How to overcome Writer's Block
With long-form voice input using AI
We all have been there - staring at that large blank text box someone told us to fill in. The problem to get started is known so well that it got a name - the Writer’s Block.
The mainstream solution is to develop a personalized “ritual dance” which helps us to get started. To start writing we usually follow these obvious steps:
First, we do the dishes.
Next, have a nice long shower and dress up fresh.
Finally, we admit we gotta get out of the house. Obvious choice is to get a coffee - or go to our “coffice”.
Still, even though there is nothing else to do, we still just stare at that large blank textbox.
Solution
What if I told you there is a better way. Let me explain by sharing my own journey.
Journey to the solution
Some Friday in California - It’s the last day to fill in the corporate grunt work we all fear. Writing up yearly Performance Reviews (or “Perf”).
Scary or not, you have to write one for yourself and one for all your peers. And even though I blurrily know what to fill in the questionnaire - I just get overwhelmed by trying to fit the past half year into my brain.
So here I am myself, starring at that blank form after multiple visits to the microkitchen. Still hesitating to start - I go for advice to my buddy ChatGPT.
That’s when I notice the solution is right in front of me - the voice input button for ChatGPT. Yes! I can just talk my brain out in 10 minutes and it will fill it for me! So I booked a meeting room and I literally dumped all those projects, achievements and learnings and told it to output the desired structure.
Hitting the stop button already yields a huge relief - all I wanted to say is already out of my brain! It was like crossing the Bay Bridge on rush hours after a long long wait.
The output draft itself needed editing - but every content person knows that editing an existing text is much simple. So just a bronze bullet - not a silver bullet solution^TM.
Other applications
It’s not just Perf - there are many repeating use-cases I use the super-long-voice-to-GPT button:
Discuss engineering designs while watching kids at playground [example]
Weekly sprint task planning [example]
Writing draft emails, like formal ones to .gov
Daily journalling
Researching solutions [example]
AND admittedly, to start off this blog-post 🙈. In this case the draft was so bad I rewrote the entirety of it - I pinky promise.
PLUS, you can do this while walking to your coffice, or driving home.
Limitations
Some I have experienced:
Bad internet and loss of your long voice input
Editing options
Searching through past notes
Appendix: Previous Limitations of Existing Tools
Voice assistants
Every tech-savvy individual knows about the voice assistants like Siri and Google Assistant. Their primary functionality lies in their ability to execute short commands, whether it's setting a timer or jotting down a calendar reminder.
For long-form content, historically, the solution was to lean on a real human - in a role of an executive assistant. Think of those high-ranking professionals dictating summaries of their high-profile meetings. There was clearly a gap between these two extremes.
The voice-to-GPT solution lies in between these.
Apple / Google keyboard
Me and a few folks tried it, but the transcription wasn’t there quality wise. They will clearly be better, after which you can just use that.