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Welcome to the Steno Wizard's Realtime Journey!






Remember when life was simple and all you had to do was make a selection on what your steno really meant? Those days are long gone.





Reporters must get themselves into top realtime form to compete in today's job market. This is my contribution toward ALL of us reaching the realtime goal.



My Steno Wizardry concept is based on the idea that writing realtime actually doesn't require magic -- just hard work, determination, and a little bit of FUN imagination.



My hope is my sharing of the ideas I've incorporated into my realtime journey will assist you in yours.



Friday, October 22, 2010

A little imagination

Steno Wizard would like to share a favorite brief along with a favorite visualization technique to keep it all straight.

Fiancé TPAE (male)
Fiancée TPA*E (female)

The way to remember which is which is that the girl (fiancee) gets the sparkly diamond ring. Sparkly diamond looks like the asterisk and voila!








Thursday, October 21, 2010

Easy Roman Numeral Solution

Steno Wizard happened upon this Roman numeral idea at the very beginning of the realtime journey. This method is so easy to incorporate and will eliminate reporter hesitation in figuring out, oh, 10 -- hmm -- X or 5 -uh-V, etc.


Check this out. By incorporating the letter R- or -R on the keyboard with the strokes for the numbers 1 through 10 (at a minimum) or higher, and taking the time to define them into your steno database, you can be yet another step ahead in editing and look like a steno pro!

1-R I
2-R II
3-R III
4-R IV
5-R V
R-6 VI
R-7 VII
R-8 VIII
R-9 IX
10-R X
1E-R XI
12-R XII
13-R XIII
14-R XIV

and on and on...

Tuesday, October 19, 2010

More Philly Q&A Phrases

Steno Wizard loves phrasing! Phrasing is essential in our quest for speed. Realtime always improves when a reporter can keep up with the speaker.

How many HOUPL
How many times HOUPLTS
How many days HOUPLDZ
About how many PWOUPL
About how many times PWOUPLTS
About how many days PWOUPLDZ
How long HOUG
About how long PWOUG
How wide HOEUD
About how wide PWOEUD
How large HOURPBLG
About how large PWOURPBLG
How do you spell HOUP
How fast HOUFZ
About how fast PWOUFZ
How far HOUF
About how far PWOUF
How much HOUFP
Pretty much PREFP
About how much PWOUFP
How about HOUBT

Did you ever TKUFR
Did you ever see TKUFRZ
Did you ever say TKUFRS
Did you realize TKURLS
Did you recall TKURL
Did you remember TKUR or TKURPL
Did you have occasion TKUFGS
Did you ever have occasion TKUFRGS
Did you go TKUG
Did you feel TKUFL
Did you find TKUFD
Did you know TKUPB
Did you notice TKUPBTS
Did you understand TKUPBDZ
(of course TKO for all the do phrasing)

Is that correct STHARBGT
Isn't that correct STPHARBGT
Is that right STHART
Isn't that right STPHART
Is that true STHAR
Isn't that true STPHAR
Is that so STHAS
Isn't that so STPHAS

Tuesday, October 12, 2010

Sharing some Philadelphia Clinic Theory Phrases

Steno Wizard learned a smattering of brief phrases courtesy of the Philadelphia Clinic Theory (incorporating others picked up along the way) and thought it would be awesome to share these.

On the left-hand side of the keyboard...

KWRA I can't
KWREU I didn't
KWRU I couldn't
KWRAO I wouldn't
SKWRA you can't
SKWRO you don't
SKWRU you couldn't
SKWRAO you wouldn't

Then hook up these to the above strokes from the right-hand side of the keyboard...
-S say
-Z see
-NK think
-NKS think so
-MT mean to
-MTS mean to say
-BL believe
-BLS believe so
-NTS notice
-NDZ understand
-J imagine
-RKT recollect
-R remember
-RL recall
-RLS realize
-F have
-N know
-T tell
-TS tell us
-K care
-FG figure
-RZ recognize
-L like
-PT want

These are great for increasing Q&A speed.

Wednesday, September 22, 2010

Finally, the ANSWER

Steno Wizard has been learning some new techniques from Mark K. that maybe you'd like to know too. Life in the courtroom has become much easier as a result.

Try these on...

Yes, I did KWREUD
Yes, I do KWRAO
Yes, he did KWRAOED
Yes, she did KWRAOERBD
No, I didn't TPHEUPBT
No, I don't TPHOEPBT

Amazing, huh? Who knew!