Well, friends, it has happened. I have had to start with voice recognition software to write once again.
Recently, I decided to start dictating again for speed. I've heard of people dictating ten times more than me. I'm not looking for a novel a day or anything, but a few thousand extra words a day would be great.
Because I am a slow, slow writer.
In 2003, I had a carpal tunnel syndrome scare. Turns out it was just severe tendonitis. Back then, ergonomics weren't really a thing, so I had no idea how to sit properly, nor did I realize that yes, typing for hours on end might lead to hand and wrist issues. Say it with me: Duh.
Anyway, I bought Dragon Naturally Speaking, which is the best dictation software out there. It cost me $60.00. And I started dictating. I had a bit of trouble with the RAM — Dragon needs a ton of RAM and my computer needed to be upgraded to Windows XP. Damn, that was a long time! I found it to be very awkward because I am used to typing, and speaking everything, including punctuation, was just weird. I even went so far as to pretend to be typing to trick my brain. As time went on, I got better at it, and my wrists got better, too. However, I went back to typing at my first opportunity. But I've had to drastically cut down how much I type per day.
Over the years, I had several more tendonitis flares, requiring me to drag out the software once again and relearn how to speak my novel. Each time I went back to typing. See a pattern here? My last flare was in 2008, where I dictated my entire novel for National Novel Writing Month, a writing challenge that takes place every November. I "wrote" 57,000 words, 7,000 more than the goal of 50,000. But I had a serious problem. The headset that comes with the program gave me migraines.
Since then, I've done two things. I've been keeping the software up to date so I always have the most current version. It has gotten better over time. And now you don't even have to train it anymore! It's like 90-some odd percent accurate upon installation. And I can verify that this is true.
I have also been looking for an alternative to the headset. For awhile, I used the Dragon Dictation app on my iPhone, and it worked beautifully. And then they stopped updating it to be compatible with the iPhone, which totally sucked. Strangely enough, the version for Android still works.
I also looked into a Bluetooth headset, but that was a major problem because they're so expensive but so flimsy.
So I was basically screwed.
Until I learned of Dragon's transcription feature. (Only certain versions have it, though). It sounded easy enough. You talk into a digital recorder (or app) and Dragon will transcribe it for you! How amazing! So last year I hunted around for a fairly inexpensive digital recorder, found one, and finally got the chance to try it.
It was a bit underwhelming at first. Well, it's never one hundred percent accurate, but my first two trial transcriptions were horrible. I actually spent more time rewriting everything than I did just typing it. I was so discouraged, but then I remembered that I'd forgotten how to dictate. There's a certain way you need to talk in order for the program to understand you. It's been compared to how newscasters talk on the air. Well, the first two times I was feeling a bit uncomfortable dictating where anyone could hear me. (That eventually goes away in my experience). So I did both dictations after midnight when everyone else was sleeping. I'm a night owl, but I was pretty tired at that point. I was also concerned about keeping everyone awake if they heard me — my basement office is right below my hubby's and my bedroom. So what I ended up doing was quiet mumbling. Yeah, not going to work at all.
And...my mom, who is on the other side of the house, texted me to ask who I was talking to. I'm like, "No one. I'm dictating." GUYS, she could hear me! I was so embarrassed.
So then I decided to do it before bed and the proper way.
This transcription was the best. Still a bit funky in some places, but the corrections were minor. The difference was astounding! So I am cautiously optimistic that this might be what I've been looking for.
And it's kind of fun. I have to visualize a lot more, and that helps ground me in the scene. Dialogue is better, because I can hear it as I go. And some of the errors Dragon makes are hilarious.
So will I continue? Absolutely! Because of work and having two chronic illnesses, I've had some trouble carving out the time to write. I think this is my lowest year in like, forever. I normally write around 100,000 to 150,000 words a year. (Yes, I track them, and have been for a long time). This year? I just broke 50,000 words. But that's okay. At least I'm still writing, which is the most important thing. Anyway, using transcription will help make each session count. Every single one so far has been well over 1,000 words. One of them was almost 2,000. So I think it can work well for me. :)
Have you ever tried dictation or a different method to do something? How did it work for you?
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