Packing for conference

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And once again, I did not get to writing first thing after I woke up today. I knew I had to take time to pack today, and that I wasn't going to get a lot of writing done. Now that I think about it, I probably could've done a few minutes of dictation before I started packing, but it didn't occur to me. Also, considering how things on my to-do list tend to distract me while I'm writing, the thought of all my packing might've distracted me while I was working.

So I took all day to pack, and then I did a little less than 13 minutes of dictation. Editing took eight minutes. So far, when I dictate using Dragon Anywhere, my editing takes about half the amount of time it takes for me to dictate.

I can't get too excited about that, though, because I don't dictate as quickly when I use Dragon Anywhere on my phone, so my words per hour rate is much lower. When I dictate into a voice recorder, my words per hour rate ranges from about 2500 to 3000 words an hour, but the editing also takes the same amount of time because I will often repeat myself in order to get a sentence right, and I need to edit stuff like that out of the writing.

When taking into account the editing time, my dictation today was a little over 1000 words an hour. That's better than what my words per hour rate while typing has been for the past few months.

I don't know if I'll ever be able to increase my words per hour rate in using this method, because editing my dictation as I go is always going to take extra time, which reduces my writing speed. But the final pros at the end of the day is a bit better than the transcription method of dictation, so I'm OK with that.

If I practice my dictation, I am hopeful that I might be able to increase my dictation speed even though I'll be editing as I go. Just like how my dictation now is better than it was when I first started, practice helps me become more comfortable with dictation and hopefully I'll get faster at it.

Useful Dictation Streak

The dictation streak has been very useful, just like how the writing streak was useful, forcing me to write just a little bit even when I'm tired at the end of the day. I only dated for a few minutes, but I got a good start on the next scene.

Because I write more words when I dictate, I'm hoping that this dictation streak will help me to be more productive and get my books out faster. It helps that I can do even a little dictation on my phone using Dragon Anywhere.

A streak is always kind of difficult to keep up, but it helps that this time I'm giving myself permission to take Sundays off, and I'm not counting it when I calculate my streak days. The writing streak was really helpful to get me to do at least a little work every day, but it was difficult to get work done on Sundays and on holidays.

Conference

I'll be going to a writing marketing conference for the next few days. It has always been difficult for me to get writing done when I go to conferences. Actually, it's difficult for me to get writing done when I'm not at home. My writing output is always much lower whenever I travel, even when I go to my parents' house and there isn't anything I need to do.

However, I am more hopeful this time that it won't be too difficult for me to keep up my dictation streak. I've gotten used to opening the Dragon Anywhere app on my phone and jumping into dictation.

I realized that it's much easier for me to start writing when doing dictation in the app. Maybe it's because there are fewer distractions on my phone, or maybe it's because I'm usually pacing when I start dictation, which seems to help my brain to think better for writing.

I am hopeful that I'll be able to do at least five minutes of dictation every day even while I'm at the conference. I'll try to do some writing in the morning, but even if I have to do it in the evening, I don't think it'll be too hard. I have a hotel room to myself, so I should be able to have a nice quiet place to work, and I'll be able to pace when I dictate, too.

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