Day 197: Fully committing to dictation
I ended up sleeping a long time on Sunday and then getting up ridiculously early Monday morning, so I'm just going to count it as Monday starting.
Since I finished blocking volume 3, I'll start writing today. I have committed to trying to get better at dictation, so I will try dictating for 10 minutes or so, then editing the transcription in Dragon.
In a dictation Facebook group I joined, there was a nice Dictation Outline that one member provided, which not only has you list the beats of the scene (I'm assuming it would be the same thing as my blocking, but some writers refer to beats as larger plot points rather than smaller plot points), but also things like the purpose of the scene, the emotions, the setting, imagery, character reveal, tension/conflict, and specifics (which might be for miscellaneous stuff that doesn't fit under the other things).
Having those specific things listed at the top of the list of blocking for my scene might help keep me on point when dictating, especially since most people who dictate seem to either record their dictation session and then transcribe, or else if they're dictating into Dragon, they don't look at the screen. Either way, they don't see what they've dictated until later when they're editing.
I know I have a hard time with not seeing my words as I'm writing, so this is going to be a challenge for me. Hopefully the elements in the Dictation Outline will help me not go off track from the story like I did when I tried dictating yesterday (and ended up needing to redo the entire scene).
***
The Dictation Outline was actually really useful because otherwise I think the scene would have been boring or pointless. I added more conflict and more importance to the scene for the story, plus more emotional poignancy. However, that also added over an hour of blocking time before I started writing the scene, since I had to add all that extra stuff that I hadn't realized I needed to add for the scene.
However, going forward, I think I will make sure I do the Dictation Outline, or at least think about the elements listed in it. The elements aren't quite as important when I'm writing a Sequel, but they helped me to be able to separate the scene I was going to write into a clearer Scene and Sequel, and better structure is never a bad thing.
The dictation actually ended up not being too bad. I did only 15 minutes and right at this moment, I'm waiting for it to transcribe, so I don't know yet how awful the editing is going to be. I'm going to edit it in Dragon right after transcribing, since most people in the dictation Facebook group recommend doing that.
***
Dictating the rough draft ended up being a little less than 800 words in 15 minutes, so my speed was almost 2800 words per hour. However correcting the transcription in Dragon took quite a while, although issues with my microphone and the input levels took up some of that time, and right in the middle of my editing, Parallels had to restart for an update!
So the time for dictation correction is probably a little longer than it otherwise would have taken, but I also don't want to count the dictation correction pass as an editing pass, since I'm mostly correcting errors I wouldn't have had if I were typing. When I combine the dictation time and the dictation correction time, my final writing pace for that dictation session was a dismal 728 words per hour.
Let's blame my Parallels restart for that. Yeah.
I'll give the dictation another shot.
***
I dictated another twenty minutes and got almost 1000 words dictated, but after corrections, it ended up being only 859 words. They aren't very good words, either, and the combined dictation and correction time was 60 minutes, so my final writing pace for that dictation session was 859 words per hour.
However, I also realized that I need to speak more clearly in my dictation, because some of the issues were simply because I was mumbling. So if I can manage to do that, the amount of time it takes for me to do the corrections may not be quite so long next time.
It won't help when I have to repeat myself in order to get a sentence right. I have been wrestling with Dragon to delete the phrases I end up not using, but maybe instead I will only do corrections in Dragon for errors, and then leave that other stuff for the self-editing pass, since editing in Scrivener is much easier than editing in Dragon.
I know from Facebook posts and articles that people who used diction and manage to do well are the ones who really commit fully to dictation. They are often people who have been so hampered by injury that they're forced to use dictation or not write at all. I wonder if the reason my dictation hasn't been so great is because I've never absolutely had to use it or not write? That might end up changing my attitude and enthusiasm for dictation, which might change my "performance."
I have to cook dinner, so I have to stop work to get that done. I hope I can get more work done later, because I've only written about 1500 words today so far. My blocking/writing/editing time has been 3 hours and 21 minutes, which is also less than what I was hoping for today.
***
I had forgotten that I had to compile the interior PDF of volume 2 so that my graphic designer could do the paperback cover, so I did that after dinner rather than going straight into writing. And before I could compile, I had to make the changes from my proofreader, and that took the bulk of the time.
It still always surprises me how much time this self-publishing stuff takes. Still, it takes less time than traditional publishing, but that may also be because I'm cutting corners on how many editors look through the manuscript before it's formatted for paperback and ebook. It was dependent on the publisher, but sometimes I'd have as many as four different people look through my book--my developmental editor, my primary editor, a copyeditor, and a proofreader. And there may actually have been more copy editors and/or proofreaders and they just didn't tell me.
For my self-publishing these days, I'm foregoing the developmental editor since I'm pretty confident in my story structure skills and I can't afford it, and so I only have my lovely copy editor/proofreader who looks through the manuscript after I've done my last self-editing pass.
I also really like how I can make corrections to the ebook and print book at any time. I could never make corrections after my traditionally published books were released. So if I find out later I have some huge error in my earlier books, I can always make the changes and then tell my newsletter subscribers to redownload their ebook copies. The only thing that's the same as traditional publishing is that print book owners are stuck with whatever version of the book they originally bought.
Now after doing the editing and compiling and rambling a bit about self-publishing, I'm feeling a bit tired. I'm thinking maybe I'll go to bed early and then be able to focus on the dictation tomorrow.
Blocking: time spent: 1 hour, 22 minutes
Editing: Time spent: 1 hour, 19 minutes
Writing: Time spent: 40 minutes
Writing: Total number of words: 1752
Writing: Average speed: 2598 words per hour (this is via dictation, and before doing any corrections in Dragon)
Time spent doing other writing-related business: 4 hours, 45 minutes
My takeaway for today: The writers who succeed with dictation tend to be fully committed to it, so I need to really try hard at it even if it doesn't seem to be working well at first.
Since I finished blocking volume 3, I'll start writing today. I have committed to trying to get better at dictation, so I will try dictating for 10 minutes or so, then editing the transcription in Dragon.
In a dictation Facebook group I joined, there was a nice Dictation Outline that one member provided, which not only has you list the beats of the scene (I'm assuming it would be the same thing as my blocking, but some writers refer to beats as larger plot points rather than smaller plot points), but also things like the purpose of the scene, the emotions, the setting, imagery, character reveal, tension/conflict, and specifics (which might be for miscellaneous stuff that doesn't fit under the other things).
Having those specific things listed at the top of the list of blocking for my scene might help keep me on point when dictating, especially since most people who dictate seem to either record their dictation session and then transcribe, or else if they're dictating into Dragon, they don't look at the screen. Either way, they don't see what they've dictated until later when they're editing.
I know I have a hard time with not seeing my words as I'm writing, so this is going to be a challenge for me. Hopefully the elements in the Dictation Outline will help me not go off track from the story like I did when I tried dictating yesterday (and ended up needing to redo the entire scene).
***
The Dictation Outline was actually really useful because otherwise I think the scene would have been boring or pointless. I added more conflict and more importance to the scene for the story, plus more emotional poignancy. However, that also added over an hour of blocking time before I started writing the scene, since I had to add all that extra stuff that I hadn't realized I needed to add for the scene.
However, going forward, I think I will make sure I do the Dictation Outline, or at least think about the elements listed in it. The elements aren't quite as important when I'm writing a Sequel, but they helped me to be able to separate the scene I was going to write into a clearer Scene and Sequel, and better structure is never a bad thing.
The dictation actually ended up not being too bad. I did only 15 minutes and right at this moment, I'm waiting for it to transcribe, so I don't know yet how awful the editing is going to be. I'm going to edit it in Dragon right after transcribing, since most people in the dictation Facebook group recommend doing that.
***
Dictating the rough draft ended up being a little less than 800 words in 15 minutes, so my speed was almost 2800 words per hour. However correcting the transcription in Dragon took quite a while, although issues with my microphone and the input levels took up some of that time, and right in the middle of my editing, Parallels had to restart for an update!
So the time for dictation correction is probably a little longer than it otherwise would have taken, but I also don't want to count the dictation correction pass as an editing pass, since I'm mostly correcting errors I wouldn't have had if I were typing. When I combine the dictation time and the dictation correction time, my final writing pace for that dictation session was a dismal 728 words per hour.
Let's blame my Parallels restart for that. Yeah.
I'll give the dictation another shot.
***
I dictated another twenty minutes and got almost 1000 words dictated, but after corrections, it ended up being only 859 words. They aren't very good words, either, and the combined dictation and correction time was 60 minutes, so my final writing pace for that dictation session was 859 words per hour.
However, I also realized that I need to speak more clearly in my dictation, because some of the issues were simply because I was mumbling. So if I can manage to do that, the amount of time it takes for me to do the corrections may not be quite so long next time.
It won't help when I have to repeat myself in order to get a sentence right. I have been wrestling with Dragon to delete the phrases I end up not using, but maybe instead I will only do corrections in Dragon for errors, and then leave that other stuff for the self-editing pass, since editing in Scrivener is much easier than editing in Dragon.
I know from Facebook posts and articles that people who used diction and manage to do well are the ones who really commit fully to dictation. They are often people who have been so hampered by injury that they're forced to use dictation or not write at all. I wonder if the reason my dictation hasn't been so great is because I've never absolutely had to use it or not write? That might end up changing my attitude and enthusiasm for dictation, which might change my "performance."
I have to cook dinner, so I have to stop work to get that done. I hope I can get more work done later, because I've only written about 1500 words today so far. My blocking/writing/editing time has been 3 hours and 21 minutes, which is also less than what I was hoping for today.
***
I had forgotten that I had to compile the interior PDF of volume 2 so that my graphic designer could do the paperback cover, so I did that after dinner rather than going straight into writing. And before I could compile, I had to make the changes from my proofreader, and that took the bulk of the time.
It still always surprises me how much time this self-publishing stuff takes. Still, it takes less time than traditional publishing, but that may also be because I'm cutting corners on how many editors look through the manuscript before it's formatted for paperback and ebook. It was dependent on the publisher, but sometimes I'd have as many as four different people look through my book--my developmental editor, my primary editor, a copyeditor, and a proofreader. And there may actually have been more copy editors and/or proofreaders and they just didn't tell me.
For my self-publishing these days, I'm foregoing the developmental editor since I'm pretty confident in my story structure skills and I can't afford it, and so I only have my lovely copy editor/proofreader who looks through the manuscript after I've done my last self-editing pass.
I also really like how I can make corrections to the ebook and print book at any time. I could never make corrections after my traditionally published books were released. So if I find out later I have some huge error in my earlier books, I can always make the changes and then tell my newsletter subscribers to redownload their ebook copies. The only thing that's the same as traditional publishing is that print book owners are stuck with whatever version of the book they originally bought.
Now after doing the editing and compiling and rambling a bit about self-publishing, I'm feeling a bit tired. I'm thinking maybe I'll go to bed early and then be able to focus on the dictation tomorrow.
Blocking: time spent: 1 hour, 22 minutes
Editing: Time spent: 1 hour, 19 minutes
Writing: Time spent: 40 minutes
Writing: Total number of words: 1752
Writing: Average speed: 2598 words per hour (this is via dictation, and before doing any corrections in Dragon)
Time spent doing other writing-related business: 4 hours, 45 minutes
My takeaway for today: The writers who succeed with dictation tend to be fully committed to it, so I need to really try hard at it even if it doesn't seem to be working well at first.
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