Day 954 - Improved focus with dictation

Just when I was blogging about disruptions to my schedule yesterday, I had another disruption today. I woke up with a terrible headache, and while I can usually do certain types of work (marketing, editing) while suffering from IBS pain, I absolutely cannot get work done with a headache. Actually, I could force myself to do some work, but after about 20 minutes, my headache will get worse and turn into a full-blown migraine, and I have to avoid that at all costs. A migraine on one day will leave me feeling drained and slightly headachy the next day, also.

So I did my best to get rid of the headache. I moved around, I drink lots of water, I drink some tea, and I took pain meds. However, it didn't start to go away until the late afternoon, and now that it's dinner time, I still feel a slight headache. However, I want to get some work done today, so I'm going to try to do some dictation on my book. And while it’s transcribing, I will also try to get done the cycling edit on the dictation I did yesterday.

I have found that even just a little bit of dictation helps me write a lot of words in my manuscript, and that is very motivating. I will often dictate longer than I intended to. This often happens when I type and write, too, but the difference is that five minutes of dictation is a lot more words than five minutes of typing, although I forget about the time I will need to take to do the cleanup editing afterward, too. So ultimately I end up working even longer than that.

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I ended up dictating for about 30 minutes, then doing the cycling edit. By then it was time to eat dinner, and I finished the cleanup editing afterward. My dictation speed was fairly slow—I’ve been dictating at an average of about 2300 words an hour for the last week, and today was 2363. As usual, the cleanup editing took the same amount of time as the dictation—30 minutes—but I added some words to it, so my overall writing speed was 1300 words an hour. My average for the past week has been about 1000 words an hour, which is about the same as when I type.

So, being completely honest here, dictation is not making me write faster than typing, because the cleanup editing time takes so long. I am hoping that might change as I get better at dictation.

I tried to compare my time sheet from both book 5, which I finished in late November, and this book, which I started in early December, but it’s hard because I only wrote the bare minimum for the 10-12 days I was on vacation at the end of December, so my averages are skewed. But since my writing speed is pretty much the same between dictation and typing, ultimately it comes down to how many hours I write each day. If I can push myself to write for several hours, then I write more words. Which is rather obvious, but I think I spend more time writing on the days I do dictation.

I think it’s because when I’m dictating, I can usually focus better and not be distracted since I’m not at my computer, most of the time. And when I’m on a roll, I can push myself to dictate just a few minutes more. Those few minutes result in many more words, and at the time I don’t think about the extra time I’ll need to do the cleanup editing on it. So then I spend time to do the editing, and I end up working for a longer period of time than I had anticipated.

Hopefully I’ll eventually learn to dictate faster. I mentioned this the last time I tried doing dictation, but I think that for me, it all comes down to learning how to just say the first thing that comes to mind, so that I have less silence, and then repeating myself until it sounds right. If I try to think in complete sentences, it results in more silence as I’m thinking, so the “vomit it out and repeat myself” method seems to be the best method for me to improve my dictation. Maybe as I get better at dictation, I’ll get better about thinking in complete sentences rather than in phrases. And actually, thinking in phrases as opposed to word-for-word might be an improvement over how I used to be when I first started dictation.

I’m also trying to be more careful with my editing so that the writing is the same quality as typing. I think that when I’m slow and deliberate in my editing, the final prose turns out better and closer to when I type.

So, I’m not writing any faster with dictation—but I’m focusing better while I’m dictating as opposed to typing. Not sure why that is, but maybe it’s just a matter of removing myself from the computer. Actually, now that I think of it, I was able to focus better when I used the Alphasmart rather than my computer, so maybe it’s the same thing. In fact, just like with dictating, when I use the Alphasmart, I can’t see what I previously wrote, which probably also helps me focus better.

For now, I’ll continue with my dictation streak so that I can say I really gave this whole dictation thing a shot and really tried to make it work. I also feel rather good that I am reducing the stress to my hands and wrist. If I can eventually increase my writing speed, then the time I spend now will all be worth it.

30 minutes is not a lot of time of working today, but considering I was in pain for most of the day, I think that’s okay. Also, I prevented it from turning into a migraine, so that’s always a win.

Writing streak: 433 days

Dictation streak: 9 days

My takeaway for today: I am able to focus better when I dictate, which is similar to when I write on the Alphasmart, so maybe it’s simply being away from my computer and/or not seeing what I just wrote.

My second takeaway for today: I still need to work on just saying the first thing that comes to mind and then repeating myself until it sounds right.