Day 819: Dictation, day 26 - Need better blocking notes
My IBS is kind of bad today, but I took medication and decided to go out walking and dictating anyway.
I have been wanting to try to walk and dictate earlier in the day, partly just to try it since most of the time I dictate in the afternoon, and I wanted to compare how my dictation goes in the morning versus the afternoon. But I also wanted to try dictating in the morning because walking in the afternoon is very hot, and I thought maybe the dictation might go better if I went walking in the morning when the weather is cooler.
So I had planned to go walking not too long after I woke up, but I had forgotten that my IBS tends to be worst in the morning. I have been trying my best to control my diet, but I am also at a phase where I'm trying to figure out which foods I can and cannot eat. Sometimes I try something and it causes issues. The problem is that if I eat something and my IBS reacts to it, it will bother me for a full week after I've eaten it.
So I ended up not being able to go walking until almost noon. I was really disappointed since I’d woken up early today, but ended up needing to postpone work because of my IBS.
For my dictation exercises today, I'm going to try to be more diligent about adhering to the guidelines for the exercises. The past few times, I've gotten too caught up in writing the story that was used as the prompt for the dictation exercise, and so I haven't really been doing the exercise, I've simply been writing.
But I want to try to adhere to the guidelines of the exercise so that I can let the exercise teach me how to dictate better. I'm hoping that the exercise will train me to switch my brain and be able to think in longer sentences.
I also hope that the exercises will help me to stop pausing quite so much. I think part of the reason that I pause so much is because I'm trying to think of what to say next, and I'm undecided, because I want to say something I'm satisfied with. But I think I need to learn how to just say the first thing that comes to mind. The dictation is still difficult and a little stressful, so it's difficult for me just to relax and say whatever. I think it’s mostly because I'm too used to trying to edit what I say so that it's exactly what I want to say. But I need to let that go. I need to just dictate whatever comes to mind, and trust that the editing will take care of it.
Actually, I think part of the reason I can’t simply let go and say the first thing that comes to mind is because I don't trust my self-editing to take care of my mistakes, because my editing is so poor. I actually think my self-editing skills are okay, but much of my poor editing is simply that I don't like doing it, so I'm not as detail-oriented in my self-editing as I ought to be. I think I am more detail-oriented in my editing when I edit as I write, maybe because I am more focused at those points. When I am doing just pure editing, I tend to be kind of bored, and to want to be doing other things. So my focus is not on my editing. Either that, or I simply want to finish the editing as fast as possible, so I'm rushing through it.
Actually that might be the big problem. I think I am trying to rush through the editing quickly, which is what makes me less detail-oriented. When I do cleanup editing for dictation, if there is a lot to correct, and it's a lot of work, I will do my best to try to get through it quickly. Also, sometimes—actually it's more like all the time—I dictate and then I seem to be rushing to do the cleanup afterward because I'm short on time. Maybe doing the dictation in the morning will enable me to avoid that. If I do the dictation early, and do the cleanup early, then the cleanup won't be so rushed.
The problem is that I don't want to simply stop pausing, I want to be able to think in complete sentences so that when I dictate, I get a clean copy on the first try. I don't want to have to do a lot of cleanup editing for my dictation, because that would ruin the point of dictating in order to get more words done. If I have to delete too much of those words, then the number of words I dictated a lot less.
Do I just need more practice and dictating? Is the way I think going to change? I don't really know if the exercises are making all that much of a difference. I think maybe they are, because especially if I concentrate really hard, I can think in longer sentences than I used to. I can tell that I am thinking in longer sentences sometimes. So I suppose that's a good thing. But that doesn't always happen. A lot of times I pause a lot trying to decide what to dictate next.
Maybe I should focus instead on thinking about full sentences rather than simply trying to dictate continuously. Maybe it would be better for me to try to train my brain to think in full sentences rather than simply trying not to stop.
I think I just have so many problems that are keeping me from good dictation, and while I shouldn't tackle them all at the same time, they are all contributing to my slow dictation rate. I need to let go of my perfectionism and simply say the first thing that comes to mind. I need to relax my thoughts so that I can let my mind wander and think of other things to say. At the same time I need to try to learn to think in more complete sentences.
I've been focusing on trying not to stop dictating, but that's resulting in a lot of messy dictation, and I'm not sure if I want to get into that habit. Ideally, I would not stop talking, but I would also be thinking in complete sentences so that the dictation is clean.
Maybe I should focus first on changing my way of thinking so that I think in more complete sentences when I dictate. Then once my dictation is more clean, I can focus more on trying not to stop dictating. It will reduce my dictation word count on for a while if I focus more on that, but the editing might go easier.
And to be perfectly honest, if I had to choose between the two, I would rather have cleaner dictation so that the editing is not so difficult. I suppose I simply don't want to have to rely on editing to fix my sentences and get them to a good quality, because I'm simply not detail-oriented enough on my editing. I would rather focus on getting the words down right so that I don't have to rely upon the editing for the quality of my work. I think I simply prefer having clean copy.
If I focus more on clean copy, even though I may be dictating fewer words per hour, the editing might be less difficult and take less time, in which case I may not feel as much desire to get through it quickly. The editing time would be less, and I would be less likely to do a poor job on it. I'll be more likely to pay more attention and be more detail oriented if the editing is not quite so bad.
***
Today has just not been my day. My IBS flared up during my walk and dictation, but I had remembered to bring medication with me and took some, and then I was able to finish my dictation session. But when I got home, I got a sinus headache from my allergies. In addition, my computer froze in the middle of transcribing my dictation, and I had to do a hard restart.
The dictation was the same as usual, with lots of pauses and mistakes. I think I keep hoping to see more substantive evidence that I’m getting better at it, but each day’s dictation seemed actually a bit worse than normal. And when I finally did the transcription, my average speed was only 2300 words per hour. I’m still getting at least 4000 words written each day, so I really shouldn’t complain at my “slow” dictation speed, but I would really like to get up to 5000 words an hour at some point.
A part of me wonders if my dictation is slow because my blocking notes aren’t quite as organized as they should be. I noticed that in this last scene, I dictated the scene a little out of order from how they were written in my blocking notes, and that kind of mental juggling probably caused me to write slower.
I think maybe I need to take some time to look over and organize my blocking notes a bit better before I start dictating the scene. This needs to be done before I leave the house to walk and dictate. It might also be good because I’ll be reviewing the scene before writing it.
After finally coaxing my computer to transcribe my dictation, I ended up not having time to do the cleanup editing, nor did I even get to the cycle edits of the scene I completed last week. I shouldn’t be surprised, since I had such a late start on my work thanks to my IBS. But I admit I’m still a bit disappointed that I didn’t get more done.
Since my IBS tends to be bad in the morning, I don’t think I can do my dictation and writing in the morning on a consistent basis. However, I don’t know how to be able to walk in the afternoon when it’s so hot. I was thinking that maybe I could go walking later in the afternoon when it’s a little cooler, and instead of doing the cleanup editing afterward, I can do it in the morning the next day.
I’m a bit worried that if I do my writing that late in the day, I might not have enough energy. I’m also worried that I would procrastinate doing my cleanup editing the next morning—I seem to be less resistant to doing it when I do it the same day as the dictation.
But for now, at least, with my IBS the way it is, doing my walking and dictating in the morning isn’t going to be possible. I won’t be able to count on feeling well enough every morning to get it done. It’s one of the reasons I was doing the dictation in the afternoon, because my IBS was usually better by then and I could go get it done. But the heat was oppressive on some days, and I don’t need hot weather making it difficult for me to get out the door to walk and dictate. I have enough resistance to doing my other work as it is. I don’t need more.
I guess I’ll try doing the walking and dictation in the late afternoon and see how it goes. If it’s not too bad, that might be an option for reworking my schedule. And who knows, I might end up being able to work really well in the late afternoon. I’ve never tried it yet, and for most of my life, I’ve usually worked better later in the day. Doing the writing later will also enable me to get all my “frogs” done first so that I’ll stop skipping them like I’ve been doing the past several work days.
Writing streak: 298 days
My takeaway for today: Before going out walking and dictating, edit the blocking notes so they’re in the right order and I don’t have to do any mental juggling while dictating.
My second takeaway for today: Try doing the walking and dictating later in the afternoon when the weather is a little cooler, and then doing the cleanup editing the next morning.
I have been wanting to try to walk and dictate earlier in the day, partly just to try it since most of the time I dictate in the afternoon, and I wanted to compare how my dictation goes in the morning versus the afternoon. But I also wanted to try dictating in the morning because walking in the afternoon is very hot, and I thought maybe the dictation might go better if I went walking in the morning when the weather is cooler.
So I had planned to go walking not too long after I woke up, but I had forgotten that my IBS tends to be worst in the morning. I have been trying my best to control my diet, but I am also at a phase where I'm trying to figure out which foods I can and cannot eat. Sometimes I try something and it causes issues. The problem is that if I eat something and my IBS reacts to it, it will bother me for a full week after I've eaten it.
So I ended up not being able to go walking until almost noon. I was really disappointed since I’d woken up early today, but ended up needing to postpone work because of my IBS.
For my dictation exercises today, I'm going to try to be more diligent about adhering to the guidelines for the exercises. The past few times, I've gotten too caught up in writing the story that was used as the prompt for the dictation exercise, and so I haven't really been doing the exercise, I've simply been writing.
But I want to try to adhere to the guidelines of the exercise so that I can let the exercise teach me how to dictate better. I'm hoping that the exercise will train me to switch my brain and be able to think in longer sentences.
I also hope that the exercises will help me to stop pausing quite so much. I think part of the reason that I pause so much is because I'm trying to think of what to say next, and I'm undecided, because I want to say something I'm satisfied with. But I think I need to learn how to just say the first thing that comes to mind. The dictation is still difficult and a little stressful, so it's difficult for me just to relax and say whatever. I think it’s mostly because I'm too used to trying to edit what I say so that it's exactly what I want to say. But I need to let that go. I need to just dictate whatever comes to mind, and trust that the editing will take care of it.
Actually, I think part of the reason I can’t simply let go and say the first thing that comes to mind is because I don't trust my self-editing to take care of my mistakes, because my editing is so poor. I actually think my self-editing skills are okay, but much of my poor editing is simply that I don't like doing it, so I'm not as detail-oriented in my self-editing as I ought to be. I think I am more detail-oriented in my editing when I edit as I write, maybe because I am more focused at those points. When I am doing just pure editing, I tend to be kind of bored, and to want to be doing other things. So my focus is not on my editing. Either that, or I simply want to finish the editing as fast as possible, so I'm rushing through it.
Actually that might be the big problem. I think I am trying to rush through the editing quickly, which is what makes me less detail-oriented. When I do cleanup editing for dictation, if there is a lot to correct, and it's a lot of work, I will do my best to try to get through it quickly. Also, sometimes—actually it's more like all the time—I dictate and then I seem to be rushing to do the cleanup afterward because I'm short on time. Maybe doing the dictation in the morning will enable me to avoid that. If I do the dictation early, and do the cleanup early, then the cleanup won't be so rushed.
The problem is that I don't want to simply stop pausing, I want to be able to think in complete sentences so that when I dictate, I get a clean copy on the first try. I don't want to have to do a lot of cleanup editing for my dictation, because that would ruin the point of dictating in order to get more words done. If I have to delete too much of those words, then the number of words I dictated a lot less.
Do I just need more practice and dictating? Is the way I think going to change? I don't really know if the exercises are making all that much of a difference. I think maybe they are, because especially if I concentrate really hard, I can think in longer sentences than I used to. I can tell that I am thinking in longer sentences sometimes. So I suppose that's a good thing. But that doesn't always happen. A lot of times I pause a lot trying to decide what to dictate next.
Maybe I should focus instead on thinking about full sentences rather than simply trying to dictate continuously. Maybe it would be better for me to try to train my brain to think in full sentences rather than simply trying not to stop.
I think I just have so many problems that are keeping me from good dictation, and while I shouldn't tackle them all at the same time, they are all contributing to my slow dictation rate. I need to let go of my perfectionism and simply say the first thing that comes to mind. I need to relax my thoughts so that I can let my mind wander and think of other things to say. At the same time I need to try to learn to think in more complete sentences.
I've been focusing on trying not to stop dictating, but that's resulting in a lot of messy dictation, and I'm not sure if I want to get into that habit. Ideally, I would not stop talking, but I would also be thinking in complete sentences so that the dictation is clean.
Maybe I should focus first on changing my way of thinking so that I think in more complete sentences when I dictate. Then once my dictation is more clean, I can focus more on trying not to stop dictating. It will reduce my dictation word count on for a while if I focus more on that, but the editing might go easier.
And to be perfectly honest, if I had to choose between the two, I would rather have cleaner dictation so that the editing is not so difficult. I suppose I simply don't want to have to rely on editing to fix my sentences and get them to a good quality, because I'm simply not detail-oriented enough on my editing. I would rather focus on getting the words down right so that I don't have to rely upon the editing for the quality of my work. I think I simply prefer having clean copy.
If I focus more on clean copy, even though I may be dictating fewer words per hour, the editing might be less difficult and take less time, in which case I may not feel as much desire to get through it quickly. The editing time would be less, and I would be less likely to do a poor job on it. I'll be more likely to pay more attention and be more detail oriented if the editing is not quite so bad.
***
Today has just not been my day. My IBS flared up during my walk and dictation, but I had remembered to bring medication with me and took some, and then I was able to finish my dictation session. But when I got home, I got a sinus headache from my allergies. In addition, my computer froze in the middle of transcribing my dictation, and I had to do a hard restart.
The dictation was the same as usual, with lots of pauses and mistakes. I think I keep hoping to see more substantive evidence that I’m getting better at it, but each day’s dictation seemed actually a bit worse than normal. And when I finally did the transcription, my average speed was only 2300 words per hour. I’m still getting at least 4000 words written each day, so I really shouldn’t complain at my “slow” dictation speed, but I would really like to get up to 5000 words an hour at some point.
A part of me wonders if my dictation is slow because my blocking notes aren’t quite as organized as they should be. I noticed that in this last scene, I dictated the scene a little out of order from how they were written in my blocking notes, and that kind of mental juggling probably caused me to write slower.
I think maybe I need to take some time to look over and organize my blocking notes a bit better before I start dictating the scene. This needs to be done before I leave the house to walk and dictate. It might also be good because I’ll be reviewing the scene before writing it.
After finally coaxing my computer to transcribe my dictation, I ended up not having time to do the cleanup editing, nor did I even get to the cycle edits of the scene I completed last week. I shouldn’t be surprised, since I had such a late start on my work thanks to my IBS. But I admit I’m still a bit disappointed that I didn’t get more done.
Since my IBS tends to be bad in the morning, I don’t think I can do my dictation and writing in the morning on a consistent basis. However, I don’t know how to be able to walk in the afternoon when it’s so hot. I was thinking that maybe I could go walking later in the afternoon when it’s a little cooler, and instead of doing the cleanup editing afterward, I can do it in the morning the next day.
I’m a bit worried that if I do my writing that late in the day, I might not have enough energy. I’m also worried that I would procrastinate doing my cleanup editing the next morning—I seem to be less resistant to doing it when I do it the same day as the dictation.
But for now, at least, with my IBS the way it is, doing my walking and dictating in the morning isn’t going to be possible. I won’t be able to count on feeling well enough every morning to get it done. It’s one of the reasons I was doing the dictation in the afternoon, because my IBS was usually better by then and I could go get it done. But the heat was oppressive on some days, and I don’t need hot weather making it difficult for me to get out the door to walk and dictate. I have enough resistance to doing my other work as it is. I don’t need more.
I guess I’ll try doing the walking and dictation in the late afternoon and see how it goes. If it’s not too bad, that might be an option for reworking my schedule. And who knows, I might end up being able to work really well in the late afternoon. I’ve never tried it yet, and for most of my life, I’ve usually worked better later in the day. Doing the writing later will also enable me to get all my “frogs” done first so that I’ll stop skipping them like I’ve been doing the past several work days.
Writing streak: 298 days
My takeaway for today: Before going out walking and dictating, edit the blocking notes so they’re in the right order and I don’t have to do any mental juggling while dictating.
My second takeaway for today: Try doing the walking and dictating later in the afternoon when the weather is a little cooler, and then doing the cleanup editing the next morning.
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