Yesterday, I had a really terrific conversation with a publisher/neighbor. Two hours over coffee with barely any mention of books, let alone business. Nothing better than a good old-fashioned chat. It fills a void. People who need people, as Streisand sang. Conversation is one of life’s joys. Gen Alpha gets it. They’re even bringing back landlines.
(Speaking of speaking, my pal Vanessa Van Edwards’s new book Conversation comes out in a few weeks. Go preorder it.)
I got some new jewelry: the Pebble Index 01, unlike the always-on new Apple Watch, listens only to you, and only on command. It’s a smart ring with a little rubber nub—press down, speak into your finger, and the Index sends a perfect transcription to your phone. I’ve found it to be a terrific complement to my Levenger index-card wallet. I’ve only had it a few weeks but it’s already my favorite way to save a thought for later. (My wife says nobody has said “terrific” since Annie Hall in 1977. Am I a fuddy-duddy?)
If you want to sharpen an idea, talk it out with someone else or, if necessary, babble into your hand like a crazy person. No one will mind. Most of the people on your daily commute are already talking to themselves. You assume they’re on phone calls, but what if they aren’t? What if they all aren’t?
At my desk, I increasingly rely on Wispr Flow to transcribe my words when generating my sloppy first drafts. I’m a fast touch typist: 90+ wpm in my heyday as an office temp thanks to early training with typing games on my Apple II+. But talking is faster than fast, and it lets me put my feet up, steeple my fingers, and really get into a groove.
Sure, this isn’t how the “real” writers did it back in the day. Their wives took dictation. But my wife is too busy illustrating for Vogue. (Maybe that’s why I have to go outside the marriage for conversation.)
Bonus tip: I’ve found an unimpeachable use for AI. As you may have noticed if you’re a longtime reader of the newsletter, I repeat myself a lot. These days, I run everything against my archive to see if I’m retreading the same idea from years ago. That might not stop me from posting it—I posted something very similar to today’s essay in 2023—but, hey, at least I can track my cognitive . . . you know. Um. Worsening.
Oh man! I forgot about Type Attack!
The Wispr Flow point resonates — talking a draft out loud seems to catch bad logic faster than typing does, probably because you hear the gaps in real time instead of just seeing clean sentences that hide them. My friends and I actually have a rule: whoever brings up work first buys the next round. Good to know a two-hour conversation with zero business talk is still the gold standard, even in a newsletter about ideas.