How to write well on your phone

As most of us now have an electronic notepad in our pockets, it means we can write while we travel on a train, wait for a bus or sit in a waiting room at the dentist, allowing us to use time that would otherwise have been wasted in a productive way.

It’s not exactly a method favoured by the literary purist, but it makes a lot of sense to use your smartphone to work on assignments. However, there are certain steps you should take if you hope to do this well:

Charge your phone

There’s nothing worse for a digital-age writer than being in the mood to bash out some words, only to find that your phone only has 3% of its battery life left.

The notebook and pen might be old-fashioned, but at least it won’t die on you! Be sure to charge your phone fully if you’re planning to write on it.

Find a good place

A phone allows us to write anywhere we want, but that doesn’t mean we should. If you’re typing on your phone while walking through a busy town centre, you’re likely to hurt yourself or someone else by not looking where you’re going.

Similarly, if you’re planning to write on a train, it will be much easier if you get yourself a seat and ideally a table. If you end up stood up between two carriages on a crowded train, you’re likely to find it hard to concentrate.

Get familiar with your keypad

Although the layout of keys on a phone is the same as the traditional Qwerty style we’re familiar with from office keyboards, we use the keys differently, usually typing entirely with our thumbs. Practice typing and work on your speed – it will help you get through more in less time.

Check your work

It’s always important to read your work back to yourself, but phones have a particular habit of making us look silly by throwing in unlikely words picked up by their autocorrect tools.

The internet is littered with examples of ‘autocorrect fails’ sent via text, so don’t let your writing become one of them. You might want to consider adjusting your phone’s autocorrect settings if you’re finding its behaviour too disruptive.

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