How to Start Typing Copywork

The mechanics are simple, but a few small choices make the first session go much better than just picking a random text and typing until you're bored.

• Start short. Pick a text tagged "short" and "beginner" rather than the longest, most impressive one in the library — a good first session is a handful of lines, not a full psalm.
• Open the text page and click into the practice box. The widget shows one line at a time; you don't see the whole passage racing by, just the sentence in front of you.
• Type the line exactly as shown. When it's correct, the widget fades to the next line automatically — there's no button to press and nothing to grade yourself on manually.
• Ignore the WPM number for the first several sessions. It updates live, but it isn't the point yet.
• Try "Strict mode" once you're comfortable. It disables backspace, so a mistake has to be typed through rather than erased — closer to how a pencil actually works on paper.

At the end of a text, Quillstead shows overall accuracy and a score that weights accuracy far more heavily than speed — deliberately, not as a default nobody thought about.

Why accuracy counts more than speed here

There's also a small amount of quiet progress tracking: a day-streak counter and a few badges (first text completed, a 7-day streak, a high-accuracy session), stored only in your browser, with no account and no login. It's there so a returning student can see that they've kept showing up, not so they can compare scores with anyone.

Once a first text feels easy, move to the next one in the same category rather than jumping straight to the hardest thing in the library — each category page suggests a next step, and that's the pace copywork is meant to be done at.