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
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
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