TA #165: 🎢 What tools do writers need now?

Sunday, June 23, 2024

Hello, hello!

We hear a lot about how AI tools can maximize our efficiency. But maybe AI isn't the only way to be more efficient. 

Walk with me into a live auction... It happened last Tuesday, when an auction of 454 items belonging to musical theater legend Stephen Sondheim sent fans into a frenzy.

Furniture. Prints. Memorabilia. Antique puzzles. (He collected them, I guess?) Show posters from musicals he worked on, like West Side Story and Sweeney Todd and Into the Woods. All of it from Sondheim's Manhattan townhouse and his country home in Connecticut. (The full list is here.)

People squeezed into the auction room (the actual NYC showroom and the livestream) with giddy anticipation—with the same energy as if they were about to watch their favorite child play Maria in the school musical.

* * *

Here's the interesting part: News reports—and even the auctioneer himself—were blown away by the bids on some of the most basic items.

"Mundane" items, they called them. Like...

• 4 thesauruses, including a 1946 Roget's
  Auction estimate: $200–$300
  Sold for $25,600
   
• Spiral notebook and stationery
  Estimate: $300–$500
  Sold for $15,360
   
• 3 boxes of vintage Blackwing pencils
  Estimate: $600–$800
  Sold for $6,400

"Never thought I'd say it... but for the pencils, let's start with a $2,750 bid," said an incredulous auctioneer.

Pencils, notebooks, reference books. Mundane. Basic. Ordinary.

* * *

I'm in the early stages of writing another book.

I'm in that wild stage where, over the course of a single week, I soar from the heights of hype and the most convicted conviction (my-best-work-everrrrr...) before plunging into the deeps of disillusionment and self-doubt (cue loop of worst-book-everrrrr)... then (still alone in my studio)... the cycle restarts.

It's the least fun roller coaster ever. I scream. My stomach screams. My ears block themselves in the din. Exhausting. 

I drew this to show you. Can you hear my stomach screaming...? 

It's the back and forth of creating something from nothing. The creative process is like that. 

ANYWAY. You'll hear more about the book later. Yet in the back-and-forth, something-from-nothing... I've realized how much of it requires The Mundane.

We might use digital tools and platforms. But the process still needs paper and pencils and reference books. Lots of creatives do. 

We're drawn to The Mundane. Sometimes because of what it represents (the music of a creative genius). Or because we value just how much of creating is complex, personal, elusive... yet so tactical and tactile.

We can't create anything of value unless we feel it in our hearts—and in our hands.

* * *

We hear a lot about incorporating artificial intelligence into our workflow to maximize our production efficiency.

But I think the opposite is also true: We need to incorporate more of The Mundane into our workflow to maximize our creative efficiency, too.

Here's an example. It's from my own workflow on my new book. The book is NOT about roller coasters (lol)... but let's call it... Operation Roller-Coaster Book. 

Roller-Coaster Book Tools

Most of the book's evolution is happening in digital tools/platforms:

• Excel Spreadsheet: to organize chapters (I used to use Scrivener, but it was too much)
• Notion: my personal Costco Warehouse for ideas and frameworks 
• Google Docs/Microsoft Word: To write 
• Otter.ai: To capture, transcribe interviews 
• Claude.ai: For first-pass feedback, after I write the first draft and need perspective on what would make it stronger: Would this grab a reader immediately? Does the narrative drag anywhere?

Claude doesn't write for me—I need and enjoy doing that part myself. But it's a parakeet perched on my shoulder—a wingman chiming in to keep me on the ascent a little longer. (Truly, sometimes the suggestions are sh*t. But it helps me relax and not take myself so seriously.)

But! The Mundane is critical to workflow, too:
 

• A dedicated, foundational notebook where I warehouse thoughts, ideas I write down by hand. (I wrote on the front in Sharpie: "Operation Roller Coaster.") It's always within reach, because you never know when something weird or useful crosses your path.
   
• A second dedicated notebook ("Operation Roller Coaster II") to take notes by hand during an interview. 
  
  Why take notes by hand... if I'm using Otter? Because taking notes by hand helps me internalize what I'm hearing. It immerses me more fully in what's being shared. 
  
  I can't write as quickly as someone speaks. So taking notes by hand forces me to listen more intently. It syncs my brain with my hand, but without the stress of worrying about catching it all. (Because Otter.) 
   
• Printouts and a highlighter. So basic. But reading it out loud in a different format (paper vs. screen) forces you to see it anew. I've noticed things in a printout that I completely miss on a screen. Brains are weird.
   
• Actual human editor. OK fine... Humans are not mundane. But Claude alone doesn't cut it. 

* * *

Today you and I write mostly on whisper-quiet laptops. ChatGPT has replaced Roget. We get a hand cramp even looking at a pencil—even if it is a coveted Blackwing, an iconic pencil with a cult following. 

(Would Sondheim be a Blackwing influencer today with a TikTok account called @WestSidePencil? I like to think so.)

But still we're drawn to The Mundane. Not because they are precious and full of nostalgia and longing for a time and creator no longer here.

But I think we are drawn to them because we know what every other writer that has come before us also knows: They connect our hands to what we want to most need to say.

THE FUTURE OF B2B INFLUENCER MARKETING

What channels are hot in B2B? What kills a collab? What do B2B influencers cost? If I forego the Blackwing pencils... Can I afford a Kardashian? (Spoiler: No.)

Onalytica answered all these burning questions (and more) in its brand-new research report. They interviewed me and some other B2B types, too. Warning: You'll have to fork over your email to access it; don't @ me.

DEPARTMENT OF SHENANIGANS

To whom it may concern?

SELECT EVENTS

📆 JUNE 25-27: 1000Watt Brand & Marketing Summit, Dallas. [Code ANN gets you 15% off.]

📆 OCT 8: SparkTogether, Seattle

📆 OCT 16-17: GURU Events [virtual]

📆 OCT 22-23: Content Marketing World, San Diego

📆 NOV 12-14: MarketingProfs B2B Forum, Boston. What's the ultimate destination for B2B marketers to discover how to drive growth, elevate brand reputation, prove ROI, and stay ahead of the ever-changing marketing curve? It's Boston. You gotta be there this year.

Thanks for reading this far.

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Stay healthy.

Get outside.

🫡 See you July 7!