and captioners I’ve taught over the years; some of it is completely new and different, as I’m learning a theory that has some unique elements that I’ve seen but hadn’t previously absorbed. One thing I’ve noticed is that even though my brain will initially “fight” learning something that is different from what I have previously understood, practice turns that hesitation into normality. “Struggle strokes” soon become natural. Of course, I develop new struggles as I continue the journey.
The JCR Weekly recently contacted me to discuss my journey for their Member Profile section. Although I’ve attended every NCRA convention and many different state conventions since joining Stenograph in 1989, I’ve never been a participating member. As a vendor representative, I was fortunate to experience much of what members could, but of course, the relevance of my experience was limited to discussion of software or writers. One of the first things I did after becoming a student was to join NCRA as a student, and to join my two major state associations (California Court Reporters Association and the California Deposition Reporters Association). It’s exciting to now be able to more fully participate and better understand the industry from this new perspective.
One last thing I’ve learned thus far: passion is as important as practice. When you love what you do, you do what you love. I have always had a love for steno, and I love practicing it, so I enjoy the process of practicing, as frustrating as it can sometimes be! I look forward to continuing this journey and seeing where it takes me next.