Get A Grip

We got grips already thanks

I wonder what comes to your mind when you read or hear the phrase “Get a grip”. I am not quite sure if it is a friendly suggestion to abandon some impractical behaviour or opinion, and concentrate on more important and pressing matters, or possibly it is an insult, that the person is indulging in time-wasting, needless* panicking or that their decisions are questionable or even useless. It all depends on the people involved, how it is said and what might be behind it, whether a joke between friends or something less polite.

* Compare "endless" which uses halved and thickened N

Battles are going on

For the shorthand writer it is a useful phrase to direct to oneself, as you can be absolutely certain of your good intentions and manners! One of the first things I learned in beginning shorthand classes, apart from the shorthand itself, was the unseen and, until that point, unknown things that happen when one begins to take dictations. The attitude needed was completely different from normal school education. Just because the situation consists of a comfortable room, uninteresting paper and pencils, and a book to study, this does not mean it is a calm, quiet, sedate and leisurely pursuit. During a dictation, an observer in the class might think the students were “just writing” but, as you may have found out by now, this is far from the case, especially when the speed required is pushing present ability. Battles are going on unseen, as they try to capture every word, in a form* that can eventually be read back accurately and without omissions. If the observer stays till the end, they will hear the gasps and sighs of relief, and noisy mutterings from the students on how well they think they have done.

* "in a form" - if you put a tick "the" on the N, this would then be the phrase "in the form of"

(Anglo Saxon Living History www.centingas.co.uk)

Tight Grip

A dictation cannot teach you any shorthand but it does show up what needs working on. You can ring all the wrong or doubtful* outlines, learn them and practise shorthand ad infinitum, but the other question, of “losing your grip”, must also be addressed. There is a temptation to freeze when the outline does not come to mind, and as ever larger chunks are being missed, the fear that you cannot now catch up makes the situation even worse. This “rabbits in the headlights” effect must be attacked as soon as possible in your shorthand journey, as it should be you who gets a grip, and not that alarm that gets a grip on you.

I have found the best way of dealing with this is to firstly see it happening and then instantly make a definite and conscious decision to override it and keep writing. I must admit it took me quite a while to get to that position, as I started off thinking that if I just learned more shorthand, those moments of panic would fade away on their own – not so! I realised I had to make a regular assault on this particular difficulty. Your soft, friendly and graciously accommodating personality can be saved for afterwards, but a fierce iron will needs to be switched on for each shorthand take.

* Compare "dutiful" which has full D and T strokes

Iron will and one-track mind
leading to heights of achievement
(Funicular at Southend, Essex)

Even when all seems to be lost, sometimes the arrival of an easier part, a pause, or a very efficient phrasing opportunity allows you to catch up and maybe you can even dash in something to fill the offending gap. However, such an opportunity is never going to be useful if you have already frozen. There is a very fine line between accepting a gap, and becoming lax about leaving gaps. Having to leave numerous gaps means that the dictation speed is regularly beyond what you are capable of, and I do not think continuing like that is helpful in the long run. To counteract such a tendency, it might be better, if you have the choice, to take your fastest dictations on very simple matter that uses only the commonest and easiest words, or a passage that you have already practised and worked on. This will give the satisfaction of attaining a successful high speed result, and you can then work on improving your performance on passages of greater difficulty and so add value to the speed figure that you are claiming you can do.

Slight panic element

Reading shorthand from your books also has great benefits, principally extending vocabulary in a reasonably comfortable manner. Reading your own written shorthand is just as important, so that you can be sure that your claims to a certain speed are matched by the ability to retrieve everything from your notes. It is also an opportunity to see where improvements can be made. It may be that timing your reading would give you the same sense of high-speed achievement, but without the slight panic element that accompanies writing. Getting progressively faster on the same passage is very encouraging. You do not even need a word count, and the mere fact* that it takes less time on each reading should be sufficient to increase confidence. If you are not* timing the readings, then it does not matter if you end up memorising the sentences, but you must connect each word with its outline as you go along, in order to gain any benefit.

* "fact" - in phrases, you can omit the F and just write "-act"

* It is prudent not to use halving and hook N for "not" on the short form "are", as it would look too much like "will not"

Hold near nib for maximum fine control

The one thing* you do not necessarily want to get a grip on is the shorthand pen or pencil. I prefer to think of holding the pen, not gripping it. A tight grip will tire the fingers and stop them moving freely. The movement to form the outlines should come from the fingers, and the movement across the page and back again should come from the upper arm. If horizontal movement comes from the elbow, then the travel of the hand is in an arc, and therefore not conducive to following straight lines across a page. It is tempting to grip tightly in order to make the thick strokes. If a tight grip is needed, it might be that the pencil is too hard, the nib too firm, or the paper unsuitable. Pencils need some roughness on the paper surface, and you would have to press hard on smooth paper to make a thick pencil stroke. The opposite is the case with fountain pens, you need a smooth surface to glide over. A blunt pencil needs extra pressure and having it a bit sharper may solve the problem. The tendency is to press harder when the going is fast and this needs to be resisted, as it achieves nothing except slowing down  the shorthand, thus making the situation worse.

* "one thing" - this phrase omits the N hook

Lose grip = grab handrail

By the way, I think grip and grab make an interesting pair of outlines that need to be carefully distinguished and of course they also give you an opportunity to try out the effectiveness of any improvements you have been able to make in writing thicks and thins. Well I hope these thoughts on the gripping question have successfully gripped your attention, and maybe they have produced a grippingly interesting description of some of the challenges of shorthand writing, and their possible solutions. (1158 words)

Me(n)tal anchor to ride out the storms of dictation