Pens have always been a hot topic in shorthand circles. I myself have maintained (on the basis of evidence I might add) that pen choice can make a 10wpm difference to note-taking speed. That said the "best pen" is clearly an issue of personal choice. Some might prefer a pilot graphic pen, others a pencil, others a fountain pen with or without a specialist nib. I've seen reporters using standard ballpoints (because that's what their employers offer), nylon nibbed pens, gel pens and so on. I'm really interested to find out what we, as a shorthand community, choose to write with. I did have a poll set up but it doesn't seem to work. Please post a comment saying what you write with or drop me a line instead!

It isn't often that you find shorthand in the news - despite the fact that, in the UK at least, it is nearly always behind the news in the form of reporters' notes. So I was really chuffed to see one of the UK's regional papers pay homage to a shorthand coach who had been training its staff for the past 11 years. The Plymouth Herald story in question is about 78-year-old shorthand teacher June Barker who has retired 62 years after first learning shorthand. As with many people, June first learned Pitman and then Teeline. For the full story>>

This is surely a first for shorthand on the web – a newsheet web-page rendered entirely in shorthand. Prof Waldir Cury runs the excellent Taquigrafia website in Brazil and is an expert shorthand practitioner. Keen to help his students improve their shorthand skills, he has now taken the plunge and developed an entire web page in shorthand. And he now plans to release a new newspage entirely in shorthand each month! In his note to the MSN Gregg Shorthand group, Prof Cury said: “I invite you to take a look at the new page of my website: a whole page in Shorthand. “Its name: “Shorthand Newspaper”.  Every month a new page will be launched.  The aim: to help the online students to develop their shorthand reading. “I hope you like the idea.  And I also hope that many other shorthand website owners will do the same, so that we can have in a very short time many shorthand pages like that – using different systems. “The system used in the “Shorthand Newspaper” is the Maron System, a Brazilian one.  So, I hope you will like it.” Waldir – for what it is worth I think it is an inspired idea and the only thing quite like it ...

A while ago, I was asked by a graphic design student whether there was a special piece of software that translated keyboard-input type into shorthand. Sadly, I don’t think there is. But what got me was the fact she was interested in using shorthand in a graphic design project. Now, I’ve got a passing interest in design and imaging and it got me thinking…and creating. Sticking with my native Teeline, I decided to create a desktop wallpaper – purely for my own fun and use. But I thought I’d share my (fairly miserable) efforts with everybody. What did surprise me was how nice shorthand outlines are to use as a shape as opposed to the more utilitarian purposes I put them through each day in my work. Anyway, enough of all that, here’s my stuff. If anybody is mad enough to want any of these as a wallpaper simply say so in the comments section and I’ll get some linked up to the images below. [caption id="attachment_45" align="alignleft" width="300" caption="Teeline Tree"][/caption] [caption id="attachment_46" align="alignleft" width="300" caption="My Desktop Reflected"][/caption] [caption id="attachment_47" align="alignleft" width="300" caption="Shorthand Can Be Art"][/caption] [caption id="attachment_48" align="alignleft" width="300" caption="Teeline Burned"][/caption] [caption id="attachment_49" align="alignleft" width="300" caption="Shorthand Spew "][/caption]

Shorthand World readers frequently ask us which are the best books for learning shorthand. There are hundreds of excellent books out there which will help you learn or improve, so choosing from them is no mean feat. But we’ll have a stab at naming our top ten books for Pitman and Teeline. To find out more about any of the books below just hover your cursor over them! Teeline Fast (Teeline) Teeline Revised Edition (Teeline) Teeline Gold: Speed Ladder (Teeline Gold) Teeline Gold: Word List (Teeline Gold) Teeline Gold: Student Pack (Teeline) Shorthand Pitman 2000 (Teach Yourself) Pitman 2000: Shorthand Short Course Pitman New Era Shorthand: Anniversary Edition Pitman 2000: Shorthand First Course (Pitman 2000 Shorthand) Shorthand, Pitman’s: New Era: Facility Drills (Anniversary Edition) But what do you think? What are your top ten books? Why not drop us a line to let us know!

Thanks to Bill and Patricia for inspiring this post! As Bill points out the Dasi pen firm went out of business ( I think in the 1970s?) which left the entire world of shorthand worse off as a result. Luckily, if we’re prepared to look slightly further than the nearest stationery shop and its vast range of biros, there’s still some excellent pens out there. One of the best I’ve tried is the fantastic Pelikan Steno pen. It is incredibly responsive, ideal for shorthand, feels well weighted in the hand, and the ink flow is superb even at higher speeds. I don’t know whether Pelikan still makes this model, but they can be picked up second hand from specialists. Pelikan make a number of other pens and I have to admit to being a bit partial to this brand as they always feel right in my hand for some reason. I’ve also become particularly enamoured with the Pilot V5 (and V7) which is a super glider of a pen across a page. I actually tested this against a standard biro once and found my shorthand speed was a good 5-7wpm higher with the Pilot than the standard biro (done using a 120wpm exercise ...