The beginning of your steno writing
BREVITY:
The Theory
Learn machine shorthand from the beginning.
Tom Fernicola’s digital steno theory introduces the keyboard, sound-based word construction and reading your notes, with reference material for continued practice.
A book to learn from.
A tool to practice with.
Begin with keyboard lessons, then work through sound substitutions and vocabulary. Reviews, endings practice, keyboard diagrams and printed steno notes accompany the instruction. The families and appendix provide reference material.
The approach pairs sound-based word construction with optional briefs, with attention to reading back what you wrote.
The included BREVITY Woodshedder presents overlapping groups and whole-sentence passes at your pace. It then hides the words so you can read your notes before revealing the text. It does not read or grade your steno.
Why I built
BREVITY this way.
I kept returning to one question: can you write what you hear without stopping to make a decision first? A shorter outline can save movement, but it can also ask you to classify a word, remember an exception, or guess what a speaker will say next. BREVITY is designed to reduce that work while speech is moving.
The keyboard arrives gradually, in an order chosen by what each group of keys makes available to write. The vocabulary draws on actual deposition testimony, so the early words have a working purpose. Connected passages come later because I wanted students to gain useful words and the patterns beneath them first.
The theory teaches sound-based construction as well as familiar outlines. That gives you a way to assemble words you have not learned individually. Where a rule is needed, it aims to give a usable answer: for example, whether an ending joins can depend on whether the finger needed for it is already occupied.
I also accept some translation conflicts. That can mean more editing and an occasional wrong word in a rough draft, but it reduces the choices the writer must make during speech. The book keeps comparisons with other theories outside its lessons so beginners get clear instruction and consistent language.
Those choices make BREVITY distinctive: useful vocabulary, patterns that carry into unfamiliar words, and careful attention to what the writer must do at the moment of writing.
Book + BREVITY Woodshedder
Choose your access period.
The same book and tool, for the time you choose.
One payment. No automatic renewal. Includes signed-in online book access, book updates made during your access period, and the BREVITY Woodshedder for the same purchased period. The book is read online, not delivered as a download.
Open BREVITY: The Theory · Open the BREVITY Woodshedder
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From a working reporter.
Tom Fernicola is an active New York City realtime reporter with 37 years of reporting experience, including extensive complex litigation. He created BREVITY: The Theory for people starting steno from the beginning.
It is separate from BREVITY: Write Simply, his book for existing writers.
A few things
to know.
How do access and updates work?
Sign in with your purchasing account to read BREVITY: The Theory and use the BREVITY Woodshedder during your selected access period. Updates to the online book are available during that period. Access does not renew automatically.
What is the refund policy?
You may request a full refund within 14 days after your access begins. After that, refund requests are considered individually. Prorated refunds for unused time are not promised. Any partial or full refund ends the BREVITY: The Theory and Woodshedder access granted by that purchase. This policy does not limit rights provided by applicable law.
Can I ask Tom before choosing?
Ask about the theory, what you need to get started, the included tool, or use in a school. Email Tom at tom@brevitysteno.com or use the contact form.