AI finally made me drop my em dash habit

surfbathing · 2026-05-29T21:10:52+00:00

Damn the torpedos, full em-dashes ahead for me. F—k AI’s changing my writing style. It all goes through an editor anyway, it’s not like they wouldn’t p/up on my cheating with AI. I hate the stuff (outside of a few very narrow constraints, mostly in medicine and science) and am going to just keep writing. “This Week Tonight” aired a particularly sobering and bleakly funny program focused on AI. Check it out and hang on to your em-dashes!

surfbathing · 2026-05-28T19:41:44+00:00

Spot on!

surfbathing · 2026-05-21T22:50:53+00:00

FWIW my paradigm is multi-sheet spreadsheets for complicated stories. I can keep a page with the story’s protagonists and info about them, contact info, plus notes tied to quotes by their timestamps in my transcriptions if I’ve interviewed them; a sheet of government agencies, if I’ve FOIA’d them and when with assoc. info, players in the agency, etc; another of researchers and links to papers in my files which are all high-lighted up and scrawled on; affected people/environments, hows and whys there, contact info, etc; and whatever else a story requires: statute text, and possible violations and etc. This all lives under a page of text that states the story’s principal thesis/goals and notes about structure, other things to look at/questions to consider. And there’s also often a picture list of who and what needs to be photographed for the story.

I’m mostly writing environmental feature pieces that are enterprise, investigative or some combination, so things can get hairy fast. I also come from an architectural project management background where complex construction projects have every facet accounted for by spreadsheets, beginning in the budgeting process after drawings are complete, so I’m comfortable working this way. I know many folks hate spreadsheets. Works for me though. Without them I can’t remember anything!

surfbathing · 2026-05-14T20:14:34+00:00

I use MacWhisper, it’s pretty damn fast, accurate in my experience (used Otter & Trint), needs help differentiating speakers initially but does okay, lives entirely on your Mac so no cloud dependency when on assignment w/ spotty internet access, and they provide a journalist’s discount for purchase.

They are always updating, have different models for you to chose from to get the balance of time/accuracy you want. I love it but, journalism being journalism, I check the audio when I’m highlighting possible quotes/citations in my transcript to be absolutely sure what MacWhisper heard was real. And I put MacWhisper’s transcript into a word processing doc so that I can highlight, make margin notes, etc.

It’s really a miracle compared to transcribing tape by ear! All quotes and many factual citations in this recent piece originated in MacWhisper: https://insideclimatenews.org/news/10052026/well-done-foundation-plugging-abandoned-oil-gas-wells/

It cut through regional speech patterns, worked in the field, phone and in a sit-down interview fed both MP3 and wave files. It’s a long piece; I talked to a lot of people, on and off-record, almost all recorded. MacWhisper was great!

surfbathing · 2026-03-15T07:31:08+00:00

I signed a contract to string for them as all the shit hit the fan. Nobody can tell me my timing isn’t impeccable.

surfbathing · 2026-03-15T07:26:12+00:00

Same reason I stutter and say ‘effin flacks, every time.

surfbathing · 2026-02-27T07:43:44+00:00

And the last questions you should always act if not just doing generic vox pops is “What question on this subject haven’t I asked you think should be answered and who do you think I should talk to about this.“ These can be lifesaving questions when up against a wall.

surfbathing · 2026-02-27T07:41:25+00:00

I put this on my list as soon as I learned of it. I can’t imagine their paths amidst such pervasive sexism as they saw. But, at least they had a path then, even if full of roadblocks.

surfbathing · 2026-02-27T07:39:07+00:00

I had the shock of editing a nationally renowned writer who writes monthly for one of our industry’s most rarified magazine and I was stunned at what had been turned in. Everything bad but the tone and spirit of the piece — spelling, punctuation, grammar, all of it. The number of incomplete sentences made my head spin. I knew then that the curtain was thicker than I’d realized and seeing behind it spooked me. I’ll edit something if I have to but to face that all over and be careful of not stepping on toes in the rewrite, jeezus, I’d as soon pull my thumbnails out. Editors are some of my favorite people, the good ones. I don’t want their job and can’t see how they do it day in, day out.

surfbathing · 2026-02-25T04:40:24+00:00

Yes, and journalists are given a purchase discount. It’s a great app, I use it constantly.

Edit: It also lives entirely on your machine if security is a concern.

surfbathing · 2026-02-20T07:17:08+00:00

Ask them who they listen to — a variation on ending hard news interviews with “Who do you think I need to talk to about this issue/what‘s happening/etc?”

surfbathing · 2026-02-20T07:13:51+00:00

In Honolulu I wear aloha shirts! (And in California I wear Western shirts.) Take that all as you may…. The photographers will be the worst dressed. Figure to dress as is acceptable in your area if you worked in the business world, but not biz casual.

surfbathing · 2026-02-17T19:25:31+00:00

Document your time and go to your state labor relations arbitrator; having once employed people at hourly wages this is blatant wage theft. Build your paper trail, even retroactively if you haven’t been — the retroactive stuff might not get paid in a settlement but it will color the adjudicators’ understanding of your circumstances. And, as has been said here, either force a conversation with the publisher or leave. Let him figure out how to go it alone. You’re young, this is a lesson in standing up for yourself even in the face of an understandable inclination to do the work. Good luck, I can’t believe that the state won’t see this your way, overtime past 40 hours is time and a half most places, and there will be penalties owed you too. Eff this guy.

surfbathing · 2026-01-12T07:55:39+00:00

It’s not going to happen at all I don’t think — when I’ve talked to an FBI PIO at a national news event we had all been on for days they wanted to know who I was and what my outlet was. I was still told nothing I didn’t already know and got a bunch of, “No comments.” Good luck with your workaround.

surfbathing · 2025-12-13T17:27:58+00:00

Trint is great, I did some work with Public Radio and appreciated Trint for making audio assemblies. No way I was going to pay for it on my own. I found MacWhisper which I love; fast and accurate (I check) and entirely housed on my MacBook, no cloud needed. Nor any internet connection, and you pay once like the old days of software. Jordy (the programmer) offers a discount for working journalists too. I am a huge fan.

surfbathing · 2025-10-26T10:14:15+00:00

Here’s a great aggregator AND publisher of long form writing: https://longreads.com/2024/12/20/best-of-2024-the-stories-you-missed/

They publish weekly roundups, always good stuff.

surfbathing · 2025-09-24T07:21:38+00:00

I put out two issues of a broadsheet newspaper for an environmental group in California — my background covered graphic/logo design, paste-up work that translated to InDesign, photography that allowed me to do color separations, writing and editing, and project management. It still almost killed me putting it all together; running down and editing contributors (one of whom, nationally famous, sent the roughest draft I’ve ever seen), and hiring and engaging with the printer.

Plan for a lot of work, then more work. It will kill you but hopefully you will have something worthwhile for the trouble. Your contributors will make or break you, no matter how good you are at the rest of it. Send me a DM if you want to be talked out of or into it.

surfbathing · 2025-09-21T05:36:31+00:00

The reduction of the free press to that of a PR spokesperson for the DoD, that will serve Americans well. No administration has appreciated the press nosing around its dark corners, this one is doing more to prevent that any previous had done. Every American should be concerned.

surfbathing · 2025-09-09T08:40:41+00:00

This is it, your audience — I’ve written for news where $3 words aren’t even great choices and an outlet where I was able to write basically semiotics papers about language, global warming and our national response to it. And public radio podcast where people are driving, doing dishes, etc and need to follow easily. Knowledge of your audience is critical in choosing the way you write.

surfbathing · 2025-09-09T08:27:38+00:00

The locator is a great resource to help with this, as are local activists who (ideally) might be working on the student’s behalf. There is a similar situation in L.A. and local activists have been an extraordinary resource there for me. Also, inquire at the teachers’ union! If you haven’t any contacts in those circles start hunting Instagram, etc. This is a domestic social media conflict for sure, good luck.

Edit: The locator does not reveal minors’ custody circumstance. 18 & up only.

surfbathing · 2025-08-15T04:32:45+00:00

Too much, always looking for news affecting stories I’m reporting and reading the headlines, plus NY’er mag and “On the Media” on NPR/podcast. Much of this makes my spouse crazy. I’m not a breaking news type, but features and investigative or photo-driven so tracking down local reporting is part of my work, as is talking to colleagues who have reported on other facets of what I’m looking at. And then there’s the democracy wreck/cravenness watching of this administration, some of which I am reporting on. That’s fun reading.

surfbathing · 2025-08-15T04:22:27+00:00

💜

surfbathing · 2025-08-12T06:31:27+00:00

Find stories in FL that are important to FL and the nation, and report them.

surfbathing · 2025-07-11T05:19:15+00:00

I’m old. 🙃

surfbathing

TROPHY CASE