I’ve been playing around with Dragon software. It’s been really strange trying to dictate my books instead of typing them out. I’ve tried this several times, and in the past, it really hasn’t worked for me very well. But my friend, Ruth Ann Nordin, has been using this. I figured I would give it another try. After all, I did buy the software, and I hate having something I paid money for and not be able to use it. So, as we speak, I’m actually using the Dragon software to write this blog post. And I did write about 900 words today on my current WIP using Dragon software. One of the things I noticed was that when I dictate instead of type, it seems like my dialogue sounds more natural in the story. This kind of makes sense when you think about the difference between typing and speaking something because we speak naturally, and that’s what dialogue is. I’m going to continue using this for a while to see if this really helps.
One of the things that I do differently than Ruth is that I speak my punctuation. It’s kind of a learning curve because it can take you out of your story, but I found that if I don’t do the punctuation then when I go back to edit it, it really takes more time than if I had just typed it in the first place. I really don’t want to spend that much time editing. So I’m just practicing doing the punctuation such as speaking periods, commas, question marks, etc. and seeing how that’s working for me. I think I will be able to do okay with that, but I’m still having a little trouble with saying “open quote” and “close quote”. (I actually had to type those words because, when I said them, it actually put quote marks instead of the actual words I said. LOL)
Do you use Dragon Naturally Speaking software? If so, how do you use it? Do you like it? What do you feel like the pros and cons of this are? I would love to hear from you.
lauralynnelliott.com 
I’ve heard of Dragon software and had a friend who used it briefly. Another blogger I know has used it too, and in both cases there were varying degrees of success. I guess there’s a learning curve as with anything new. Personally, I’ve been tempted to try it, but I haven’t taken the plunge yet, Thanks for sharing your take on it. I hadn’t thought about the need for speaking punctuation, but I guess it’s a bit like dictating a text message rather than tying it out on your phone!
There’s a learning curve, but it’s not a technical learning curve. It’s about learning to use your brain differently, I think. Speaking is just different from typing. The best thing to do is make sure you sort of know what you’re going to say. At least, if you get stuck and have to pause, the software patiently waits for you to go on. I have it both on my computer and on my phone. That way, I can dictate anywhere if an idea hits me.
Great idea about having it in two places and being able to use your phone too. I haven’t even thought of that!
I think you probably know about my issues with speech-to-text software. I tried getting both NaturallySpeaking and MacSpeech (another Dragon product) to work, and neither one of them worked for me. I know there are people who swear by it; I spent most of my time swearing AT it. If you can get it working, more power to you.
It’s definitely not for everyone. I put it aside for a long time, but when I got it back out, it seemed to be easier for some reason. I think it’s because I hadn’t written in a while, and I was willing to try anything to get back in the groove. The actual software is working great. It’s just me having to learn how to write differently.