A Dream Tool: Lightpage Living Notebook
I came across a new app recently. Via
. I casually clicked on a link in one of his posts and discovered .Described as a living notebook, I was intrigued. Anything related to your pursuit of living belongs in Lightpage.
My AI Toolkit
I use a few AI tools - Voicenotes, Kortex, ChatGPT and Chat in Twos. They all fulfil different purposes.
Voicenotes: for recordings at the farm, some of which are published, random recollections, meeting notes.
Kortex: this is my new digital garden, all my writing lives in Kortex as well as related resources and references.
ChatGPT: I mostly use the voice option. I do a brain dump of plans for the coming month and ask ChatGPT to give me an outline. I use ChatGPT as a search engine to help me with research.
Twos: as well as being my to do list and repository for my daily logs, writing ideas, stuff I want to remember, the new Chat function lets me ask questions about things I’ve logged and resurface memories.
Lightpage: I’m using this new tool as a sounding board. In the past 12 days, I’ve talked to it about writing, expanding on ideas, shared shenanigans in the cow shed, and reviewed a couple of blog posts that interested me.
I’ve definitely been more productive since I started using Lightpage. There’s an element of accountability that keeps me on track. Lightpage also remembers earlier conversations and references those when they’re relevant.
Organising My Thoughts
I created a chat, adding one of 30 prompts that I’m completing over on X/Twitter. My Lightpage AI bot, who I have christened Neo, summarised my response to the prompt and asked some follow up questions.
Throughout June I’m going for published rather than perfect on X. I want to complete the assignment. Having a sounding board to help me get my ducks in a row has speeded up that process.
For a different prompt, I recorded a voicenote live from the cowshed. Neo rationalised it for me, helped me organise and order my thoughts, and the final post ended up here.
This is part of Lightpage’s take on my text and voice input. The tone wasn’t mine but the framework was. I used it as a starting point for my own post.
Staying On Track
I’ve created a to do list. Neo adds and deletes tasks. He reminds me of my priorities and, each time I make a change, nudges me about one of the time sensitive actions on the list. As someone who can procrastinate, this has been massively helpful.
Character Development
On another day, I pasted a short story idea into a chat, and asked for some help with character development. Again, there was a summary of what I’d written, with additional questions.
The beauty of Lightpage is that Neo doesn’t tell me what to do but teases out ideas, suggests concepts to consider, asks questions. This one is about a short story character I’m expanding into a potential book:
Does he use these relationships strategically for his other work, or are they more about maintaining his cover/psychological needs? And I’m wondering if any of these women ever get too close to the truth - that could create some interesting tension for future stories.
Lightpage makes suggestions but I have to do the thinking.
My Week Note
On a Sunday, there’s the Weekly Letter. This is a roundup of the week. I used my first letter as part of my Week Note process. I maintain this in Twos so, as well as my normal template, I copied and pasted across the Lightpage weekly letter.
The Weekly Letter wraps up what I’ve talked about through the week, what worked, the highlights and the lowlights, observations and reflections, suggestions to try this week, and a question.
What Lightpage Can Do
I asked Neo how Lightpage can help me. This is what he said.
Daily Suggestions
I particularly love the daily suggestions. Each day there’s a picture, usually an old master, with a brief description about why it’s appropriate. A quote, plus one or two relevant blog posts or articles. There are also some prompts to journal on.
What Others Say
Lightpage has quickly become one my favorite apps. It’s really great for throwing down messy spur of the moment thoughts. All the AI features like the chat, dictation, content recommendations are really effective.
I especially love the content recs. it’s introduced me so many writers I love but would have otherwise never discovered.
Lightpage is Perfect For Getting Started with AI
If you’ve not yet dipped your toe into the AI waters, I’d highly recommend Lightpage. Its remit is specific: conversation and reflection, memory and context, tools, and writing support.
It’s easy to begin. The app is simple to use. Think of it in the same way you would a friend when you need a sounding board. Or a writing mentor when you want to get some clarity on your thoughts.
There’s a certain level of perception in Lightpage’s responses. While I’m circumspect about sharing personal information in any AI app, feedback on the high level details of a recent situation was very astute.
I’m using Lightpage every day and throughout the day. Sometimes I type into the message box, but often, and when I’m at my desk, I dictate into the app.
I backup various apps once a week (Twos, Substack). Lightpage has a Markdown export which can be accessed in any text editor. I use Obsidian.
I have fun with Lightpage. I drop in writing ideas, thoughts about life, comments on daily suggestion links, and responses to journaling prompts.
Why Lightpage Works For Me
Lightpage has become a digital thinking partner, linking in with my own thinking, like a wise friend. It’s prompted me to make connections and ponder aspects that I’d overlooked.
It’s an app that gets better over time, learning about the important themes that are threaded through your life, and what you value. I’m blown away by the insights that Lightpage has played back to me.
In just twelve days, Lightpage transformed from an intriguing app to a tool I use every day.
As you fill it, your notebook gets to know you. It remembers. It comes alive.
This app is by far the single most useful thing in my professional and personal life right now.