How to Write on Your Phone (and Why You Should)

From The Productive Indie Fiction Writer:

It’s probably not a surprise to you if I tell you that I have cancer.  I didn’t keep my diagnosis a secret as I needed to explain to my readers why the next book in their favourite series would not be coming out quite as quickly as usual.  In fact, there was a near-two-year gap in my production schedule, which horrified me.  But keeping the readers informed about these delays meant that my diagnosis and treatment was an open, public affair.

I’m in remission now (there is no cure for Multiple Myeloma), so my medical and oncology appointments have reduced to once a quarter for now.

What you might not know is that my husband has now been diagnosed with Stage 3 colorectal cancer, and is now undergoing chemotherapy, radiation, surgery and more chemotherapy.  On the plus side, there’s a very good chance he’ll be completely cured at the end of the year-long treatment schedule.

But that’s a lot of time spent sitting in waiting rooms.  Coming up on three years’ worth of at least weekly appointments.

When I know I’m going to be waiting for a long time, I take my laptop with me.  But there have been many occasions that we thought would only take ten or fifteen minutes, that stretched on for hours.  Plus, there’s waiting for the pharmacy to fill prescriptions, and waiting for…well, lots of things.

It’s these unexpected waiting times that drive me crazy.  They add up, those “just five minute more!” waits, to the hour-plus or even longer that doctors don’t seem to mind making you wait, these days.

It’s not the medical system that irritates me.  It’s the lost opportunity.

Just sitting there and reading a book for a whole hour seems like an incredible waste of time.  I could have five pages written in that time!

I considered taking my laptop with me everywhere, but that becomes a pain in the back.  Literally.  I have fractured vertebrae from the cancer, and muscles that seem to have forgotten what their function is, so hauling a backpack or a bag hanging off one shoulder puts a strain on my back that makes it an agony to do anything but lie back in a recliner or on a bed.

However, I have my phone with me all the time.  One day, while I was waiting for Mark to re-emerge, I looked up on Google ways to write on the go, and the first Reddit entry was a question about how to write on one’s phone.

Bingo!

I love a new research project.  I dived into this one, researching software possibilities, hardware and accessories, how to hack all of the above, and…could one just write with one finger?

It’s possible that your life has many expected waiting times in it, too.  

Writing on your phone is the perfect way to use up those bonus minutes.  But there’s other advantages to phone writing:

Writing throughout the day keeps your head in the story

You don’t have to read back over the last few pages to remember where you left off.  Your last writing minute was not that long ago, and you can dive into the next few minutes with barely any hesitation. 

It’s possible the next sentence has been pinging around in your head, just waiting for you to crack open the manuscript.

And an added bonus is that when you get to your desk (finally!) for a full and formal writing session, all those five minutes’ worth of writing that kept your head in the story throughout the day will now give you the impetus to dive into the longer writing session with enthusiasm, because you’ll know exactly where you’re going.

The word count adds up – Fast.

You might think it’s not worth the time to open your manuscript on your phone and scroll to the end, and then think up the next sentence, then painfully thumb out the text.

You would be wrong.

I’ll expand on this in a minute: If you’ve tried writing on your phone in the past, then you’re in for a pleasant surprise. 

These days the tech allows you to reach the point where you left off with a couple of taps and be writing in a few seconds.  And if you leave the manuscript open on the phone until you get to your desk, then it takes even less time.

Even if you have only three minutes, you can write a sentence or two – or even just decide what the next sentences should be; so, when you next look at the document, you know exactly what to write.

Ten words here, twenty there, added up over the day can equal a significant amount of progress.

It takes your mind off whatever you’re waiting for

If the reason you’re waiting has the potential for negative outcomes, then writing will save you some anxiety. 

Even if you’re waiting for a more pleasant thing/event/turn, writing a few words will stop you seething about having to wait. 

True story:  When I was (much) younger and touring Europe with friends, me and my Australian friends would see the line-ups to enter attractions and exhibitions and be so put off by the length of the line that we would forego the attraction altogether.  The Americans travelling with us couldn’t understand why we would do such a thing.  “Line ups are normal!” they would protest. 

I still, to this day, find lining up and waiting my turn a frustrating process. I’m sure I’m not the only one!

You always have your phone with you

You don’t have to remember to take special writing equipment with you.  It’s already in your pocket or purse.  It’s lightweight and you can write your book with one hand if you want or need to (swiping, or gesturing).

How to write on your phone

You have a large number of options, here.

The software

Where to start?

You can use a text editor that is native to your phone and transfer the text to your manuscript when you’re back at your desk.

You can use a dedicated writing application that has a mobile version.  Scrivener, for example (there are many others). 

If the writing app you already use has a mobile version, this becomes a no-brainer decision.  You’ll already be familiar with the software, and you won’t have to convert the manuscript to open on your phone.

However, I would advise against buying writing software just for your phone if you don’t already use it on your laptop or desktop.  There are simpler solutions, including:

You can use a general text editor like Microsoft Word or Google Docs.  As I’m a dedicated Word user on my laptop and desktop, this is the solution I found that worked best for me.

Years ago, when I tried writing on my phone, the Microsoft Office suite had just launched the mobile versions and mobile Word frankly sucked. 

It is so much better now!  Before, when I opened the manuscript, I would have to swipe and swipe and swipe to scroll to where I had left off.  There was no easy navigation of a long document, and it was frustrating enough that I quit trying, just over that one issue. 

But even the editing screen was clunky, with lines flowing off the screen…it was all very ugly.

All those issues have been resolved now.  You can jump straight to where you left off with a single tap, and not only is the editing screen much easier to work with, you can also dictate your story with a single tap – the Microsoft Speech to Text editor icon is right there. (Although I would suggest not dictating super-hot sex scenes while in public!

A lateral thinking solution is to use a notetaking app like OneNote; an app that synchronizes across devices, so you can extract your manuscript fragment later and add it to your manuscript. 

This is a solution that might work for you if you love handwriting, because it allows you to use a stylus.  OneNote, in particular, can turn your handwriting into text (and does a not-half-bad job of it, so long as your handwriting doesn’t resemble a drunken ant dipped in ink). 

I tried this solution first, because of my previous unhappy experience with Word.  It was great to get back to handwriting, but I found that I just couldn’t keep up with my writing brain.  My handwriting diminished in clarity to the point where I was using old Pitman Shorthand forms interspersed with wavy lines that even I couldn’t translate, let alone OneNote. 

The Hardware

Your phone, of course.  And that’s it.  That’s all you need.  However, you might also consider:

A stylus.  If you’re using a note taking app that lets you handwrite, then the stylus will come in handy.  I have a cheat for that, too:  I have a Galaxy Note, which has a stylus built into the phone itself.  You slide it out and away you go.  And this style ignores your hand, so you can press your fingers against the screen as you write (like you do with a pen and paper) and the phone only pays attention to the stylus.   

Separately purchased stylus will require that you don’t touch the screen with your hand, though.

A folding keyboard with a built-in stand for your phone.   This will expand and speed up your ability to write a lot.  Some of the folding keyboards come with small mouse pads, giving you cursor control, too, which means you never have to lift your fingers away from the keypad.   These keypads usually connect by Bluetooth.

The problem with the stylus and keyboard, though, is that you have to remember to take them with you.  Also, if the keyboard doesn’t have a built-in stand for your phone, now you need a stand, too.  The accessories start adding up…to the point where you might as well lug your laptop, instead.

You need to find a way to write on your phone that only needs your phone.  That means, most often, that you’ll be thumbing or swiping out your text.

Thumbing & Swiping Text & Alternative Keyboards

Swiping or thumbing text is a personal choice.  Studies have shown that while swiping seems faster than thumbing, they both average about 40 words a minute for a proficient user. 

The keyboard you use may make a difference, too.  I swapped out the Android native keyboard on my phone years ago, for the Microsoft SwiftKey keyboard, which anticipates text, and allows me to enter text much faster. 

There are many different keyboards out there, including alternatives to the standard QWERTY keyboard, such as Dvorak, if you have trained yourself to use one these.

Also, each keyboard comes with different color themes.  Look for one that suits you the best.  I had to find a color scheme that brightly displayed the punctuation keys, for example.

In addition, there are non-keyboard text entry methods such as the DOTkey gesture method of entering text.  DOTkey claims that speeds of up to 70 words a minute are possible, and it is all one-handed ‘typing’.  But you would have to train yourself to use this method. 

A different alternative is electronic shorthand. You can use this whenever you have a keyboard to enter text, including a physical keyboard on your laptop or with your desktop computer. But while this might speed up your text entry, you must also allow time for transcribing to full text, afterwards.

If you spend a lot of time using your phone for writing (or intend to), then the time needed to learn alternative text entry methods, or to use one of the alternative keyboards that promote faster typing might be worth the investment.

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If you’re serious about getting serious amounts of pages written in a day, why not put unexpected minutes of waiting to good use?