Day 949 - Dictation might be more efficient?

I had a bad IBS flareup in the early morning hours, and so I slept through my alarm this morning and got up late. It’s frustrating to be getting to work late, but I tried to be efficient.

As I blogged about yesterday, I did my dictation first thing. Well, not exactly first thing—I did my “frogs” first, my exercise, house chores, Japanese study and Bible reading. I have to admit my Japanese study lately has been very minimal and takes only a few minutes rather than 30 minutes. I had gotten into the habit of cutting my Japanese study short when my IBS was bad and I needed the extra time for writing, and then I cut it short when I was scrambling to finish my book in time for it to release in December. I guess I just haven’t gotten out of the habit of rushing through it, even though now I’m not as pressed for time to finish the book. However, when I wake up late, I still feel pressured to get started on my writing as soon as possible, which is why I’ve been still doing only the bare minimum in my Japanese study.

Anyway, after my “frogs,” I went walking outside (since it stopped raining) and did some dictation. It really did help to get out of the house—or at least away from my computer. I was able to focus quite well, although my dictation speed still wasn’t great, only 2400 words per hour. All I can do is hope that as I practice dictation more and become more comfortable with it, my speed will improve.

There’s a chance it may never get faster, and that’s just how fast my brain works when I’m writing. I’m prepared to accept that, but I’m also hopeful I can still improve my writing speed, because the faster I write, the more books I can produce.

After doing the cleanup editing, my final writing speed was barely 900 words an hour, which is typical when I type. However, I noticed that when I type, I usually take more breaks in between writing sessions, whereas when I dictate, it’s typically all within the same hour or 90 minutes, and likewise the cleanup editing is all in one sitting. I hadn’t noticed that before, but since I typed the last quarter of my most recent book, I had timesheet data to compare with today’s work, and noticed it. It ends up being a bit more efficient, I think, since the writing isn’t broken up by breaks.

Before when I was doing dictation, I had been so focused on writing speed that I hadn’t realized that I usually take fewer breaks when I dictate and cleanup. So I hadn’t noticed that the dictation might actually be a little more efficient use of my time.

Writing streak: 428 days

Dictation streak: 4 days

My takeaway for today: Since I tend to dictate all within the same hour or so and also do the cleanup editing all in one sitting, the time I spend dictating and cleanup may be more efficient than when I type, which is when I will usually take several breaks.