After many starts and stops and distractions, I'm almost done the theory. I'm using Simplified Functional 2nd Edition, which holds the record for amount of reading material. This method gives plenty of spaced-practice reading the text and my own writing.

I have several bookmarks:

1. 1st Reading. Just reading, going back if I want a refresher. As Jeff said, this can prevent problems. It's more interesting than writing the same passage over and over. It also lets you write your own material much sooner — and that's the fun part! (It's also the time you practice writing too slowly. Practice makes permanent. Imperfect practice makes imperfect permanent.) (I'm done the theory.)

2. 1st Copy. A week or more behind 1st reading. I use a normal exercise book and divide each page in half vertically so I have four columns. First copy is from the plate, focusing on analyzing words and penmanship. Read each sentence before writing.

Writing this column from the answer key, with room for corrections, then checking it vs the plate would have been better, but I didn't enjoy it as much. I wish they had keys for the 2nd half.

3. 2nd, 3rd, 4th copies. A week behind the 1st copy, each copy made from the previous column, reading each sentence entirely before writing, trying for a bit of speed, and drilling words that aren't comfortable. I mix it up here. Sometimes I do all the copies for a single passage or even paragraph in one sitting. Sometimes I do the entire chapter, or even catch up with the 1st column. (4 lessons to go!)

There's enough reading material in GSF2 that I would have learned well enough without writing until half-way through the theory, as the Functional Method authors suggest. Even then, maybe only write the weekly Review chapters. (The regular Simplified Manual has much less material, and modern Teeline books even less.)

4. References. List of brief forms and phrases* by chapter, Gregg spelling, and English spelling. Rules by chapter, Gregg spelling, English spelling, and part of word. Writing and rewriting is a good review, and often one order will show a pattern that others don't. Making the lists myself is a much better review than relying on someone else's summary. They can also be used for drills. (I'm way behind here.)

*I don't include every phrase, just enough to show all the principles. I still put in all the phrases that leave out words, but might stop once I'm more confident.

5. Speed Building. From dictation and/or plates and/or answer key. I stopped this mid-theory. It was boring and discouraging. I'll probably start again once I'm done copying the entire book, including review chapters. At first I just wrote from a copy and checked total time, but found writing from dictation was very different. I hesitated in places I thought I did well!

I'm glad I did as much dictation as I did. It made a difference. I'm also glad I stopped when I did. It was so boring I almost dropped the project entirely. (Also, I found a problem with my text-to-speech program's calibration, and WashBear hadn't put up the records yet. That made dictation even less fun.)

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Jeff, Swem's Systematic Speed Course is helpful at all speed levels. Cranking up the speed really shows you where the problems are. https://gregg-shorthand.com/2010/01/24/systematic-speed-course-for-advanced/