The shorthand reading web pages are also available as PDFs on the
Reading Intro page. They
consist of notepad-sized pages of shorthand with text key and
explanation of phrases where appropriate. The format is A4
landscape, which could be folded or cut to fit an A5 binder if
required. The PDFs do not contain the photos.
A4 page per month, with a brief shorthand passage
and text key, from past masters, and days of the month with blank
lines for your entries
The text of the 12 passages all on one page with word
counts
A4 page each of Diary
vocabulary & Weather vocabulary
Notes on outlines, phrases and contractions used
Text lists of the vocabs/notes to facilitate searches
Spare lined page
Can be used every year as the calendar pages
contain no year number or weekday names, the outlines for these
are available in the diary vocab
list
The aim is to encourage
daily use of shorthand, as well as daily reading. Little and often
works wonders in learning and consolidating the outlines. The
difficulties of January will be reduced in February, and by December
entirely forgotten. If you are pinning up the calendar, keep the
two vocab sheets underneath, so you can turn to them instantly for
your outline.
It is no hardship to make a
daily note of the weather in a few words, and the diary vocab will
help with taking phone messages, which enables you to continue
listening and speaking without losing any time or attention.
The quotes
are also repeated in the
Reading section.
Personalised notepad and strokes reminder list
with ring binder divider tabs
The pages in the PDF are
designed specifically for writing the ideal size of Pitman's
Shorthand and enable you to produce your own shorthand pads at low
cost, thus encouraging plenty of drill practice which is your key to
progress. If you fill in the uncut pages with drill material, you can keep
them as masters and produce endless ready-made drill books but you
must take the time to check that the shorthand is accurate.
Repeating the same exercises is beneficial, as you become accustomed
to writing known outlines at speed.
You can choose paper quality
that is best for your pen or pencil. A paper that feels smooth may
be too absorbent, so test with your ink pen first. The pads need to be
bound with long loose treasury tags or smooth cord, so that the pages can turn easily.
They are therefore not suitable for important dictations, as the
pages under your hand do not sit as firmly or turn as smoothly as
they would in a normal spiral bound pad. There are 14 line colours,
with margins, a numbered line page, strokes reminder list, cover
pages, and A5 ring binder tabs so that you can create your own
shorthand resource folder.
Shorthander's survival kit You might try this for
keeping a pencil in a ring binder: roll up the pencil in a thin
plastic punched pocket (cut to binder height if necessary) and place
the pocket holes on the rings with the roll inside the circle of the
rings. The pencil can be kept from falling out with a
paperclip, and squeezed out when needed. This is my A5 binder with
notes for
this website.
Margins are given on both
sides to accommodate the space available on A4 paper. As they are
principally practice pads, having two margins is ideal for making extra
notes or drills of individual outlines. In any case, if you trim off
the right margin on one side, the other side of the sheet will lose
its left margin, so time is better spent wielding the pen rather
than the scissors. A good use for two margins when taking "real
life" notes is to have the subject headings or sub-divisions in the
right margin, as a quick-find index, and use the left side for other
insertions and corrections.
Strokes Reminder List A5
JPG 376 KB This is page 18 of the above PDF. You could print this extra small for your wallet or
purse, or laminate it so you can attach it to any surface, or
edit the columns to produce a slim laminated bookmark.
Lines page A4 black GIF 32 KB This is page 16 of the above PDF. Use
this to counteract any shrinking of the page that your printer may
do, or to get your preferred spacing by stretching the image or to
produce a notepad with additions, e.g. header or page numbers.
Page 2 has a blank box instead of speed dates. The Flying Fingers
Seagulls picture is for desktop wallpaper or printing on your teeshirt, notepaper, mousemat, mug, wall decor, etc (for
your personal non-commercial home use) to advertise your skills –
probably more noticeable if you add a caption. These seagulls also
appear as a pad cover in the Notepad PDF
above. They live
with their many friends in Hastings, Sussex, and you can read about
them on the
Shorthand Reading Photo Tour Hastings page.
Shorthand practice JPGs on an Ipod Touch.
If you reduce their size to 25% (372x558px), they fit nicely on your
screen desktop. Having them constantly before your eyes gets them
firmly established in your visual memory, the only effort expended
is glancing in their direction!
These are small folded booklets of all the
strokes, vowel and short forms 6.5x9.5cm/2½x4", to keep in your pocket or purse, to
enable you to read and practice in spare moments when you are away
from your study material. The PDF contains instructions, 4-page and 8-page versions.
There is also a blank ruled booklet page, so that you can produce
your own pocket-sized reading material, copying out passages from
your shorthand books or from the reading pages on this website.
These can also be used for unobtrusive practice, going over the
outlines with a hard pencil that makes virtually no mark.
You can watch me making up the booklets on the YouTube video below.
These go with the Blogspot article of 17 Feb 2013
entitled
Keep Calm Carry On Writing. All are in flat colour, easy to
edit to your preference. The Nibs Crown is in smoother detail so you
can make your own version of the poster:
These graphics go with the
BlogSpot
article of 29 November 2012 regarding
making your own cards with shorthand outlines on, to
publicise your new skill and intrigue those who have never seen
shorthand before. They are just a sample of what you might do with
your own photos and creative ideas. Click the thumbnails to
get the high resolution image:
Tree: Peace on Earth, Goodwill To All Mankind - BMP
1.6 MB
Snow: Merry Christmas And A Happy New Year - BMP 1.5 MB
Berries: Season's Greetings BMP - 919 KB
Christmas Card Wordings - GIF 53KB
This is in flat colour, so you can use Colour Replace easily. The
horizontal pad
line and all vowels are given, but it is much neater if these are
mostly edited out in your final version.
More Christmas-related shorthand outlines can be gained from
the Christmas Carols, Christmas Story and Bible Reading Pages.
With compact shorthand study material in your
pocket, you can:
"Whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable – if anything is excellent or praiseworthy – think about such things." (Philippians 4:8)
"The earnest, heartfelt,
continued prayer of a righteous man makes tremendous
power available, dynamic in its working." James 5 v 16
(Amplified)
I invite you to view or comment
in my
Guestmap
(pin in map and brief greeting) and/or
Guestbook (greeting only).
All entries will be moderated before appearing. Please note personal replies cannot be
undertaken, and contact info should be omitted. Please use the Guestbook
to report mistakes in the shorthand - Thank you.
Shorthander's survival kit
