Relax--it's realtime

[Amanda Leigh]

Okay, yesterday I forced myself to not write verbatim.  It was tough to lay off the repeated words (and the dashes that go with them), to lay off the false starts, to lay off the extra fumbling words and make it a smooth Q and A.  I also forced myself to not try to write in the interruptions of "okay," "uh-huh," et cetera, and also, if one person started talking and I would normally try to get it somewhat close to order spoken, I made myself write them as a whole: the whole Q, the whole A.  I also just got bare bones for colloquy.  "Objection to the form of the question" became "object, form" and even "form."  You know what?  It made it SO MUCH EASIER.  I was not exhausted.  And if someone interrupted someone else, I didn't care--just dashed 'em out of there and didn't look back (whoever I heard more clearly was whoever ended up on the record (and maybe whoever was easiest to write) and didn't get flustered and resisted urge to tell them one at a time or that I didn't get someone on the record--I resigned myself to it is what it is and that they'd have a complete record of all that had been said if they'd done their job right).  

I am thinking I may be on to something with this mind reset, and that is: when writing realtime, don't waste an ounce of energy on the inconsequential.  It's hard not to write all that stuff, all the punctuation, all the repeated words, the false starts.  It helped my writing to write the meat, helped my stamina--and it was much easier on my body.  I think if I can retrain myself to not write verbatim, there's real potential.

[Amanda Leigh]

;-)

[Linda]

Something your proofreader is grateful for.....easy proofreading.   :)

[Amanda Leigh]

Yes, Linda--and hopefully it will be less congested and more readable.  Tomorrow I write again--gonna -- oh, crap, telephonic, pffft.  Well, I'm gonna chill anyway ;-).  You can tell me how it compares to the micros I've sent you.  I'm really gonna try no half words...but those dang brackets'll be there (lol)!