Cut writing time by 50%

A close friend of mine is a writer who’s been publishing consistently for years. Essays, client work, long internal docs, the kind of writing where clarity actually matters.

He never struggled with ideas. What drained him was everything that came after the first draft.

Typing slowed him down. Not because he’s a slow typist, but because his thinking doesn’t happen in neat, keyboard-sized chunks. He’d pause mid-thought, rephrase sentences before they were finished, backspace constantly.

By the time the draft was done, it already felt exhausting. The real pain came during editing. He wasn’t refining ideas, he was repairing damage.

Rearranging paragraphs.

Rewriting sentences that never had a chance to breathe.

Most days, editing took as long as writing itself.

He tried dictation before. It never stuck. The tools felt unnatural and rigid, and the output usually created more cleanup work than it saved.

Then he tried Romo.

The first time, he didn’t even sit at his desk. He walked around his apartment and talked through what he wanted to say, the same way he’d explain an idea to a friend.

No pressure to sound polished. No stopping to fix phrasing mid-sentence.

When he looked at the draft afterward, it wasn’t perfect, but it was surprisingly clear.

The structure was already there. The tone sounded like him.

Most importantly, the ideas hadn’t been interrupted on their way out.

Editing changed completely.

Instead of rewriting entire sections, he was tightening sentences. Instead of fighting the draft, he was shaping it. What used to feel like damage control turned into something closer to finishing touches.

A few weeks later, he checked his time tracking out of curiosity.

Editing time was down by about 50%.

Same quality bar. Same expectations. Less friction.

His workflow now is simple: think out loud, let Romo capture the draft, then edit with intention instead of frustration.

He said something that stuck with me:

"Romo didn’t make me write faster. It made my first draft truer."

And when the first draft is true, editing stops being a battle. It becomes the last step, not the hardest one.