Welcome to Issue 179 of Total Annarchy, a fortnightly newsletter by me, Ann Handley, with a focus on writing, marketing, living your best life. Was this email forwarded to you? You can subscribe here.

Sunday, January 19, 2025

Hullo, crumb cake!

Disney's Dumbo is a baby elephant born with extraordinarily large ears—ears with the wingspan of a Boeing 747; ears so ridiculous others ridicule him. His only friend is a small rodent named Timothy Q. Mouse.

One night, Dumbo and Timothy go on a bender and awake high in a tree, hungover. (Seriously: They get drunk on champagne and somehow hallucinate as if they're on Ketamine. Dumbo was made in 1941, a time when Disney (and childhood) was a little unhinged.)

How did they get up there? Timothy realizes Dumbo must have flown them into the tree—powered by those 747 ears. Timothy devises a clever plan: He gives Dumbo a "magic" feather, telling him it holds the miracle of flight.

Sure enough: as Dumbo clutches the feather in his trunk, he transforms into as spectacular an aerial artist as a Vegas cast member of Cirque du Soleil.

All that swooping and soaring makes Dumbo accidentally drop the feather. At which point—plummeting toward earth at an alarming speed, their faces about to meet dirt—Timothy fesses up.

Dumbo, he says, the feather was never magical at all. The "magic" was within Dumbo all along! He can fly!

"I can fly!" Dumbo says, in case you—a child watching in 1941—are also drunk on champagne and didn't get it the first time.

Dumbo feels empowered! He spreads his enormous ears! He swirls! He whirls! He glides triumphantly through the air! I CAN FLY!!!

Music swells. Credits roll.

* * *

Dumbo is all of us, searching for the feather.

It must be out there: the perfect tool, the perfect app, the perfect productivity Pomodoro, or That Perfect New-Year Notebook.

If only we had a better Notion template. A time-blocked calendar. Inbox zero. If only we got up an hour earlier. I CAN FLY!

But of course... there is no magic feather.

There is no magic at all. The magic is within us.

* * *

Yet there are writing and content tools that can empower us. There are feathers that can help, even if they "only" give us the necessary mindset.

I've talked about some of them before. Here are other new (or new to me) content creation tools that I've been experimenting with.

1. BLACKWING PENCILS

The best analog writing tool.
 

How I use them: Every morning I write longhand for 5 or 10 or 15 minutes in a notebook, recording fragments of stories or things that delighted (or depressed) me the previous day.

Why it's a game-changer: This practice slows down my life. So much gets lost if you don't intentionally pause.

Why now: I used to be a Sharpie gal. Then I discovered Blackwings. 

They aren't like other pencils: They come in four softnesses of lead (actually not lead at all—but a mix of graphite, clay, and wax). That matters because they don't feel scratchy on the page like lesser pencils do... and where have these been all my life?

It turns out that Blackwings have a storied history with artists and writers—John Steinbeck, Stephen Sondheim, cartoonist Chuck Jones all loved them. A Blackwing was clenched between the jaws of Richard Dreyfus in Jaws, which is a delightful meta-metaphor all on its own. (Between jaws. In Jaws. I am *deceased*.)
 

Lately Blackwings have been enjoying a bit of a Renaissance among writers, artists, and people like you and me who love the tactile experience of pencils and paper, in part to counterbalance all these screens. (I have no affiliation with them, BTW. I'm just a fan.) 

2. CLAUDE.AI

An gen A.I. tool that's helpful in the process.
 

I don't use generative AI for writing a first draft. Here's why. Spoiler: Writing is thinking.

If we want to avoid AI Slop (we do), use AI less for creating and more for other parts of the process.

How I use it: I use Claude the way I might rely on an editorial assistant. One way to think of it: if you wish you could pay someone to do the job, consider tapping AI.

Why it's a game-changer: I'm working on a new book. I might ask Claude to poke holes to analyze a point I'm making. He (we might as well call Claude a "he") helps me think through issues more clearly, as a brainstorming partner that doesn't get sick of my badgering questions.

I've been thinking about this book idea for years. I am so close to the material at this point that we've picked up each other's mannerisms. Claude helps me avoid the curse of knowledge—he reminds me when the reader needs more context.

Why he isn't such a hot shot: The other day I asked Claude to give me feedback on a specific chapter. He said: "You should remove the meta commentary."

Meta commentary? What's that?

Claude: "The asides." Then he rewrote one of my paragraphs to show me what he meant (which I didn't request). Claude's rewrite read like a carburetor manual.

Me: "No. That strips my voice and perspective out of the text."

Claude: "My apologies; you're right. Your voice is what makes your writing engaging."

I worry that less-experienced or new writers would take the advice of any AI and not push back.

Know yourself. Own your voice.

A key point: The way I use Claude DOES NOT replace an actual human researcher or actual human editor. All-capped so we're clear.

3. PERPLEXITY SEARCH

A cleaner, smarter search engine.

How I use it: Perplexity is a smarter search tool than Google. Ask a question, get schooled—with sources cited.

Why it's a game changer: Today I asked Google: Which zoo had the first Valentine's day program featuring cockroaches? 

Google couldn't give me a definitive answer. Maybe here, maybe there. It sent me swooping and soaring all over the internet like I was Timothy Q. Mouse hanging on to Dumbo.

The exact same search in Perplexity surfaced answers Google didn't, all in a neat package instead of pages and pages whatever chaos Google was serving.

Why it isn't such a hot shot: AI really does hallucinate. As always with any AI tool, check your sources!

4. OTTER.AI

An intuitive transcription tool.
 

What it is: If your writing includes any kind of subject-matter expert interviews, Otter records and transcribes a conversation, either live or online, then gives you a summary of action items or key points. It lets you edit the conversation or search within it to hear or read the text you need.

Other tools do this, too. I just like Otter. Possibly because I think it's a good name for a dog. Maybe a Labrador retriever.

How I use it: I still take notes by hand, because it connects my brain to the material more fully. Also, I capture nuance that an AI tool misses if I'm just scanning the text: How something was said not just what was said.

Research isn't passive! It's a contact sport that requires full-body participation!

Why it isn't such a hot shot: Otter scans my calendar on the daily and invites itself to anything it sees there. Even when I don't want it there. Even when I'M not there.

Last week, Otter tried to join my dog Augie's vet appointment. Then he sent me a salty email about it. "Meetings I might've missed this week," Otter sniffed.

You can toggle which meetings you want Otter to have access to, of course. But it's easy to forget. And the next thing you know, Otter is prescribing Augie's healthcare.

Three more quick feathers:

5. Napkin helps you create frameworks or visuals from text. Helpful if you're a writer first who sometimes needs to think through ideas visually, but your brain doesn't work intuitively that way.

Side note: The true innovation of AI comes in the small but important ways that it can help us be stronger, better communicators because it helps us access those parts of ourselves we thought we didn't have. But with any AI tool, you need the human element to create something truly special.

6. Human editor because no tech ever takes the place of someone who knows your writing and your heart.

7. My dog Augie. It feels weird to call him a "tool." But since he can't read, he can't be offended. I suppose the editor might be, tho. (Note to editor: Sorry.)

Anyway—Augie's daily walk forces me outside and away from my work for at least an hour each day. My body is away from the writing. But my brain is still thinking about it; it's still working away... almost unbeknownst to me. I always see something new when I come back to it.

I guess there is some magic in that after all. 🪶

DEPARTMENT OF SHENANIGANS

Circling back and synergizing in 2025. (h/t Ahava Leibtag)

Thanks for reading this far.

Thanks for your kindness and generosity.

🫡 See you February 2!

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