11 Responses

  1. lisa44837
    lisa44837 at |

    It sounds like you’ve had an amazing career & you’re a better person than I am. I wouldn’t be able to objectively report/record all that without wanting to punch people in the throat.

    Reply
  2. Tanja
    Tanja at |

    Thank you Melanie for the very interesting post. I always wondered how the court reporters did their job. I figured it was a special kind of typing machine.
    It reminds of written stenography. As a secretary I learned to write steno in four languages (Dutch, English, French and German). It is very much the same thing. The symbols you use are parts of the actual letters. For ‘We’ you only use the symbol for the ‘w’, for ‘letter’ you use ‘ltr’ and so on. And you also use a lot of abbreviations for often used sentences.
    In a way you learn a new language. On the other hand I always thought of it as learning another way of writing as you already know the language. It got so nautral for me that I used stenography symbols for writing my grocery lists.

    It must have been very exciting to have reported so many court cases. I reckon you had your own opinions, but you couldn’t vent them, because of your job. You have to stay unobtrusive in the background. In the meantime you would have been biting your lips to stay quiet.

    I am looking forward to more of your posts.

    Reply
  3. susana
    susana at |

    Thank you for such an interesting post, Melanie. You certainly have had a very interesting career. I agree it would be an amazing book series. I hope you manage to reach a common schedule with Taylor and manage to write it. I would love to read it!

    Reply
  4. debby236
    debby236 at |

    Very interesting post. I bet you got lots of ideas.

    Reply
  5. Sadonna
    Sadonna at |

    Your new book looks really interesting! I used to work with a former court reporter and she had many stories as well – must be a fascinating field, as well as a little scary at times 😉

    Reply
  6. jenf27
    jenf27 at |

    Wow! What an interesting life you’ve had. Although, it does sound stressful also. I bet there is a great book series in there. And thanks for explaining courtroom stenography. Not sure I understood it all, but it was fascinating.

    Reply
  7. 16forward
    16forward at |

    I’m so glad Dani invited you and you posted this. I’ve read and reviewed 869 books and somehow I’ve never read one of yours. Definitely something I’m going to correct in the future.

    (P.S. I remember the first time I served on jury duty and was offended that I couldn’t take notes! Too much time in classrooms I guess.)

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  8. Lee Todd
    Lee Todd at |

    my mind is boggling at typing 260 wpm O.o I can’t get to 40! lol

    Reply
  9. dee
    dee at |

    I always imagined stenography differently. But it sounds more interesting and less complex the way you described it.
    You mentioned you would like to turn your experience from work into a book. I really enjoyed reading your short post. I think your work experience would make a great basis for a book.

    Reply
  10. H.B.
    H.B. at |

    Thank you for the interesting post. Court reporter sounds like an interesting job just for the cases you would hear about but so stressful keeping up with what was said. 260wpm is mind boggling and I’m quite jealous that your so skilled I wish I could type that quickly.

    Reply
  11. Carolyn
    Carolyn at |

    That was seriously fascinating! It wasn’t too long ago that this latest season of Sherlock was finished and I think about the stenographer in that one, and it makes me think you and Taylor will have some interesting stories if you can get your times to mesh. Thanks for sharing with us!

    Reply

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