Realtime Every Job!

The steno screen doesn't take the place of your laptop!

I decided I wanted to transition from court reporting to captioning in December 2012. I wasn't exactly sure how to do that, and I was just shooting in the dark as to how to go about it.

One thing that I did decide to do was to hook up my computer and realtime EVERY job. Up to that point, I would never realtime because, as a court reporter, I already lugged around enough equipment. I didn't want to carry a laptop everyday. I only brought it if I knew I was going to have downtime and I'd work on transcripts.

I thought I was a pretty good writer and I thought I'd translate everything. Wrong! It turns out I was horrible. I used to read in court reporter forums about how realtiming jobs improves your writing. I thought they were just talking junk, but it's really true.

I started realtiming everything since about March or April of 2013, and I can really tell the difference. On Eclipse, you can turn on brief suggestions. I really suggest using them. I've learned a lot of briefs, which has really shortened my writing, which is essential in building speed for captioning.

I didn't realize how bad my writing had been until today. My office called and told me I had a trial backorder from 2011. I loaded it onto my laptop, and, oh, my gosh, it looked like I was still in school. Untranslates were everywhere. It showed me really how far I've come in less than a year.

So even if you're not considered captioning, please, please, please start realtiming everything. It helps you become more accurate, saves on editing time, and it can really improve your writing speed.