I learned to touch type years ago. I took a job working on a free ads paper. I had to listen to tape recordings of people who had phoned in to place adverts and type them into the system. I got the job without having any typing skills. The interviewer must have either a) liked me, b) been desperate or c) both. Anyway, I had to learn to type - and fast.

My method was to draw up a finger chart explaining which fingers were meant to hit which keys, make a cover for the keyboard out of an old cereal box, and learn by doing.

It was a good skill to acquire early in my working life, and was useful way before I started writing for a living. The ability to touch type has many benefits, including:

• You don't look down at the keyboard while typing so you can adopt a healthy seating position
• You don't hunch over the keyboard prodding at keys - more plus points for a healthy seating position
• You tend to apply even pressure to keys and tend to be a lighter typist both of which are good for the longevity of your keyboard
• You are likely to type faster than a non touch typist
• If you have to copy text from a written source into a computer, being able to touch type means you'll do the job faster than non touch typists