Sunday, 8 September 2019

Today I have finished the first draft of the story most which has been written using dictation. Checking back to my records I see I have written as follows:

• 4299 words typed – that was the essential scenes and some time writing with a friend
  
• 56,092 words – this was written using dictation

I have worked out the average words per hour for the two different ways of writing:

• 1228 words per hour for typing
  
• 2731 words per hour using dictation

Overall this means I have written a 60,000 word novel in a total time of 24 hours. Obviously I wouldn't be able to write non-stop 24 hours. More realistically I should be able to write this spread across four days.

But what about dictating the punctuation?
At first I thought this would really break my flow. But honestly, after dictating 7000 words of already written fiction, it's now second nature. When you type you still think the punctuation and so saying it out loud is honestly not an issue for me now. In some ways I actually see the punctuation when dictating in a way I didn't when typing.

Things I've noticed that increase my productivity

• Writing in blocks of 25 minutes rather than 50 minutes or an hour increased my words per hour
  
• Outlining with a little bit more detail, also helped up my word count while dictating
• My words per hour for dictating varied between 1983 to 3588 depending on the above factors.
• I dictate quicker in the morning than in the afternoon.

My target for dictation is 4000 words per hour. I read the other people manage to hit 5000 words per hour but I want to give myself what looks like an achievable target in the medium to short term.

But how rough is the first draft?
I glanced through the first draft were getting back into the story to dictate new words over the last month. I've noticed that Dragon doesn't dictate any spelling mistakes, unlike when I type.

There are quite a few words that sound the same, but are actually the wrong word. Examples of this include their they're and there, to and two, and there are also some words missed out.

I'm going to leave this story for a few weeks while I work on other project that are more time critical. I'll report back later about how much of a hot mess the first draft really was and if it's genuinely any worse than my usual first drafts.

In all honestly, even if it's rougher than my usual first drafts, my productivity to produce it is about twice that of typing, so it would need to be very much worse to cancel out any gains from using dictation. Not to mention dictation is less tiring than typing, doesn't give me finger or arm ache, and can be done while standing up.

Monday, second of September.

This is the beginning of my fifth week with Dragon. I did not use Dragon last week, as I was on holiday. Instead, one was delayed at the airport by to the opportunity to outline in a bit more detail the ending of my current work in progress.

This means that I have had three weeks of working with Dragon so far.

I've also been experimenting with different lengths of time to write in using Dragon. Before this I was using hour-long blocks, and trying to work out my average words per hour. During the previous few weeks this ranged from 2000 to 2900 words per hour using this method.

Today, using a more detailed outline, and using blocks of 25 minutes followed by five minutes break, during which I went on the Internet et cetera, I have averaged 3488 words per minute.

Normally when I write using a keyboard, I like to write in rounds of 50 minutes. I increased this to an hour during the last few weeks of using Dragon so it would be easy to work out my words per hour. However, as writing through dictation is actually much quicker than typing, it's actually harder to maintain this for a full hour of the time. I think this is because it's harder for my brain to keep up with my mouth when generating the fiction.

The combination of having a more detailed outline, as well as working in blocks of 25 minutes, has meant that my average words per hour has significantly increased.

How detailed is the outline I'm using?
Today I wrote 11,600 words, in 200 minutes of writing. This represents notes covering four fifths of a page of A4 paper. About six lines of notes left until I have written the whole of the part outlined.

This isn't really much more detailed than I usually outline, and I find that it really helps to have the scene, in my head, before I start dictating. I have to be able to see, where the scene is happening, and from whose point of view it is from, before I start dictating. Then, once I get into the flow, I briefly glanced back at my notes to make sure I want track of what I want to seem to include.

Overall, my target for average words per hour while using Dragon is 4000. I know some others have reached 5000 words on our, and possibly I may be able to do this, but at the moment and just trying to increase by dictating regularly and improving my method.

I had a minor issue, when Dragon down, with a message that said it wasn't possible to close as a certain file was missing. It also suggested that I re-download Dragon to fix this. This has not happened again. *touches wood* However, and in anticipation of this problem returning, I have backed up my Dragon profile onto an external hard drive. This means that if I need to uninstall and reinstall the software onto this laptop, I will be able to add my existing profile to it, including all the learning and teaching it has acquired from me and my voice so far.

Dictating the punctuation, has now become, almost second nature. I'm not sure if it has affected the way I am writing dialogue, but I don't think it really has.

It has definitely been easier to experiment with using Dragon, on a project that is less important to me. It has taken away some of the anxiety, I had about whether it would change my writing voice.

4 September
I couldn't dictate any of my sensual scenes. I tried. And just no. I'm not against writing these sort of scenes, in fact I rather enjoy them now, as they're a different side to the characters and their relationship.

But I can't dictate them.

Anyway, this situation meant I had 3 sensual scenes left to write at various stages of the book. So, while away alone in a hotel room, I had a glass of wine and wrote these 3 scenes using a keyboard. My words per minute was 1658 which is about half my previous dictation words per hour, and about my usual wph for typing.

Wednesday 14th of August – living with Denise the Dragon

Today is halfway through the second week of me using Dragon to dictate. During this time, I have:

• dictated 7000 already existing words from my fiction and from other fiction
  
• corrected these using Dragon so it is learning
• started dictating new fiction

I have just finished writing, old-style using a keyboard, a long 100,000 word story. Before I got into dictating my next full-length novel, I thought I would use a novella, in a similar way to training wheels on a bicycle. I've also told myself I won't aim to publish this story, which definitely takes some of the pressure off. I'm looking at the story as a long practice project.

So over the last two weeks, I have dictated, 15,000 words on this novella. This has made it easier than if I was doing a proper large important project. Doing it for this novella has allowed me to be less worried about the dictation, and just letting myself get used to the process.

The novella, is basically taking a previously published short story of 12,000 words, and I have written the story of the two men, getting together. The previously published short story was about an established couple, while one of them overcame some issues in his life. Writing this novella has been easier than starting from scratch, because I was aware of the characters and quite familiar with them.

I may never actually publish this novella I am dictating now, and the lack of worrying about that, has meant that is easier to dictate than by dictating something I knew I would definitely be submitting. As with most things, I'm not sure what will actually do with it once it's finished, the taking of the pressure to myself, has been a great benefit while dictating in this way.

I am dictating, in the same way that I write my first draft words. That is I am writing with a brief outline, from start, to finish, and not correcting anything as I go along. I find this helps me maintain flow and stay in the story. Rather than fiddling about correcting typos and minor word choice errors.

During this time, I have written, using dictation, in six hours of writing. Each time I have recorded the number of words I've written during that hour. I also typed for two hours and have recorded my word count for those two hours as well.

So what are the numbers like?
For the two hours of typing I did on this project I averaged 1113 words per hour. For the dictating parts of the story I have averaged over six hours, 2580 words per hour. This isn't as high as I've seen other Dragon users report, with some people managing 5000 words per hour.

I'm not sure whether this is to do with the fact that I haven't got a detailed outline, or the fact that it's a story with two characters I have only written a 12,000 word short story for so far. Or maybe it's because I'm still getting used to dictating?

The learning point so far are:

• it's definitely faster than typing
  
• it is easier to do when I'm tired and typing
  
• and when I really get into it, I am acting out the dialogue and actions of the two characters using my voice and hands, in a way which is much more fun, and impossible, while typing
  

I plan to continue dictating the story until I get to the end and hopefully I will get more used to dictating and my word count per hour will increase.

Day four with Dragon

Today after dictating some already published books into my dragon, and going back and correcting them, I felt I was getting used to dictating the punctuation.

I decided to take the plunge and dictate some new friction into Dragon.

Using the same methods as when I write normally using my Alpha smart Neo, I wrote in around 50 minutes, with no Internet or other distractions. I made sure I had made a few brief notes about the two scenes which would introduce these characters to us and already had a few notes about the third scene during which they would meet.

It did feel slightly odd dictating at first, but soon, just like when I type my first drafts, I could actually see the characters moving and speaking to one another in my head, so it was just a matter, of describing that with my mouth rather than just my brain and my fingers.

And honestly, saying the punctuation, really is not a big deal, once you get used to it. I have got used to it very quickly, it seems!

I compared my words per hour during this round of writing against my words per hour during the last budget writing retreat I'd gone on. Yes so I keep records of all the word counts and rounds when I first draft, so sue me!

My average during the writing retreat three days was 1438 words per hour. Bearing in mind I had outlined the story, I was writing in concentrated rounds/sprints, and I also had plenty of breaks away from the keyboard with other writer friends.

This afternoon, when I dictated the beginning of this new story, I worked out my words per hour was 3167, or almost double my first draft typing speed.

I was at first quite cynical about the increased speed, wondering if my brain would be able to keep up with my mouth, however since seeing the Lucy Lennox video about dictating, I am more comfortable to leave periods of silence and I'm not speaking to Dragon.

At first, and if I hadn't seen Lucy's video, I know this would have felt really awkward. Because when we have a speaker or a microphone our brain tells us that human being is waiting for us to speak, therefore it feels awkward if there is silence.

However when you type, and take breaks away from the keyboard to think briefly, there is no such awkwardness. We don't feel that the keyboard is waiting for us to touch it again!

Lucy's video showed me so perfectly that actually the microphone is just the same as the keyboard, and Dragon just like my Alphasmart Neo doesn't care if I take pauses to think about the next thing I'm going to dictate all right.

I know there will be plenty of things to fix in this first draft I dictated, but that's no different to when I do my first drafts by typing. There are still plenty of typos and because I will be fixing them by keyboard rather than by Dragon I don't anticipate there being much more fixing to do in edits that I normally have to do by writing on keyboard. Which in all fairness is a lot! My first drafts with very much as rough as a badger's arse.

The next thing to work out how long I will be able to dictate like this. During the budget writing retreat I managed seven, 50min rounds of writing in one day, which is a lot. I'm not sure I'll be to manage that much talking during the day, however some of my friends may disagree and say that already that talkative.

Based on an average speed of 3167 words per hour or 50,000 word novel, in theory could be dictated in 15.78 hours. Whether in practice I speed up the more I dictate, or actually slow down as my voice gets tired, remains to be seen.

And in all honesty I think it's much more comfortable to do three days of five rounds of dictating rather than up to the seven which I did in the writing retreat a few months ago.

Assuming it did take me three days to write this many words it would then leave me with four days to edit the story which I think is doable.

Well that's all for today in terms of my learning and adventures with Denise my dragon.

Love and light, Liam livings XXX

Living with Dragon day three
So why am I trying Dragon when I already have a tried and tested method of writing on my Alphasmart Neo?

1. I've been told by number of people fiction sounds very conversational and rings true with how I speak in real life, which are taken as a compliment. Therefore it seemed a natural progression to move towards dictation rather than typing. Of course I went to dictate all the time because I do a lot of travel and writing in public. However when I'm writing on my own at home I think I will be using dictation going forward.
   
2. In terms of productivity I've heard that it can double people's hourly word outputs which would be marvellous.
   
3. It’s very mindful and helps with concentration. When dictating you’d have to consciously leave the WordPad document, use the mouse to open an internet browser etc.
   
4. It’s more healthy, and prevents aching arms and fingers.
   

But why did I decide to finally take the plunge?
I watched a really helpful video in Lucy Lennox’s author group, where she talked about why she’d started dictating, debunked some popular myths, and did a great demo. Seeing someone actually do it showed me that it was possible. I’m very much a ‘look and learn’ sort of person. The practicalities of doing it is much more important for me to see than reading about it.
What are the popular myths to debunk?
I can’t dictate punctuation.
When you’re typing, you’re already thinking it, because you have to type it. You quickly get used to saying the punctuation through practice.
It feels funny.
Of course it does. You’ve been typing for most of your life. Who can expect to immediately learn a new skill, which used different parts of your brain and body and straight away feel as natural as your previous method? Practice, baby steps, think about taking a similar approach to how I learned touch typing. Work your way up to dictating new fiction.
I won’t be able to remember the commands to edit etc.
You quickly get used to these. The software came with a card with the most frequently used ones. From the tutorial you soon get used to the new commands. It’s honestly no harder than getting used to a new mobile phone. Much easier in fact.
Editing takes a long time to edit using dictation.
It does. But you’re only doing this for a few times at the start to ‘teach your Dragon’ your voice. Going forward you don’t have to use Dragon to edit, you can use a keyboard (which is so much quicker, but doesn’t improve Dragon’s functionality).
Beware The Floating Window
My Dragon arrived on Monday and I took that time to set it up and installed it on my laptop. The first problem I encountered was the fact that it doesn't work with Libreoffice, which is my usual word processing program. It does work with Word. But I don’t use Word.
If you have a word processing program open that it doesn't work with Dragon, then it automatically opens a window into which the dictation will appear.
This sounds wonderful, however because it is a floating window you cannot save it. The idea is that you simply click transfer and it transfers the floating windows contents into your normal wordprocessing program. On the first day when I was trying this I was distracted clicked transfer and the text within the floating window disappeared.
Gone.
This was not the end of the world because I was just playing around and had been dictating the beginning of a story which I’m thinking of writing.
Use Wordpad
The learning point from this is that I don't dictate into the floating windows and instead I dictate all my first draft words into WordPad which comes with any Windows machine since Windows 95. WordPad is a very basic word processing program doesn't even include word count or page numbers however it works perfectly with Dragon including the commands which you can use to edit and teach it.
My plan is that going forward I will I will first draft using Dragon in WordPad and then transfer it into LibreOffice once I do my first self edit. This is not really much different to when I do my first drafts using my Alphasmart Neo dumb word processor/keyboard.
When I was dictating this story it did feel strange because I'm not used to dictating words. I'm used to typing them. Part of this I think is due to the fact that I hadn't really seen this scene in my head and therefore was basically writing into the dark. As a plotter this was really difficult and to be honest even if I had been typing this I still would have struggled.
Starting to fail, or failing to start?
When I had just set up Dragon and my microphone I thought I’d immediately start dictating new fiction. Because why not...
This didn’t go well. Unsurprisingly, after decades of touch-typing, suddenly plunging in and dictating new fiction was awkward. Slow. Clunky with the punctuation. I felt really self-conscious. It was much slower and harder than typing new fiction.
Which made me think of a different approach...
Getting used to dictating and training Denise my dragon
My plan now to get myself used to dictating rough typing, is going to be similar to how I learnt to touch type.
When I learn to touch type I spent about six weeks of evening classes repeating each letter and which finger it was to be used for. This was until my muscle memory became accustomed to it without me thinking. The typing exercises were simply transcriptions of existing writing to get to reinforce the muscle memory and get my brain and fingers used to it.
Once I was unconsciously able to touch type without thinking about which finger was on which letter I was then able to easily write new words of my own rather than transcribing. Basically I was able to concentrate on creating the words rather than the process which I was going through to do it i.e. typing.
At the moment dictating feels a little bit like consciously remembering which finger goes with which keyboard letter. It feels awkward and slightly more difficult than typing. This is unsurprising since I've been touch typing (no looking at the keyboard, using the ‘home keys’ and all that jazz) for about 20 years.
This is similar to any other physical activity such as driving a car. At first you only concentrate on how to drive the car, change gears, use the clutch, indicate et cetera and don't really concentrate on where you're driving because the driving instructor is telling you where to turn. It's only once you get used to driving that the actual act of driving the car becomes unconscious and you are then able to concentrate on where you're going.
The dictation is the actual driving of the car and the fiction I'm creating is the journey on which I'm going in the car. To me it helps to separate the two as I did with my touch typing analogy.
Currently I am practising using Dragon, who I've called Denise, by dictating my already written words into it and then going back to correct them using Dragon. This is the best way to teach the Dragon as it learns rather than you correcting it using the keyboard. This in itself is a skill to get used to because you have to grow accustomed to a whole series of instructions/commands to move and highlight and correct text just using your voice.
In addition I have started dictating sections from published books to get used to saying the punctuation and saying the dictation in full sentences, which apparently helps Dragon with transcription. Today I have done this with four different books including Jackie Collins Jilly Cooper, Joanna Trollope and Marian Keyes! This was no problem because I thoroughly enjoyed rereading these extracts! Although it felt slightly tortuous to correct them using Dragon, I'm doing this in order to teach it better at this stage.
Going forward, for my own fiction, I will do the edit and tidy up using the keyboard as it is definitely much quicker.
At the end of each session Dragon asks me if I'm happy for it to update its profile based on learning my voice and last night it took an hour to do so. I think that today the accuracy has been much better than it has been in the previous two days, which is heartening.
So how accurate is Denise now?
In these four extracts of approximately total of 2,500 words I averaged a 3.1% error rate. This is based on the number of errors I had to correct using Dragon after I had finished the dictation divided by the total number of words for each passage.
Considering this is the third day that I've been using Dragon I don't think that's bad.
Lots of them are homophones – coffin / coughing. Balls / smalls. Some are more complex words like lugubrious, Mid-Mercia, or rude words like tits / tips, f**k / duck.
Equipment
In terms of equipment, a USB microphone headset definitely gives better results than the 3.5mm jack which came with the software. The only disadvantage of the USB headphones is that I can't seem to listen to music playing on my laptop while I’m dictating. As yet! If anyone can help me with this please do let me know!
In addition the USB headset has a much longer lead which means I can stand about 2 m, which is about 6 feet, away from the laptop and walk around the room while I'm dictating. Which I actually think will be better in terms of flow staring at the screen.
#writeanovelinaweek
In addition to these great reasons, I have set myself a challenge during a one man writing retreat I've booked by the coast in Suffolk: my plan is to try and write and self edit an entire 50,000 word novel during that week.
Using my Neo I can write between 9,000 and 10,000 words a day but it's really challenging to do this more than two or three days on the trot because I start to get paint in my wrists. During the last budget writing retreat I wrote 20,000 from Friday afternoon to Sunday afternoon. I can do that in short bursts but not for days on end.
I'm hoping that if I double my output and not use my hands i.e. by dictating I will be able to do the first draft in about 2 to 3 days leaving the rest of the week to give it a damn good self edit or three.
So in advance of that will be on social media using #writeanovelinaweek. However while I'm actually at the retreat there is no Wi-Fi, which I think will be an advantage, and I doubt there will be any sort of decent three or 4G signal on my mobile. So instead I wiill write (dictate) blog posts at the end of each day about my progress which I will then post when I'm back and connected to the Internet.

On the blog today I'm pleased to welcome a fellow RNA Rainbow Chapter member, JB Buell who's talking about his latest novella, The Boyfriend Trap.

Book title: The Boyfriend Trap
Author: JB Buell
Genre: Gay Contemporary Romance
Length: 23,965 words
Heat rating: Moderate

Summary:
Male stripper Jamie has been seeing his boss, club owner Luke, for a while now. Jamie wants a more committed relationship, but Luke is dragging his heels about getting more serious with Jamie or introducing Jamie to his daughter, Sofia.

But Sofia has had enough waiting around to meet her dad's not-so-secret boyfriend, and devises a plan to get them together.

In this sweet rom-com, two grown men find themselves outwitted by a precocious eight-year-old.

Before we have any more about this story, I asked him a few questions:

Q: What's your inspiration for the story?
A: I wanted to feature a workplace relationship! I really love the dynamics of 'should we/shouldn't we?' for working relationships.

This story is about a workplace relationship that just happened naturally, even though there's a bit of an age difference and the relationship is between employer and employee.

Also, the workplace just happens to be a strip club! So that allowed for moments where the employer, club manager Luke, is trying to work, and his employee, stripper Jamie, is trying his hardest to flirt and win Luke over.

(Spoiler alert, Jamie's flirtations pay off!)

Q: Which part was the hardest to write?
A: There's quite a few scenes around New York City, so researching that was probably the trickiest part, as I only visited once a long time ago.

Also all those little English/American differences where we do things completely differently! For instance, making Jell-O. Over here our Jell-O comes in blocks, not powder. So all the domestic family scenes had a lot of checking involved!

Q:To what extent do you think you have consistent themes across your stories?
A: I do have a love for male strippers, so that's consistent with me! But no matter who the characters are or what they do, I enjoy showing them in love stories and cute, domestic settings.

Well, that sounds fabulous. And now for a little excerpt.

****

"Who's Jamie?" Sofia asked.

Luke coughed into his glass, trying not to choke on the orange juice he'd been drinking. He looked around to where Sofia was sitting at the table, homework all spread out. His cell phone was there too, screen up on the table, and Luke cursed his own stupidity.

"What?" he said, acting nonchalant as he wiped OJ off his chin.

Sofia gestured at the phone with her pencil. "It's lit up three times with the name Jamie. Who's Jamie?"

"He's someone daddy works with." Luke swooped in and grabbed his phone. "You finish your homework and I'll get started on dinner in a minute."

Sofia was quiet, watching him closely. Luke felt his flush intensify under her gaze, then thankfully she changed the subject.

"Can we have pasta?" she asked.

"Sure," he agreed with relief.

When Sofia turned back to her homework, wriggling excitedly at the prospect of food, Luke opened his phone's lock screen to read his messages.

4:13 Jamie: Hey

4:25 Jamie: I miss you. Can we talk?

Luke sighed inwardly. He'd better try get this straightened out.


* * * *

Sofia was feeling nosey.

Her dad was great, but he could be so secretive and squirrely about things.

She quietly left the table and tip-toed through the apartment, right up to her dad's bedroom door. She put her ear close, and listened.

"Yeah, of course I want to see you," her dad was in the middle of saying. "Well, no... You gotta give me a chance here, Jamie ..."

It sounded like he was placating the other person, using his patient and quiet tone of voice.

Sofia frowned, trying to place the tone. It almost reminded her of a mommy and daddy talk, when they'd tried to keep quiet and talk about something in another room so Sofia wouldn't overhear.

But her parents were divorced now, and her mom had a boyfriend who was very nice.

It was kind of sad that her dad always seemed to be on his own. He needed someone nice too.

Sofia listened, heard him say, "I promise I'll talk to her. Of course I want you to be involved, Jamie, but you gotta give me a chance to tell her. There hasn't been anyone since her mom, okay? This is a big deal..."

Sofia's breath caught as her eyes widened. Was he talking about her? He had to be. So, did that mean...?

Sofia grinned to herself.

Her dad had found someone. Finally.

* * * *


This book will be published on Saturday 28 September with JMS Books

Buy link:  http://www.jms-books.com/jb-buell-c-224_405/the-boyfriend-trap-p-2905.html

Author bio: JB Buell is a non binary writer (they/them, or he/him) of m/m romance and gay rom com stories. They are a cat person, and can’t decide if they’re more of a coffee or tea person but is quite happy to drink both.