Day 791: Dictation, day 8
I started really late this morning, partly because of my stupidity last night. I was trying to finish reading some library ebooks I’d borrowed before the deadline, which was midnight, so I stayed up too late. But I also had some IBS issues when I woke up, and I had to take medicine, which made me a bit slow moving this morning.
I also ended up taking extra time to do my marketing, even though I knew I was already pressed for time, because I discovered a rather complex error in my launch checklist and wanted to fix it before I forgot.
As a result, out of all my “frogs,” I decided to skip my Regency research reading in order to make sure I had enough time for writing. Once again, I went walking and dictating into my digital recorder, then came back to transcribe it using Dragon and doing cleanup editing.
I did another exercise from nsense System for Effective & Rewarding Dictation by Christopher Downing, plus I dictated a prompt from Pen On Fire: A Busy Woman's Guide To Igniting The Writer Within by Barbara DeMarco-Barrett, and they were a nice warmup that took me about 30 minutes. One exercise enabled me to do a little blocking work on my Regency side novel, and the prompt was a visualization exercise for my writing career. Then I moved to dictating my prose for today.
It didn't feel like my dictation was all that much better today. I still had long stretches of silence, and I even had to repeat long paragraphs because I changed my mind about how I wanted it to go.
I do admit that because of the warmup exercises, especially the exercise from Fool Proof Dictation where I worked a bit on my blocking notes, the beginning of my prose dictation wasn’t quite as slow and extra-awkward as it usually is. I still made lots of mistakes, but I had gotten more used to the action of speaking by then.
But as for dictating my prose, it still felt like there were long stretches where I was silent and trying to figure out what to write. Dragon doesn't care about the silence, but the more I am silent, the fewer words I am writing. Then again, I am not terribly fast at writing when I type at my computer, either, so perhaps this is just the way that I write.
However, I would like to learn how to dictate without so much silence. It would be nice to be able to dictate at a slow, even pace, with the words flowing without interruption. I can only hope that that will happen with more practice.
I admit I have been enjoying my dictation for the past few days. Maybe it's because I enjoy walking, and I feel extra-efficient in getting writing done while I am walking.
I definitely think that because I am using my digital recorder, the dictation is a lot easier this time. It is much nicer to grab it and my phone and walk out the door, rather than recording into my computer at my desk.
But my dislike of recording into my computer might be because my computer is old, and it runs slowly when I have Dragon running. Since it takes SO long for Parallels and Dragon to boot up, I tend to keep Windows paused in the background rather than shutting it down when I’m not using Dragon to transcribe my writing. But even with Windows paused, all my other programs run a lot slower.
Still, using the digital recorder has lowered the bar of resistance toward doing my dictation every day, which helps me to practice every day.
When doing the blocking for my Regency side novel, I dictated 640 words in 18 minutes, but it took me 13 minutes to transcribe it and 4 minutes to do clean-up editing (I think it was cleaner than yesterday because I was trying to consciously speak more slowly and enunciate). My final usable word count was 544 words written. My raw dictation speed was 2133 words per hour, but my overall writing speed (counting the time for dictation, transcription, and cleanup editing) was 926 words per hour. It’s not bad, and faster than my average wph typing.
When writing in my manuscript, I dictated 1372 words in 40 minutes, but it took me 21 minutes to transcribe it and 31 minutes to do clean-up editing. My final usable word count was 1270 words written. My raw dictation speed was 2058 words per hour, but my overall writing speed (counting the time for dictation, transcription, and cleanup editing) was 828 words per hour.
Compared to previous days, my raw dictation speeds were slower today for both my exercises and my writing. I was a bit disappointed, since I had been hoping that the warm-up exercises were making me a bit faster, but I had been feeling today that my dictation was a bit slow. At the very least, my overall writing speed wasn’t any slower than when I type and edit as I go.
However, because I got a slow start this morning, the transcription and editing were done after dinner, and I ended up staying up too late again. I also didn’t get to doing my cycling editing before doing the cleanup editing on the raw dictation, so I’ll have to do that tomorrow. I don’t want the cycling editing to pile up too much, or else I might procrastinate doing it.
I have to get my IBS under better control and I have to go to bed on time and get up early!
Writing streak: 270 days
Regency series:
Editing: Time spent: 0
Writing: Time spent: 1 hour, 32 minutes
Writing: Total number of words: 1270 words
Blocking: time spent: 35 minutes (Regency side novel)
Blocking: Total number of words: 544 words
Writing-related business:
Regency research reading: time spent: 0
Email: time spent: 6 minutes
Marketing: time spent: 1 hour, 58 minutes
My takeaway for today: Go to bed on time and get up early so you have time to do all your frogs and your cycling editing! Don’t let them pile up!
I also ended up taking extra time to do my marketing, even though I knew I was already pressed for time, because I discovered a rather complex error in my launch checklist and wanted to fix it before I forgot.
As a result, out of all my “frogs,” I decided to skip my Regency research reading in order to make sure I had enough time for writing. Once again, I went walking and dictating into my digital recorder, then came back to transcribe it using Dragon and doing cleanup editing.
I did another exercise from nsense System for Effective & Rewarding Dictation by Christopher Downing, plus I dictated a prompt from Pen On Fire: A Busy Woman's Guide To Igniting The Writer Within by Barbara DeMarco-Barrett, and they were a nice warmup that took me about 30 minutes. One exercise enabled me to do a little blocking work on my Regency side novel, and the prompt was a visualization exercise for my writing career. Then I moved to dictating my prose for today.
It didn't feel like my dictation was all that much better today. I still had long stretches of silence, and I even had to repeat long paragraphs because I changed my mind about how I wanted it to go.
I do admit that because of the warmup exercises, especially the exercise from Fool Proof Dictation where I worked a bit on my blocking notes, the beginning of my prose dictation wasn’t quite as slow and extra-awkward as it usually is. I still made lots of mistakes, but I had gotten more used to the action of speaking by then.
But as for dictating my prose, it still felt like there were long stretches where I was silent and trying to figure out what to write. Dragon doesn't care about the silence, but the more I am silent, the fewer words I am writing. Then again, I am not terribly fast at writing when I type at my computer, either, so perhaps this is just the way that I write.
However, I would like to learn how to dictate without so much silence. It would be nice to be able to dictate at a slow, even pace, with the words flowing without interruption. I can only hope that that will happen with more practice.
I admit I have been enjoying my dictation for the past few days. Maybe it's because I enjoy walking, and I feel extra-efficient in getting writing done while I am walking.
I definitely think that because I am using my digital recorder, the dictation is a lot easier this time. It is much nicer to grab it and my phone and walk out the door, rather than recording into my computer at my desk.
But my dislike of recording into my computer might be because my computer is old, and it runs slowly when I have Dragon running. Since it takes SO long for Parallels and Dragon to boot up, I tend to keep Windows paused in the background rather than shutting it down when I’m not using Dragon to transcribe my writing. But even with Windows paused, all my other programs run a lot slower.
Still, using the digital recorder has lowered the bar of resistance toward doing my dictation every day, which helps me to practice every day.
When doing the blocking for my Regency side novel, I dictated 640 words in 18 minutes, but it took me 13 minutes to transcribe it and 4 minutes to do clean-up editing (I think it was cleaner than yesterday because I was trying to consciously speak more slowly and enunciate). My final usable word count was 544 words written. My raw dictation speed was 2133 words per hour, but my overall writing speed (counting the time for dictation, transcription, and cleanup editing) was 926 words per hour. It’s not bad, and faster than my average wph typing.
When writing in my manuscript, I dictated 1372 words in 40 minutes, but it took me 21 minutes to transcribe it and 31 minutes to do clean-up editing. My final usable word count was 1270 words written. My raw dictation speed was 2058 words per hour, but my overall writing speed (counting the time for dictation, transcription, and cleanup editing) was 828 words per hour.
Compared to previous days, my raw dictation speeds were slower today for both my exercises and my writing. I was a bit disappointed, since I had been hoping that the warm-up exercises were making me a bit faster, but I had been feeling today that my dictation was a bit slow. At the very least, my overall writing speed wasn’t any slower than when I type and edit as I go.
However, because I got a slow start this morning, the transcription and editing were done after dinner, and I ended up staying up too late again. I also didn’t get to doing my cycling editing before doing the cleanup editing on the raw dictation, so I’ll have to do that tomorrow. I don’t want the cycling editing to pile up too much, or else I might procrastinate doing it.
I have to get my IBS under better control and I have to go to bed on time and get up early!
Writing streak: 270 days
Regency series:
Editing: Time spent: 0
Writing: Time spent: 1 hour, 32 minutes
Writing: Total number of words: 1270 words
Blocking: time spent: 35 minutes (Regency side novel)
Blocking: Total number of words: 544 words
Writing-related business:
Regency research reading: time spent: 0
Email: time spent: 6 minutes
Marketing: time spent: 1 hour, 58 minutes
My takeaway for today: Go to bed on time and get up early so you have time to do all your frogs and your cycling editing! Don’t let them pile up!
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