I type fast. Not as fast as the professional typists my aunt used to train, but I picked up enough from her so I got really good at what they called "touch typing."

Then, when the internet came along, typing fast was essential to communication, and following and responding to several different conversational threads in a chatroom all at once.

But...

When I'm thinking about a story as I'm writing it, and sometimes, yes, I backspace or delete or fix something, which I know you're not supposed to do in NaNo, but I despise making typos, well, then things take a bit longer. Not that I never make typos, but I'm always on the lookout for them.

Also, there's the mental search for the exact right word. "Tight? No, that's not it, and besides, I used that word, let's see, two, no three sentences ago. We need another word, one more descriptive. Taut! That's it." That mental process takes time. Even more time as I age toward uselessness and irrelevance.

I know I'd be better off just typing and then editing later, but it's just not in my nature. I must have edited this post on the fly 15 to 20 times so far. Besides, people have come to expect semi-polished first drafts from me, and who am I to let them down?

But I've decided it doesn't matter. I can try writing more loosely, but I'm accustomed to typing the way I type, and dagnabbit, I'm not going to change now. Even though writing more slowly and thoughtfully will cut into my all-important video game time.