Oh, my! Med-mal this week...

What a week!  Weeklong trial regarding the bladder and kidneys.  With the help of a few sources and Eclipse's Auto Brief feature, here's some new embraceable writing ideas!

Ibuprofen *EUB   -- WOW!  THIS ONE IS A DEFINITE KEEPER!

urology KWRAOURLG

urologist KWRAOURLGS

nephrology   TPHEFRLG

nephrologist TPHEFRLGS

nephritis TPHEFRTS

bladder PWHRARD

prostate PROTS

subjective S*UFPBLG

objective O*FB

assessment SAEFMT


Realtime looked beautiful (PWAOUFL)!

Put Words in Your Mouth

Steno Wizard got to thinking about a common phrase that definitely should be briefed.

"Put words in your mouth" comes up frequently enough.  A coworker gave me her brief, and I think I like it.  Kind of funny how an attorney doesn't want to put words in the mouth of the witness and then proceeds to do so. 

Put words in your mouth  PURMT
Putting words in your mouth PURMGT

Couple of new briefs worth trying out

Steno Wizard has really tried to embrace the "keep it simple" briefing methodology over the years and just recently came up with a couple of keepers.  In the interest of sharing...


TR-B   Transcribe
TR-BD Transcribed
TR-BZ Transcribes


PR-B  Prescribe
PR-BD  Prescribed
PR-BZ  Prescribing

STKR-B Describe
STKR-BD Described
STKR-BZ  Describes

SKR-B Subscribe
SKR-BD  Subscribed
SKR-BZ  Subscribes

Realtime Tips Article

Recently, Steno Wizard was contacted by NCRA to give some tips on realtime writing for the JCR.  When they'll appear, who knows!   You're reading them here first!

1.  Know your software.  Stay up-to-date with your software. Take advantage of the tips and tricks that are already built-in features of your software.  CAT vendors have done a lot to help reporters provide excellent realtime services.

2.  Be open to change.  Realtime writing is a journey towards excellence.  There are a plethora of realtime writing books and websites to explore ideas on how to improve steno theory.  You don't have to embrace every single idea.  You can pick and choose what you like and ignore what you don't like.  You're the person in control of your steno machine -- no one else! 

3.  Build your dictionary with prefixes, suffixes, root words. Input major cities, colors, flowers, trees, car models, common first and last names, etc.  If you know it, as Mark K. says, put it in your steno dictionary.  CAT software has dictionary building features to make it easier than ever to build your dictionary.

4.  My final suggestion:  A good starting point is review your common writing mistakes that you are fixing during the editing stage of transcript production.  

As an example, for over a decade, I kept fixing the word "and" (written APBD) during editing.  I would misstroke "and" and the words abdomen, apprehend, April, an, ab, everything but "and" would be the ultimate translation.  Obviously, a huge amount of time was involved in editing that simple 3-letter word.  Something had to change.  A student told me she was being taught SKP- in school.  I wasn't immediately enthralled with the idea, but I pondered it for a while and it grew on me.  My realtime writing improved tremendously once I made the SKP- change.  Of course, my production time improved along the way. 

Let's celebrate!

Lovely new brief of the day!

Steno Wizard just happened to have this little brief land right in her lap today.  Someone was looking for a brief for the word kidnap.  KEUP is what is in the book Brief Encounters, and SW thinks this is one of those woo-hoo, why didn't I think of that?! 

So kidnap KEUP
kidnapping KEUPG
kidnapper KEURP
kidnapped KEUPD

Now we're ready!