New tools abound in the writing world. But not everything you try is a game changer. For example, when my 20+ year old dishwasher broke (the manual says it was from Sears, a beloved but now defunct department store). When I got a new one, it was…pretty much like I’d bought the same appliance over again. Granted, I wasn’t looking for an upgrade. I know there were ones with more perks I aimed for the basics. After a week of dishpan hands, I didn’t care that much.
So I’m not sharing my dishwasher, but instead a few tools that really did stand out, mostly for their impact on my workload.
Silent keyboard
When the N stopped working on my keyboard, I tried to work around it for about a week, but it turns out you really need that letter a lot. Like my dishwasher, I wasn’t looking for anything fancy. I could go ergonomic but last time I had a similar one I didn’t notice that big a difference. But then I noticed one with a label that vowed to cut down on the sound of the keys by 90%.
Now, this wasn’t a major problem until it was solved. Yes, I was a bit embarrassed by the clatter of my huge paws slamming on keys as I typed during zoom interviews, but I figured it was something I’d live with. It wasn’t a problem I considered available for solving. Until it got solved. Indeed, I was skeptical about the 90%. Until I took it home and plugged it in and it is a lot quieter. So much quieter that that’s no longer something I even think about. Hallejujah. From a problem I wasn’t even looking to solve to an improvement I didn’t think was possible.
How refreshing.
Recording blog post
Another technology I’m using for new purpose is the audio recorder on my phone for creating new blog posts. Whereas my process used to start at my keyboard, now most blog posts start on the couch, or in my car, where I ramble off a few words on a topic and then use the transcription function built into the recording app and edit from there. This new process gives me a break from the keyboard. It allows me to free flow through my thoughts and pick the best and even makes productivity out of time that used to be wasted (see: recording in the car). Bonus.
AI summaries
I’ve been using AI transcription ever since it emerged, singing its praises regularly in terms of reclaiming such a hated task from my early career. But an improvement that I discovered more recently came when I was working on articles for a client who had sent me her interviews to turn into an article, the summaries that AI use to provide an overview of the document. I had generally skipped over these in my own transcriptions since I was already the expert having conducted the original interview. But with a hand-off project, it is so helpful for getting that context and the overall sense of it before I dive into the transcript. It was also useful in guiding me towards which pieces I need to listen to. Now I will pass along the same summaries in sending work to another writer myself.
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