Listen to The Writing Life with Ann Kroeker
Episode 2: Rescue Lost Time
When over the past week might you have rescued lost time to work toward a writing deadline?
What tool or tools might you use to start rescuing lost time?
Learn more about:
- Google docs
- Voice-to-text feature on phones (some people use dragon, but I just use the dictation feature on my Android phone — enter your phone in the search engine to find out what dictation or voice-to-text features it offers).
- Learn more about using your phone as a mobile hotspot and contact your cell phone provider for pricing.
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On Being a Writer
“This brand-new book is a must-have for career writers, whether seasoned or just starting out.”
— from “10 Great Books for a Writer’s Wish List” on Huffington Post
“A genial marriage of practice and theory. For writers new and seasoned. This book is a winner.”
—Philip Gulley, author of Front Porch Tales
This is a great idea! My writing life consists of resumes and cover letters right now but I just downloaded the OneNote app to my iPad mini. I started using it to write notes about thoughts, ideas etc. I have when I am out and about. I still have a “dumb” phone but it even has a notepad in it I have used to remember things, albeit on a smaller scale.
Keep those great ideas coming… 🙂
I used to love OneNote, and I’ve heard great things about Evernote, which offers similar functionality, being able to send notes to it. Great idea for a tool to help rescue lost time! And yes, if you have an iPad, that’ll work great and you don’t need a smart phone! I have a smart phone but no tablet. Use what you’ve got!
This is a great idea! My writing life consists of resumes and cover letters right now but I just downloaded the OneNote app to my iPad mini. I started using it to write notes about thoughts, ideas etc. I have when I am out and about. I still have a “dumb” phone but it even has a notepad in it I have used to remember things, albeit on a smaller scale.
Sorry, I am not sure why that posted twice.
No problem! I’ll just answer once! 😉
Good idea, Ann. I’ll have to look into the features my (old) smartphone. Voice-to-text would be awesome.
I hope you find yourself surprised–I’m pretty sure even some simple, older smartphones will have something that can work. If nothing else, you can record your ideas onto some kind of voice recorder and transcribe it later!
Great ideas! In fact, I need to go to the post office daily, but yesterday my husband did it instead. He was frustrated at the long line, but I was thinking that I actually enjoy going to the post office! To me it means “brain time” (which is what I call rescued lost time). Except . . . I don’t have a smart phone. Just a good pen and scratch paper from my boys’ school work does it for me!
“Brain time.” I like that. It’s way more productive than feeling anxious or scrolling through Twitter (though that can be a fun diversion).
That’s it. I’m getting a pink backpack. 😉 Thank you for these tips. I have such a problem rescuing lost time. . . I really like Evernote and have started using Basecamp for collaborative projects I’m working on. Your podcast reminds me of simple tools I already have to help my writing life — now the trick is to use them consistently.