[CW] getting it up

[Neil]

High, speed demons,

As a teen I was probably copying about 15-18 wpm.

Now, a geezer and ham again --after 40 years, I'm not too
far below that speed, 
surprising to me, but... finding it hard to push my way
upward from that plateau. 
It seems I'm my own worst enemy. Here's my scenario of
self-sabotage.

Let's say I'm stretching to copy at my current top... ~18
wpm. I find that in
the few tenths of a second that unfold after (mentally)
copying a short word cluster, 
I do a mental handstand, congratulate myself twice, and hand
myself a trophy, 
before computing I'm now a full word behind. Then I decide,
in the next tenth of a second, 
to let whatever I've missed 'go,' and jump back into the
stream. 

Just thinking THAT, of course, puts me another word behind.
Telling myself not to worry 
about  ALL OF THAT, puts me 2 words further behind. Then,
with pure Irish luck,
I jump back in and get the next cluster. I've successfully
copied: 

"just don't forget   xklhd-nd283 #@$@-74(*&73   is only
really important thing in life"

Is it just practice? Do I need a lobotomy to shut down my
internal chatter while copying?
I'm trying to get used to writing down only key phrases.
That seem most efficient.

Have a great code week, 73, Neil Murphy KH6EAM


Neil Murphy
www.ghostdog.com
650.375.0886 wrk
650.533.2015 mobile