This is currently the most valuable tool in my creative belt
I know you’re reading a lot of articles online that say Do this to improve growth, Do this to be more successful, do this and that and this and that.
I’m not here to give you the same old advice. I only publish these pieces when I haven’t read pieces from other writers saying the same thing.
I see a lot of value in publishing these pieces myself because
- I come from a background of marketing strategy, so I’m endlessly fascinated by how I can improve growth and get better at everything marketing-related, and
- I find articles about online writing by other writers truly interesting and helpful.
I can’t help but write this article, because I am so excited to share this with you guys.
But if you’re just looking for reasons why this strategy is the next thing you need to be trying, then here it is.
My Writing Efficiency Has Doubled
To give you some rough numbers, when I would write a five-minute read article in the past, it would take me about 45 minutes to type (if I was in a really good flow, which didn’t always happen), and then about 15 minutes to edit.
So about one to one and a half hours to create a five-minute read.
Until recently, I was publishing one five-minute read a day online, Monday to Friday, as part of my business.
But ever since the massive algorithmic change, I realized that I needed to up my output for content or up my reading time for content if I wanted to stay relevant and continue to grow on this platform.
I started hemming and hawing about what I could do to increase my efficiency while not adding too much extra time to my day. I already run a social media company full time, and I don’t really have much extra time to invest online.
I started to entertain the idea of harnessing my natural proficiency for external processing and turning it into something concrete I could actually incorporate into my writing process. That’s when I started voice transcribing articles, just like the one you’re reading right now.
I’ve been doing this practice for a few weeks now, and what used to take me one and a half hours to create a full article now takes me about 30 minutes. In the time it used to take me to draft up one article, I’m able to voice transcribe three to four instead. Wowza.
That means my efficiency has become far better for writing without me having to add a ginormous extra chunk of time into my day.
My Readers Are Getting a More Sincere Version of Who I Am
When I voice transcribe, my thoughts are landing on a page in a way that is unfiltered.
Every bit that’s coming out of me is authentic, sincere, and unedited. What this means is I’m not letting my doubts or my worries sabotage me out of actually doing the work and writing things down.
It also means that the readers, with whom I’ve created loyal and solid relationships, are actually getting a more authentic version of me.
Which for some, admittedly, may not be that great. They may have become a fan through with my super-edited, very fine-tuned writing voice that tends to touch on my professional copywriting background.
But for those who like to read my work to experience my no-nonsense, no-bullshit, let’s-get-right-to-it mentality, this whole voice transcribing thing means that they’re getting even more of that trait from me. If they loved that, then it’s a win-win for both of us now.
I’m really passionate about being authentic with my audience, being transparent with them, and sharing every little bit of The Good, The Bad, and the extraordinary Ugly. I’ve been sharing my life with my readers on this platform for about eight or nine months now, so there aren’t many secrets between us.
And if there’s a way for me to ensure that I can be even more authentic and even more honest with them, in a way that really resonates, then I’m going to do it. Voice transcribing allows me to tap into that authenticity and give them more of that transparent look into my life and into my thoughts.
I’m No Longer Letting My Inner Editor Sabotage My Writing
I’ve heard it said before that one of the things that trips up writers the most is our inner editor getting ahead of our inner writer. Because we’re so critical of our own work, we hesitate to write things when our inner editor is asking questions like:
Is that even good?
Are you sure you want to write that?
Do you think people actually want to read that/will actually care?
It’s often the fear of writing something that isn’t good enough that leads us to not writing anything at all. I know I’ve sabotaged myself a million times before with that mindset.
The one thing that can outrun my inner editor by miles and miles is my external processing habit. That lady can freaking sprint at a speed that often boggles and confuses my husband on a regular basis. He knows when I’m really excited or passionate about something because the speed of my speech usually increases by two or three times, and he has a really, really tough time keeping up with me.
Before now, external processing has been a cute quirk. It’s been one that I have to be mindful of when I communicate with other people.
But that’s not the case when it comes to voice transcribing my work. I’m taking this once quirk that was sometimes an obstacle, and I’m turning it into a skill that I can use and harness to achieve greater success in my writing career.
Final Word
I want to be clear that not every bit of this voice transcribing process is fun and games.
One of the bigger negatives is that it has almost doubled my editing process time. But even with that doubling, I’m still able to be more efficient.
For those writers who really despise editing their own work, voice transcribing is going to be something you find tough. Because there’s a lot more of having to be objective and sifting through your own words to scrap the stuff that just doesn’t work.
A lot of the time, when it comes to writers, we’re not all that great at editing our own work. Many might say that when they’re typing on their laptop, they’re able to edit as they go, to ensure that the quality of their work is higher. I can totally understand that, and I found the extra editing time to be a bit tedious.
But in my opinion — and everyone is different — voice transcribing has enhanced my writing success and experience, and the positives far outweigh the negatives.
My growth online has skyrocketed due to my ability to pump out more content, in a more effective way, and in a way that is less mentally taxing in the long run. This means I’m not heading headfirst into burnout as I increase my output of content.
With the new algorithm and reading time being the biggest thing that calculates earnings these days, increasing the reading time that you put out is directly linked to being able to grow beyond where you are right now.
If you’re looking to succeed more online, if you’re looking to see your growth increase, you need to up your output.
And for some of you, voice transcribing may just be the way to do it.