Good Advice

	Ensure that all strokes are readable. Readable strokes are productive strokes; hence, there is no wasted time or effort.

	Do not drop more than two words at any time.

	Work on any kind of drill at any speed for any length of time, -- but do not violate Rules 1 and 2.

	You now have a goal that is easy to understand and easy to achieve.

Cool Tips

"The time has come," the Walrus said, "To talk of many things. Lewis Carroll

Every student should have a notebook full of trouble strokes. Type up those strokes into a file. You may want to split them into two or more groups. Briefs and phrases could be one group. Medical terms could be another. Etc.
If a drill is causing you trouble, break it down into smaller chunks. Work on one section at an extremely slow speed if that is the only section that causes you difficulty. Work on the other sections at a higher speed.
Create a drill made up of briefs. These should all be time-savers. Which ones do you slow down on? Those need practice or replacement.
Take a regular Literary drill and place a number between each word. Now 6 you 8 have 4 a 5 drill 9 that 1 looks 7 like 3 this. This will strengthen your ability on the number bar very quickly. Add larger numbers when you begin to master this.
Drill for endurance, but remember to reduce the speed every few minutes. The reason for this is that nobody can do anything at top speed forever. If you reduce the speed as you tire, you can continue to write efficiently and you will learn endurance. If you don't reduce the speed, you lose all benefit and you gain bad habits.

Memorizing Briefs

Cool Tip: (by Barb DeWitt) Memorization of frequently-used words is a skill by itself. It is not a steno skill. It is a product of memory. The memorization merely happens to involve steno briefs. But it is work that is best done without the steno machine.

Do not confuse the act of memorization of the brief with the act of stroking the brief. Memorization comes first and may actually be impeded by the steno machine. When you can remember the stroke instantly, then you may begin to practice. Never use briefs until they have been properly memorized. You will hesitate while you try to remember the stroke. Briefs are good for one thing: They save time by reducing the amount of strokes. If you hesitate, you will not save time.

Back to Top

Pros and Cons of Briefs

Cool Tip: (by Anna Mae Tedley) What are the benefits of briefs and phrases? We all know that answer. Briefs and phrases cut down the number of strokes. Cutting down the number of strokes saves time. If it takes us less time to get through a brief or phrase, then we have more time for the other words.

Now for the hard part. What are the drawbacks to using briefs and phrases? There are quite a few. They have to be memorized. They have to be at your fingertips on demand. They have to be written with a higher degree of accuracy. They are harder to read than stroked-out words. They look like Garbage with a Capital G when they are misstroked. Newly memorized briefs and phrases induce hesitation because you pause to choose the new pattern of stroking. Poorly memorized briefs and phrases induce hesitation because you pause to think of the outline of the stroke.

The only benefit to briefs and phrases is the time factor. If you do not gain time, you have traded good easy-to-read strokes for hesitation-inducing, rhythm-breaking, hard-to-read strokes.

In my class, you may use as many briefs and phrases as you wish. But you must be able to write them accurately without hesitation at all times. Do not tell me that you hesitate or write sloppy because you are "learning" the stroke. During dictation, you must employ the strokes that you can write competently.

When you have properly memorized the stroke, and when you can write that stroke correctly, and when you can recall it without hesitation, and when you can form the stroke and write it without hesitation, then you may use the stroke.

And if, at the end of all of that, you do not save time by using the stroke, then you have unnecessarily complicated your writing by learning the stroke in the first place.