Day 807: Dictation, day 20: Need to do dictation exercises every day
Today, because I wanted to make sure that I got some editing done, I did it before I did any of my other frogs. It worked very well, and I was able to sit down at the computer and start work right away. In fact, the momentum was going really well, and so I didn't do any of my other frogs today. Instead, I did editing work all the way up until dinner.
I had some bad IBS symptoms at moments during the day. It wasn't constant, it was half an hour here or there where I had pain or discomfort. It caused me to have a late start for my day, which also might have been why I started the editing work quickly, because I knew that I was already starting late.
The editing is going very slowly. It might simply be how I do my editing. I read very closely to make sure that the language is appropriate for the time, since I'm writing a historical novel. When I write the Hawaii book, I check to make sure that the dialogue sounds like it would come out of the mouth of someone who lived in Hawaii. If I didn't have to check language like this, the editing would probably go faster.
This might be also why I dislike editing, because it is so tedious. When I was writing romantic suspense for Love Inspired, and then my Protection for Hire series with Zondervan, I never had to worry about checking for language, because the books were set in modern times in California.
I got a lot of editing done today, but not as much as I wanted to. I was disheartened by how slowly I edit. I suppose it can't be helped, but it's going to take me at least two more days to finish editing the book, possibly three. I hope to get more editing done tomorrow than I did today.
After finishing the editing for today, I decided to go for a walk. I wanted to do some dictation exercises, and I also wanted to dictate some prose for book 5. On days like today, where I have other things I need to do, I usually only do the bare minimum in writing in order to keep up my streak, but because I've been trying so hard to do the dictation, I decided to do the exercises and to dictate some fiction.
I do think that doing some dictation exercises almost every day has been helping a lot. I've become more used to the act of dictation, so it doesn't feel quite so awkward and terrible as it did before. I can't say that I am getting all that much better at dictation, because I still have long stretches of silence and mistakes, but I am at least getting more used to it, and so the awkwardness is not so bad.
However, I can tell that skipping dictation yesterday made it just a little bit more difficult to do the dictation today. It felt like my brain wasn't quite working as fast as before. I have long stretches of silence. I suppose the dictation exercises are not a cure-all or a magic bullet, but I do think that doing some dictation exercises every day might be helpful. Like exercising a mental muscle.
I'm starting to realize that I really need to make sure I do dictation exercises every day. It reminds me of when I was training for the marathon. I had to make sure to run three or four times a week, and if I skipped a day, I could somehow feel it the next time I ran. My muscles felt just a little bit sluggish.
I realized that the dictation feels the same way. After not dictating yesterday, the dictation feels sluggish today. Like I said, it feels like my brain isn't working quite as fast as before.
So I think from now on I'm going to try to make sure I do at least 10 or 15 minutes of dictation exercises every day. I think skipping a day or two is detrimental at this stage, when I'm still trying to learn how to dictate.
I think that's why one of the dictation books I read recommended that you do a dictation streak. I think it's because there is value in doing dictation every day. Not just to get used to dictation, but to exercise the parts of your brain that you need to adjust in order to write via dictation as well as you write with typing.
I didn’t have quite as many mistakes during my short dictation today, so I suppose that’s a good sign. But my raw dictation words per hour speed was only 2700 words per hour. When I included the cleanup editing time, my words per hour speed was 1600. Not bad, but I am still striving toward a goal of 5000 words per hour dictation, and overall writing speed of 2500 words per hour.
I think that when I can finally get back to doing 2 hours of dictation, my speed will improve after the first 30 minutes of dictation exercises. I’m sure some writers can skip the exercises and they’ll naturally just get faster as they dictate their book, but I feel like the specific requirements of the dictation exercises are helping me to learn how to dictate more smoothly. I’ll have to see.
Writing streak: 286 days
My takeaway for today: Do dictation exercises everyday, at least while you’re still learning to get better at dictation.
I had some bad IBS symptoms at moments during the day. It wasn't constant, it was half an hour here or there where I had pain or discomfort. It caused me to have a late start for my day, which also might have been why I started the editing work quickly, because I knew that I was already starting late.
The editing is going very slowly. It might simply be how I do my editing. I read very closely to make sure that the language is appropriate for the time, since I'm writing a historical novel. When I write the Hawaii book, I check to make sure that the dialogue sounds like it would come out of the mouth of someone who lived in Hawaii. If I didn't have to check language like this, the editing would probably go faster.
This might be also why I dislike editing, because it is so tedious. When I was writing romantic suspense for Love Inspired, and then my Protection for Hire series with Zondervan, I never had to worry about checking for language, because the books were set in modern times in California.
I got a lot of editing done today, but not as much as I wanted to. I was disheartened by how slowly I edit. I suppose it can't be helped, but it's going to take me at least two more days to finish editing the book, possibly three. I hope to get more editing done tomorrow than I did today.
After finishing the editing for today, I decided to go for a walk. I wanted to do some dictation exercises, and I also wanted to dictate some prose for book 5. On days like today, where I have other things I need to do, I usually only do the bare minimum in writing in order to keep up my streak, but because I've been trying so hard to do the dictation, I decided to do the exercises and to dictate some fiction.
I do think that doing some dictation exercises almost every day has been helping a lot. I've become more used to the act of dictation, so it doesn't feel quite so awkward and terrible as it did before. I can't say that I am getting all that much better at dictation, because I still have long stretches of silence and mistakes, but I am at least getting more used to it, and so the awkwardness is not so bad.
However, I can tell that skipping dictation yesterday made it just a little bit more difficult to do the dictation today. It felt like my brain wasn't quite working as fast as before. I have long stretches of silence. I suppose the dictation exercises are not a cure-all or a magic bullet, but I do think that doing some dictation exercises every day might be helpful. Like exercising a mental muscle.
I'm starting to realize that I really need to make sure I do dictation exercises every day. It reminds me of when I was training for the marathon. I had to make sure to run three or four times a week, and if I skipped a day, I could somehow feel it the next time I ran. My muscles felt just a little bit sluggish.
I realized that the dictation feels the same way. After not dictating yesterday, the dictation feels sluggish today. Like I said, it feels like my brain isn't working quite as fast as before.
So I think from now on I'm going to try to make sure I do at least 10 or 15 minutes of dictation exercises every day. I think skipping a day or two is detrimental at this stage, when I'm still trying to learn how to dictate.
I think that's why one of the dictation books I read recommended that you do a dictation streak. I think it's because there is value in doing dictation every day. Not just to get used to dictation, but to exercise the parts of your brain that you need to adjust in order to write via dictation as well as you write with typing.
I didn’t have quite as many mistakes during my short dictation today, so I suppose that’s a good sign. But my raw dictation words per hour speed was only 2700 words per hour. When I included the cleanup editing time, my words per hour speed was 1600. Not bad, but I am still striving toward a goal of 5000 words per hour dictation, and overall writing speed of 2500 words per hour.
I think that when I can finally get back to doing 2 hours of dictation, my speed will improve after the first 30 minutes of dictation exercises. I’m sure some writers can skip the exercises and they’ll naturally just get faster as they dictate their book, but I feel like the specific requirements of the dictation exercises are helping me to learn how to dictate more smoothly. I’ll have to see.
Writing streak: 286 days
My takeaway for today: Do dictation exercises everyday, at least while you’re still learning to get better at dictation.
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