I wrote 249 words this past week. Bah! I normally work on Fire Wizard on Thursday, Friday, and Saturday. Thursday, I decided hubby and I needed a date night. It had just been too long since the two of us had gone out together. So we went to Macaroni Grill and then to the Earth Fare store (kind of like Whole Food, I think). By the time I got home, I was too tired to write. It was kind of late. And Friday…well, that’s when I wrote the 249 words, playing with my Dragon Naturally Speaking software. More on that in a moment. Saturday, I found too many other things to do. Some productive, like cutting out a skirt pattern, and others not so much, like playing a Big Fish game and going to the matinee to see The Amazing Spiderman. Bad me.
Now, about Dragon. Honestly, I was afraid it wouldn’t be able to recognize my southern accent. But I read a speech by JFK to let it understand my speech patterns. I think this software is amazing. I would haven written more with it, but I was still learning. I could go faster saying a sentence because I can talk faster than I can type. But I have to get used to saying “period”, “comma”, “open quote”, “close quote”, etc. I was doing pretty well at the end, but I found I didn’t know where my story was going, so I knew I had to think about it some more. Anyway, the Dragon software was worth it as a business expense. It will be especially good when my hands are hurting or when my back is bothering me. When I get used to it, I think it will feel more natural than it does right now. It’s regularly $99.99, but I clicked on a FB sponsored link which took me to the Nuance website, where it was advertised as $59.99. When I put it in my cart, it was $49.99! And it comes with a microphone.
I’m thinking about doing some writing today since I slacked off last week. I never write on Sundays, but I might have to make an exception.
lauralynnelliott.com 
We all have low word count weeks. It happens. Just start this week knowing you’re going to get more!
I’m glad you’re loving Dragon. I picked up the professional version two and a half years ago and had such a hard time with remembering the open and closed quotes that I gave it up after only two days. I will say though…in theory there *should* be fewer typos of the now/know, he/she variety where you’re typing so fast you miss one letter and make an entirely different word, but homophones can be a problem. I just never got into it that much, but probably should pick it up again…
Good luck!
My biggest problem is that words flow when I’m typing, but dictation seems so foreign to me. I think I’ll get used to it. I have problems with my hands sometimes, and now I can’t use that as an excuse for not writing. 🙂
It works better once you imagine yourself telling your story to someone. Dictating the punctuation is a challenge to get over, because in our culture dictation stopped being something that was part of an active professional life.
The trick is that for many years we have been taught composition in the act of typing, instead of mental composition. If you are able to mentally compose then the means by which you record the composition, whether a keyboard or pen or dictating, becomes arbitrary.
One trick is to do ‘pre-writing’ (actually pre-composing). Take a small pad of paper, sketch out the main points you want to dictate. You can still be a ‘pantser’ but taking 4 minutes to just put words, like a scene’s location, names, what they will be doing (arguing, fighting, kissing, eating cheesecake) and so on, will help.
Think for a few moments, roughly compose what phrase you want to say or what you want to describe in your head, then speak it.
Trust yourself, you will get better with time.
70 years ago it was different, managers all dictated, and anyone working in an office for a manager down to the most humble clerks were immersed in a dictation culture. Grocers dictated letters to shop boys. The culture was more oral back then.
They key to getting any success out of Dragon is to find an oral side to you, pretend you are speaking to someone who is taking your thoughts down, and just go on. Once you get into the flow you can pretty effectively knock out 135 words per minute with minimal errors.
Thanks for the suggestions! I really want to be able to use this effectively. Like everything, I guess, it takes practice.
I’ve used Dragon in the past and I find it to be very cool. There are always glitches though — it’s not a perfect thing but awesome if you have issues typing. (I have recurrent tendonitis in my left wrist). As for a low wordcount, don’t worry. Everyone needs downtime. It may not feel productive, but I believe it is in the long run. 😀
And it’s not an either/or thing. Just because I use it sometimes doesn’t mean I can’t type sometimes if I’m in the mood.
I agree…we do need downtime.
I love Dragon. I just set it up about six weeks ago. I’m still a bit shy about using it in front of anyone though, so I’m not as proficient as I could be by now. When I use it, I just worry about periods and commas. Once I finish the scene, I dump it right into Scrivener and put in the quotes immediately.
I was so amazed that Dragon worked as well as it did. It seems like a really sophisticated program. I’ve learned to say the quote stuff pretty quickly. It takes a little time when I’m writing a lot of dialogue, but I’m getting faster as I get used to it. I do proof each chapter, though, because there are going to be times where it might not recognize a word or two. I write in Word, so I can use Dragon right where I need to. I tried Scrivener, but I just didn’t think it was worth it. But I know many writers love it.
Does it go directly into Word, or does that little box editor still open up and then you have to move it over?
I open up Dragon, then I open Word. I can type directly into my current manuscript, and the Dragon toolbar is right above the Word toolbar. And the little box to the right that has all the suggestions, etc. can be minimized or seen while you’re in Word.
Thanks for the clarification. It sounds very efficient.
We all have those weeks where not much writing gets done. Still, you got a few words on the page, and that’s something.
I’ve heard good things about Dragon dictation software. I’m glad it’s working out for you!
Thanks, Denise. Some words are better than no words, right? 🙂 So far, I’m liking Dragon. I also liked that it was half price. LOL
It can be hard to keep to a writing schedule, but I wouldn’t worry, even a small word count is a great accomplishment. I am all for date nights, I hope yours was fun. I wish you luck with your next week and word count!
I’m terrible at sticking to schedules, but I’m going to keep making them anyway. LOL. Date night was a lot of fun. Anytime hubby takes me to an Italian restaurant, it’s a good thing. 🙂
Is it awkward to speak your story instead of writing it? I’ve tried to record a story on software like that in the past and my mind went blank every single time I sat the microphone. I like the idea of it. But I just can’t seem to speak the story. I figure part of it is years of being trained to type the story out. Do you have any tips? I’d like to give it a try.
Yes, it’s awkward, and I had the same problem. It takes practice. But, right now, I’m sort of stuck in my story, so it’s not a good time to judge whether or not it’s a hindrance. The software works great, so I’m going to use it to start on my other project to see how it does at the beginning of a story. I think it’s a lot like those people who write longhand and say they can’t think as well when they type…it’s what you get used to.
Good point. You can’t learn to walk if you don’t put your foot on the floor. 😀 What is the link to the software?
If I were you, I would wait until they have a Facebook promotion. I clicked the FB link and got the better price. Right after I bought mine, the sale price on the site went up to $74.99. The promo price was $59.99, but when I put it in my shopping cart, it was only $49.99. I think the FB link was a special page for that promo. It’s regularly $99.99, but they have sales. The company is Nuance and here is the link to the Dragon page. http://www.nuance.com/for-individuals/by-product/dragon-for-pc/index.htm That’s the PC version. They have a version for Mac, too.
Thanks. Do you use the one for Home? You probably said which edition you have somewhere and I missed it.
I don’t think I said. Yes, I use Home. I couldn’t afford the others, but this one works just fine.
Hi Ruth Ann. I find that it’s kind of easy if I keep my eyes closed. I see the scene like a movie that scrolls about a foot in front of my face, and I just speak what I see and hear. After that, I can go in without Dragon and just clean it up.
Good idea on closing your eyes. It’d make me less aware I’m in a room. Maybe it would put me better into the story. I’m going to try it. And you’re right. I can always go in and clean it up afterwards.
Ruth Ann – It can be very awkward at first, but over time (and with enough practice), it gets easier. Closing your eyes is a good idea. I sometimes just turn away from the monitor because the words popping up would distract me. In really desperate times, I used to pretend to be typing, trying to trick my brain into thinking I’m actually typing.
But one good thing about dictating — when it’s going well, I can write faster using Dragon than typing (and I type about 50 wpm).
Erin, thanks for your input. We might have Ruth talked into getting it. And the thing is, I can use either Dragon or type, depending on my mood. It doesn’t have to be all one or all the other. I might try closing my eyes.