Technology Test

[cathschaffstump]

Good morning, everyone.

This is me using Dragon NaturallySpeaking. It’s wonderful. My arm doesn’t hurt at all! It’s also very easy to use.

I think it’s going to speed up my writing time. A lot. Sure, I have to get used to making mistakes and correcting them, but since I have a friendly, Midwestern accent, I tend to speak clearly. Dragon NaturallySpeaking is also making me more careful about how I speak.

I suppose I will also become a better proofreader, because I’m using this program. Tomorrow I will be home writing all day. I will use Dragon NaturallySpeaking to move forward on the book. It’s not a perfect solution. I don’t think I can get angsty and dramatic and act out scenes, but if I think about the scenes. I can say them in a measured way that captures their content well.

Hmmm… I wonder how Dragon NaturallySpeaking will spell an exploding sound. My first experiments, show me not too well.

I’m done showing off. See you later with the Herc-o-meter.

Catherine

Originally published at Writer Tamago. You can comment here or there.

Comments

[brian-ohio.livejournal.com]

Sounds like a really cool program.

Glad your arms not hurting. Man, I was sorry to hear you broke it. Yikes!

Take care.

[erised1810.livejournal.com]

wow. that looks great. i jstu wonder how it putsi ncommas and punctuation though. i'm curious now.
and there goes my former job as typign letters form tape. m ybrother had done aforecast onthat because he's mroe itn osoftware and yeah. agh well.

[awelkin.livejournal.com]

I do edit. You actually say "period" or "comma" to get the punctuation in.

[david-bridger.livejournal.com]

Well done! :)

After using it for several weeks, I dicovered why I was getting so mentally tired. Correcting mistakes and speaking punctuation and formatting aloud, made it harder work than it should have been to keep my mind focused while creating the first draft. I had the pictures in my head and wanted to translate them into words on the screen in the straightforward rush I'd been used to experiencing.

I didn't lose my focus, but maintaining it made me tired while first-drafting more quickly than before.

The solution was to simply speak as if I'm telling the story aloud, leaving quotes and commas and everything to be added afterwards. Even taking this tidy-up into account, this has speeded the process up wonderfully.

Interestingly, I don't have this problem with admin stuff and nonfiction. Only when I'm creating.

Your mileage may vary. :)

[erised1810.livejournal.com]

i thoughtas much. exept when yo uneed the actua lwords themselves it'ssomething else. liek oncey ousay quote it jsut giives a " sign. oh well. you'venver bene the type to use :) or similar signs a lot so heh.
i also thought woudl ths make writing easier at all or arey outempted to notice how osmethign doens't flow whe nyour'e sayign it out loud and go back to fix it at once/ i mean this way yo ucoudl easily hear immediately whe nsomethgn doens't click well.

[mochimonkey.livejournal.com]

HA HA HA! That's awesome about the punctuation, but I guess it presents a problem if you have things like, "In the last . of the basketball game..." or "I have my."

Wonder if they could do a Victor Borge (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lF4qii8S3gw) on the program? :D

[ithilwen.livejournal.com]

Glad to hear the program's working well for you! Even if you have to do more than the usual amount of proof-reading later, it's still a net reduction in the amount of typing you'll need to do.

[cathschaffstump.livejournal.com]

David:

I've been giving the issue of writing, composing, and creating all at once a lot of thought. I believe you are right. I think you have to go back through and work on corrections after you've done the initial creating, otherwise you really destroy your flow.

After I'm finished with my e-mail today, I'll give it a whirl and see how works.

Catherine

[cathschaffstump.livejournal.com]

That's right. And we disabled people really want to reduce the amount of typing we do!

Catherine