Sneaky

Sneaking up the slip road until you
have achieved the same speed

After all the long words in the other blogs, I think a simple piece is overdue, with no special outlines to learn. The advantage of a passage with common words is that you are giving yourself a greater chance of success at writing it really fast, because you already know most of the outlines. I like to call this “sneaking up” on the higher speeds. I prefer regular small successes than a big one now and then, as it enables me to see ahead and know that I will definitely reach my goal, if I continue to work at the same rate. I do not like successes to be hit and miss, and any method that makes it easier and quicker is worth considering. If you can sneak up on your quarry to catch it, that has to be better than an occasional mad dash on difficult matter that has a low chance of success and a high chance of failure that will harm your progress and drain away your energy to continue.

Always chasing the next number -
birthday milestones sneaking up

Once you have gone from 60 words a minute to 70, you not only quite rightly feel you are improving, but the new figure becomes the "new you". Yesterday, 60 was a huge improvement over the previous 50, but now it has to be considered beneath your best. If you have a class teacher, you will probably know by now that he or she will never let you go back to that old figure. Some lazy little part of you is saying a sad goodbye to the comfort of 60, but the stronger and better part of you welcomes the 70 – and of course 80 is the next in line. All the other higher figures start looking closer and you can now say to them, "You're next!"

Flighty collared doves on my lawn -
camera sneaked up behind
the kitchen curtains

Perhaps this method would be useful for those who feel they are on a “speed plateau”. I do not like this term at all, as labels tend to stick hard once they are applied and in themselves hold back progress. You will always have a whole range of speeds that you can do, depending on the difficulty of the passage. A victory on an easy passage is a reliable way of loosening an unhelpful label. Once you have achieved a speed goal on simple matter, then that number starts to seem normal for you, and it is only a matter of time (with regular practising) before you can achieve it on the harder passages. I hope the Sneak Method will be a useful tool for you to consider. (428 words)