Gizmos I love
As I was wandering the aisles of Staples early Thursday a.m., I started thinking about how many office tools I own (a lot) and how many of them have revolutionized my work (very few). In no particular order, the essential writing tools I can’t do without:
- The hands-free headset. If I could only keep one tool besides my laptop, this would be it. My husband gifted me with one a few years ago: better than chocolate and roses! If you are still doing interviews with the phone receiver jammed between your ear and shoulder, run run RUN to your nearest office supply store today. Your posture will thank you for the purchase.
- The Olympus DS-3300 digital recorder. I’ve had maybe three mini tape recorders during my writing career. All suck in comparison to this baby. First of all, there are no tapes. You just download the voice file into your computer, and from there you can transcribe it or e-mail the file to your transcriptionist. Second, it comes with transcription software that lets you mark important quotes (you can also hit a button on the device while you’re recording that inserts a flag you’ll see in the download). I loathe listening to my voice on tape — with this feature, I can skip right to the good stuff for my story. Third, it comes with digital file folders. I have one for interviews, another for ideas (I come up with good ideas while I’m driving), a third for to-do items, and a fourth to record my son’s cute stories. Expensive gadget, but worth it.
- Brother Ptouch Labeling System. This was an impulse buy a couple years ago, but it turned out to be a handy purchase. I love looking in my file drawers and seeing the files nicely labeled. I label binders, desk drawers, file boxes, and shelves — even my spice jars. Sure, I could handwrite out everything on plain white labels, but to be honest, this is more fun.
The Melitta coffee cone. OK, this is sort of a cheat since I’ve been using my Melitta coffee cone to get me through a.m. haze since college. In fact, I think the one I use in my office is from college. Together with a 2 lb bag of Costco Starbucks blend, I blast through the day.
What are your favorite writing tools and why?
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Sep 29, 2006 Cool tools
Great post! And ha — I was about to post my favorite low-tech writing supplies, so I’ll just add them here:
* I already posted about my postage scale. One of the best purchases I ever made. It’s probably earned back its price in saved postage costs twice over.
* Index cards. Thanks to Diana’s post on Getting Things Done, I’ve been using David Allen’s techniques for organizing my to-dos. As soon as I think of something I need to or want to do, I scribble it on an index card and toss it into my in-box. At the end of the week, I go through the cards one at a time and do, delegate, or add to the project file and put the next action to take on a special context-based list. I’ve had hundreds of index cards sitting in my office since graduate school, when I used them to make flashcards of Bulgarian vocabulary words. Now I can finally use them.
* The Pilot Precise Rolling Ball pen (fine, blue). The best pen ever. Bright blue, never skips, never blobs.
* A return-address stamp from Staples (under $10). No more having to hand-write my address on every outgoing piece of mail.
* My business cards from Streetcards.com. These babies, which are blue with a flower on one side and orange with my info plus “My editors think I’m swell” on the reverse, have been a hit.
* Holiday cards. I always get cards to send to my editors from the Museum of Modern art with cut-outs and fold-outs and all sorts of cool features. The ones I got this year are silver fold-out dealies with crazy smiling flowers from Takashi Murakami. Editors always comment that they love my holiday cards.
* A Rolodex. My husband laughed when I bought an old-fashioned spinning Rolodex from an office sale in San Francisco for one dollar. But he’s not laughing anymore. It’s a great way to hold and organize business cards.
Linda
Nice post! I am also completely addicted to my DS-330 recorder. It is one of the greatest tools I own — in addition to my Radio Shack telephone recorder adapter and my business card books, which are small and easy to carry (each page has room for three cards). I organize them by city (since I travel a lot) and by the topics I cover, so if I’m looking for names or sources I can pull out that specific book and they’re all there.
But, I have a question — I have, for years, been looking for a reliable transcription service to e-mail files for transcribing when I’m bogged down and can’t keep up. Do either of you have a recommendation? I’ve yet to find another writer who has one to recommend, but you mentioned it in your post so I thought I’d ask.
Feel free to e-mail me directly, if that’s easiest. Thanks so much in advance!
Linda, I’m a lurker but I had to comment – I have index cards in my office left over from grad school when I made flash cards of Macedonian vocabulary! Oh, the good old days.
Betsy, Diana may have already answered you, but here’s my take: I just bought an iTalk to record interviews and plan to send the files to my virtual assistant for transcription. Many VAs do such work…just search for “virtual assistant” on Google and try to find one who has a professional site and whose personality seems to mesh with yours (and who preferably has experience working with writers). I tried using a professional transcriptionist once and it was not a good experience — same with one of those online transcription services.
Kat, Az govaryam bulgarski yazik. Okay, not really — actually, that’s practically the only sentence I can say anymore. For me, grad school really was the good OLD days — I finished in 1995!
Cheers,
Linda
Linda — Thanks so much! I’d never even heard of a virtual assistant before, but seems like a great resource. I appreciate it!
You are NOT supposed to write about things that make me spend money.
Right now, I’m one click away from ordering my own cool cards, thanks to Linda’s comment, AND I covet the Olympus recorder…If I get one, do you promise Vanity Fair will come looking for me to do in-depth celeb interviews? That would be worth the $350…
B