Day 784: Trying dictation again, day 1
I admit I didn’t sleep well last night, which might be why it’s taking a while for me to start on my writing work for the day. I actually ended up taking too long doing my daily marketing task, because it was easier for me to do that than have to switch to my fiction and focus on writing. My brain just feels really tired.
However, I had set an alarm to sound at 2 pm to remind me to get to writing if I wasn’t already, and that saved me. I finished up my marketing work (although it took another 20 minutes) and now I’m ready to move to writing for the day.
*
I ended up dictating my writing today, which I know seems a bit sudden. I can’t quite remember why I stopped trying out dictation before—I think I was in the middle of a bad IBS bout and I just didn’t have the mental and physical energy to deal with dictation, and I just wanted to get some writing done, so I resorted to typing since it was easier. And I never went back to practicing dictation after that.
I always intended to try dictating again but I thought that I would wait until after the Regency series was completed. But since that's going to take a long time, I decided to try dictating now, even though I'm in the middle of writing book 4.
I admit that I was inspired to try dictating again because I was reading a productivity book, and she mentioned dictation. She also mentioned a dictation book, On Being a Dictator: Using Dictation to Be a Better Writer, and when I looked it up, I found that it was available to borrow at the library, so I borrowed it and read it. The book didn't talk about anything particularly new, but it did mention a lot of the author’s practices when editing his dictated work. He edits right after transcribing it (which several other authors have mentioned that they do).
The book was also a good reminder that getting better at dictation was going to take time and practice. So I decided to try dictating today.
I started off recording into an MP3 file on my computer using my podcasting mic. However, I forgot to check my mic input on my computer, so my first 15 minutes were complete garbage because the volume was too low. (Note to self: ALWAYS do a sound check to make sure everything is recording! Moron!) After redoing those 15 minutes, transcribing and then editing it, I took a break.
I then went back to dictating. At first I tried dictating directly into Dragon on my computer, but I found that something about the configuration of apps open on my computer made Dragon incredibly slow, so I decided to go back to recording my dictation as an MP3 file in my computer.
Editing the transcription was still difficult for me, but I edited it right after I transcribed it, and (I think) I was able to get it as clean as when I write normally at the keyboard. Then, if I add another self editing pass tomorrow when I do my cycling, the quality might be the same as when I type.
It’s a bit more work to edit it right after transcribing it—I have to learn how to allot time for both transcription and editing. I also included the editing time in the writing time below, because the finished text is just like when I do regular writing on the keyboard (editing as I go). I figured that combining the dictation, transcription, and editing time would be a better way to compare the two styles, especially since it is necessary to do one extra editing pass on my dictation mess.
I also added the words per hour column back into my time spreadsheet so I could see my writing pace with dictation versus when I’m typing. For today, at least, my dictation was way slower than when I type, and I really did feel like I was even thinking slower because I was trying to get used to the new mode of input. But I expected that. Part of it was that I had technical issues, part is because my dictation was slow and awkward, part of it is because I kept repeating sentences as I changed my mind about how I wanted them to flow and then in editing I had to delete the words I didn’t want to keep which made editing take longer. I can only hope that I’ll get faster as I get used to it.
*
My thoughts on dictation today:
The dictation was really awkward. There's the strangeness of hearing myself speak out loud, especially because I'm not in the habit of talking out loud to myself.
I read that Monica Leonelle said that Dragon doesn't think in words, it thinks in phrases. I realize that I have a really difficult time thinking in phrases, or even in complete sentences. I think one word at a time, and after I type each word, I look at the sentence on the screen, and I edit what's there, or I would decide what to type next after seeing what I've already written.
But Dragon works better when I speak in longer phrases, or when I say the entire sentence all at once. I have a really hard time with that.
But I also read somewhere that Dragon doesn't care if you have long stretches of silence. That completely made sense to me and relieved a little bit of the anxiety of dictation. Out in society, there’s usually something wrong with long stretches of silence, but the software doesn't care at all.
So if I say a phrase or sentence and take a long time thinking of what to say next, it's not a big deal. The only problem is if I take too long and I forgot what I said last. Which actually I do quite often.
They also say that you should speak slowly when you dictate, which is a good thing, because it takes so long for me to formulate what to say, that speaking slowly helps me collect my thoughts more easily.
I am still dictating fiction the way I type it. I'll speak a phrase, decide that that's not what I want to say, then dictate the phrase again with corrections. Sometimes I will repeat an entire sentence several times until I get it right. So in a sense I'm kind of editing my dictation as I go, too.
But I read in Fool Proof Dictation where he actually dictates the same scene two or three times, and then he compiles it all when he edits. So my repeating a sentence several times really isn't that much work compared to compiling three different versions of the same scene.
I was reading in dictation books that one reason people like dictation is that it prevents them from editing as they write. That should be true for me, except that I will repeat a sentence until it says what I wanted to say and sounds how I wanted to sound. So I am still dictating the way I write when typing, which is editing as I go.
I guess a part of me still wonders if writing without editing will make my prose any better, which is what most writing books say. I suppose that dictating is an easy way to try it out, since it is definitely more difficult to edit when I'm dictating versus when I’m typing.
I hope my writing will be the same quality when I dictate as when I type. It's really hard for me to judge at this point. If I ever do get it to the point where I can dictate without editing, I would like to see if my writing quality improves or not.
I made a lot of mistakes or I mis-spoke things. When that happened, I did what I read in Fool Proof Dictation, which is to have a personal key phrase or keyword that is something that you would never say in a manuscript. When you make a mistake, you say the keyword in order to indicate to yourself when you edit that you need to correct something. (My keyword is asterisk.)
I think that if I get really good at dictation, and if my text is a little cleaner, I might be able to do just a find for * and just correct all the times that I made a mistake. But as of right now, I'm making a mistake almost in every sentence.
Today, the only punctuation marks that I dictated were comma, period, question mark, and once in a while exclamation point. I didn't bother with quotation marks. It wasn't difficult to add quotation marks when I was doing the edit and clean up after transcription, but it did take a little bit of time, and I also found myself using my mouse a lot. My biggest concern is that my wrist was injured from using my mouse too much in the past, so I decided for tomorrow to dictate the quotation marks so they so that I don't have to add them manually and can spare my wrist. I also don't want to get used to not speaking quotation marks, especially when I get better at dictation.
I am hopeful that I can get better at dictation, just like how I got better at touch-typing. I remember that it took several weeks before I was able to learn to touch type. And a couple years ago, I tried learning the Dvorak keyboard, and I remember how awkward and slow it was for me to type using that keyboard format. When I remember how awkward that was, then it makes sense that the dictation will also feel extremely awkward. But just like when I learned how to touch type on a QWERTY keyboard, I am hopeful that the more practice dictation, the easier it will get. And hopefully my dictation of fiction will get cleaner rather than the repetitive rambling mess that it is now.
I also had a problem with dictation that probably won't bother anyone else but me. I have a really terrible memory, and there was often when I couldn't remember what I had just said. Also after two 15 minute sessions, I couldn't quite remember what I had written at the beginning. Like I said, my memory is terrible.
I probably would have started repeating myself if I hadn't had really detailed blocking notes to guide me as I wrote. That really saved my bacon. I think that if I just had a rough idea of what I wanted to happen in the scene, I probably would have forgotten what I had already covered and I might end up repeating story plot points.
I'm also doing what a couple of dictation books recommended, which is in to practice dictating on things besides my book. Technically, I should be practicing on non-book things first, before I started working on my fiction, but I was too impatient.
I would eventually really like to be able to take a walk around my neighborhood and dictate my book during my walk. I have a handheld digital recorder with the windscreen (or is it called a windsock?) that I tested out on a walk today. I dictated part of this blog post using the recorder, and the transcription wasn't too bad. If I did go out walking and writing, I would need to remember to load my blocking notes on my smart phone so that I could refer to them as I walk.
(On a weird side note, I think the dictation is why this blog post is so long, because I was able to dictate so many words while on my walk today.)
One thing I was concerned about with the dictation is that I would actually write fewer words, because I thought I would just follow the blocking outline and not add enough detail. I was also worried that the dialogue flow or the pacing of the action would be stilted if I dictated it.
Today, I surprised myself because I did add the detail that wasn't in my blocking notes, and I added things to improve the flow of the dialogue. So my dictation writing was not as sparse as I thought it would be. I think that the dialogue is still a little bit curt, so that may be something else I will need to work on. I guess I will also just have to trust that my blocking notes are detailed enough that I won't miss anything that needs to go into the scene.
So, that was a bit rambling but essentially those are my thoughts on how my dictation went today. I think it’ll be good for me to have this record of how exactly I felt as I practice dictation, kind of like how I recorded how I felt as I started my writing streak.
Writing streak: 263 days
Regency series:
Editing: Time spent: 3 minutes
Writing: Time spent: 3 hours, 3 minutes
Writing: Total number of words: 1976 words
Writing-related business:
Regency research reading: time spent: 38 minutes
Email: time spent: 13 minutes
Marketing: time spent: 1 hour, 20 minutes
My takeaway for today: I think dictation is going to be like learning to type, it’s going to be slow and awkward until I get comfortable with it.
However, I had set an alarm to sound at 2 pm to remind me to get to writing if I wasn’t already, and that saved me. I finished up my marketing work (although it took another 20 minutes) and now I’m ready to move to writing for the day.
*
I ended up dictating my writing today, which I know seems a bit sudden. I can’t quite remember why I stopped trying out dictation before—I think I was in the middle of a bad IBS bout and I just didn’t have the mental and physical energy to deal with dictation, and I just wanted to get some writing done, so I resorted to typing since it was easier. And I never went back to practicing dictation after that.
I always intended to try dictating again but I thought that I would wait until after the Regency series was completed. But since that's going to take a long time, I decided to try dictating now, even though I'm in the middle of writing book 4.
I admit that I was inspired to try dictating again because I was reading a productivity book, and she mentioned dictation. She also mentioned a dictation book, On Being a Dictator: Using Dictation to Be a Better Writer, and when I looked it up, I found that it was available to borrow at the library, so I borrowed it and read it. The book didn't talk about anything particularly new, but it did mention a lot of the author’s practices when editing his dictated work. He edits right after transcribing it (which several other authors have mentioned that they do).
The book was also a good reminder that getting better at dictation was going to take time and practice. So I decided to try dictating today.
I started off recording into an MP3 file on my computer using my podcasting mic. However, I forgot to check my mic input on my computer, so my first 15 minutes were complete garbage because the volume was too low. (Note to self: ALWAYS do a sound check to make sure everything is recording! Moron!) After redoing those 15 minutes, transcribing and then editing it, I took a break.
I then went back to dictating. At first I tried dictating directly into Dragon on my computer, but I found that something about the configuration of apps open on my computer made Dragon incredibly slow, so I decided to go back to recording my dictation as an MP3 file in my computer.
Editing the transcription was still difficult for me, but I edited it right after I transcribed it, and (I think) I was able to get it as clean as when I write normally at the keyboard. Then, if I add another self editing pass tomorrow when I do my cycling, the quality might be the same as when I type.
It’s a bit more work to edit it right after transcribing it—I have to learn how to allot time for both transcription and editing. I also included the editing time in the writing time below, because the finished text is just like when I do regular writing on the keyboard (editing as I go). I figured that combining the dictation, transcription, and editing time would be a better way to compare the two styles, especially since it is necessary to do one extra editing pass on my dictation mess.
I also added the words per hour column back into my time spreadsheet so I could see my writing pace with dictation versus when I’m typing. For today, at least, my dictation was way slower than when I type, and I really did feel like I was even thinking slower because I was trying to get used to the new mode of input. But I expected that. Part of it was that I had technical issues, part is because my dictation was slow and awkward, part of it is because I kept repeating sentences as I changed my mind about how I wanted them to flow and then in editing I had to delete the words I didn’t want to keep which made editing take longer. I can only hope that I’ll get faster as I get used to it.
*
My thoughts on dictation today:
The dictation was really awkward. There's the strangeness of hearing myself speak out loud, especially because I'm not in the habit of talking out loud to myself.
I read that Monica Leonelle said that Dragon doesn't think in words, it thinks in phrases. I realize that I have a really difficult time thinking in phrases, or even in complete sentences. I think one word at a time, and after I type each word, I look at the sentence on the screen, and I edit what's there, or I would decide what to type next after seeing what I've already written.
But Dragon works better when I speak in longer phrases, or when I say the entire sentence all at once. I have a really hard time with that.
But I also read somewhere that Dragon doesn't care if you have long stretches of silence. That completely made sense to me and relieved a little bit of the anxiety of dictation. Out in society, there’s usually something wrong with long stretches of silence, but the software doesn't care at all.
So if I say a phrase or sentence and take a long time thinking of what to say next, it's not a big deal. The only problem is if I take too long and I forgot what I said last. Which actually I do quite often.
They also say that you should speak slowly when you dictate, which is a good thing, because it takes so long for me to formulate what to say, that speaking slowly helps me collect my thoughts more easily.
I am still dictating fiction the way I type it. I'll speak a phrase, decide that that's not what I want to say, then dictate the phrase again with corrections. Sometimes I will repeat an entire sentence several times until I get it right. So in a sense I'm kind of editing my dictation as I go, too.
But I read in Fool Proof Dictation where he actually dictates the same scene two or three times, and then he compiles it all when he edits. So my repeating a sentence several times really isn't that much work compared to compiling three different versions of the same scene.
I was reading in dictation books that one reason people like dictation is that it prevents them from editing as they write. That should be true for me, except that I will repeat a sentence until it says what I wanted to say and sounds how I wanted to sound. So I am still dictating the way I write when typing, which is editing as I go.
I guess a part of me still wonders if writing without editing will make my prose any better, which is what most writing books say. I suppose that dictating is an easy way to try it out, since it is definitely more difficult to edit when I'm dictating versus when I’m typing.
I hope my writing will be the same quality when I dictate as when I type. It's really hard for me to judge at this point. If I ever do get it to the point where I can dictate without editing, I would like to see if my writing quality improves or not.
I made a lot of mistakes or I mis-spoke things. When that happened, I did what I read in Fool Proof Dictation, which is to have a personal key phrase or keyword that is something that you would never say in a manuscript. When you make a mistake, you say the keyword in order to indicate to yourself when you edit that you need to correct something. (My keyword is asterisk.)
I think that if I get really good at dictation, and if my text is a little cleaner, I might be able to do just a find for * and just correct all the times that I made a mistake. But as of right now, I'm making a mistake almost in every sentence.
Today, the only punctuation marks that I dictated were comma, period, question mark, and once in a while exclamation point. I didn't bother with quotation marks. It wasn't difficult to add quotation marks when I was doing the edit and clean up after transcription, but it did take a little bit of time, and I also found myself using my mouse a lot. My biggest concern is that my wrist was injured from using my mouse too much in the past, so I decided for tomorrow to dictate the quotation marks so they so that I don't have to add them manually and can spare my wrist. I also don't want to get used to not speaking quotation marks, especially when I get better at dictation.
I am hopeful that I can get better at dictation, just like how I got better at touch-typing. I remember that it took several weeks before I was able to learn to touch type. And a couple years ago, I tried learning the Dvorak keyboard, and I remember how awkward and slow it was for me to type using that keyboard format. When I remember how awkward that was, then it makes sense that the dictation will also feel extremely awkward. But just like when I learned how to touch type on a QWERTY keyboard, I am hopeful that the more practice dictation, the easier it will get. And hopefully my dictation of fiction will get cleaner rather than the repetitive rambling mess that it is now.
I also had a problem with dictation that probably won't bother anyone else but me. I have a really terrible memory, and there was often when I couldn't remember what I had just said. Also after two 15 minute sessions, I couldn't quite remember what I had written at the beginning. Like I said, my memory is terrible.
I probably would have started repeating myself if I hadn't had really detailed blocking notes to guide me as I wrote. That really saved my bacon. I think that if I just had a rough idea of what I wanted to happen in the scene, I probably would have forgotten what I had already covered and I might end up repeating story plot points.
I'm also doing what a couple of dictation books recommended, which is in to practice dictating on things besides my book. Technically, I should be practicing on non-book things first, before I started working on my fiction, but I was too impatient.
I would eventually really like to be able to take a walk around my neighborhood and dictate my book during my walk. I have a handheld digital recorder with the windscreen (or is it called a windsock?) that I tested out on a walk today. I dictated part of this blog post using the recorder, and the transcription wasn't too bad. If I did go out walking and writing, I would need to remember to load my blocking notes on my smart phone so that I could refer to them as I walk.
(On a weird side note, I think the dictation is why this blog post is so long, because I was able to dictate so many words while on my walk today.)
One thing I was concerned about with the dictation is that I would actually write fewer words, because I thought I would just follow the blocking outline and not add enough detail. I was also worried that the dialogue flow or the pacing of the action would be stilted if I dictated it.
Today, I surprised myself because I did add the detail that wasn't in my blocking notes, and I added things to improve the flow of the dialogue. So my dictation writing was not as sparse as I thought it would be. I think that the dialogue is still a little bit curt, so that may be something else I will need to work on. I guess I will also just have to trust that my blocking notes are detailed enough that I won't miss anything that needs to go into the scene.
So, that was a bit rambling but essentially those are my thoughts on how my dictation went today. I think it’ll be good for me to have this record of how exactly I felt as I practice dictation, kind of like how I recorded how I felt as I started my writing streak.
Writing streak: 263 days
Regency series:
Editing: Time spent: 3 minutes
Writing: Time spent: 3 hours, 3 minutes
Writing: Total number of words: 1976 words
Writing-related business:
Regency research reading: time spent: 38 minutes
Email: time spent: 13 minutes
Marketing: time spent: 1 hour, 20 minutes
My takeaway for today: I think dictation is going to be like learning to type, it’s going to be slow and awkward until I get comfortable with it.
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