Hello again, from Reproof
Hi. Hey. Hello there! It’s been a while. It all started with a dream of better writing tools. A realization that writing apps still act like paper, with...
The Mac was supposed to be a focused writing machine.
Hi, Have you ever imagined that computers could, surely, be better than they are today? That they shouldn’t make things so difficult, shouldn’t ask so many...
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Reproof Newsletter
Don't get a robot to write your blog posts. Not yet.
With GPT-3 and DALL-E, with Google debating how much LaMDA knows itself, is it time to hire a robot to do your writing for you? A reader asked me recently...
Want to build something? Document it first.
Hey, happy Friday! There's an idea that I keep seeing everywhere. First it was in Nest founder Tony Fadell's book Build, where he talked about writing the...
Trash the thesaurus. Dig into the dictionary instead.
Have a good day!, you type, but that’s what everyone else says, and there’s got to be something better. So you turn to the thesaurus. Have could be own,...
Writing is walking around a topic
Hey there! After a few weeks of travel—something that, mercifully for anyone with family spread around the world, is making a halting comeback—I’m back with...
On learning your way around the new Google Analytics
Hey there, happy Friday! I finally learned my way around the new Google Analytics 4 this week—and made a guide to help you make the switch. After a decade...
Don't delete your darlings. Not yet.
Hi, Ever written something, then gone back to read through it, and noticed a section that doesn’t quite fit? Something fun, perhaps, but not right for this...
On consistency, quality, and luck.
Happy Wednesday! There’s something to be said for consistency, publishing every day as Seth Godin has done for years, or weekly as many of the most popular...
I asked 15 writers how to proofread better.
Hey there, I don't know how many times I've published something—or, worse, sent an email—only to notice a typo or three moments later. So when I'm writing...
The best books to improve your writing.
Hi, It's easy enough to think of things you want to write. Inspiration's everywhere. Editing is a whole other thing. Words flow when you're inspired, but...
What's your favorite thing you've written lately?
Hey there, Happy Tuesday! Curious: What’s something you’ve written recently that you’re especially proud of? And as you were writing it, what was your...
Sometimes we just need to forget.
Hey there! I’ve tried oh so many notes apps. There’s that euphoria of the new; this time, you’re going to remember everything. Only, soon enough, you slowly...
on roundups and titles and showing up when people search
If there’s one thing I get the most questions about, it’s Zapier’s roundups. We’d test dozens of apps, write thousands of words, then years later they’d...
How we got strikethrough
Hey there, It's hard to build a new app without wondering where some of today's defaults came from. When did word processors first start tracking changes?...
the good and the bad of copying.
Something breaks, you google the error, and stumble upon a bit of code or a script that promises to cure what ails you. For better or worse, it often works...
My trick to write intros
Hey there, The shorter the bit of text, the harder I've always found it to write. You can restate yourself a few times in a longer piece and eventually get...