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1 Week Training My Dragon

144K views 743 replies 190 participants last post by  Andres 
#1 ·
Hi all!

I'm still on lunch break. I have 6 minutes to post this. That's okay, me and my headset I have aptly named Toothless can do this! In fact, just now when I dictated toothless, it made the name lowercase, and I was able to use my voice to go back,select that word and tell it to make it capitalized. It  did that and we're moving on.

To recap, it's been one week since I purchased Dragon NaturallySpeaking version 4 for Mac because primarily of my injuries from poor posture in my neck. I also use a Sony IC recorder to dictate my stories all over, often in my car, and have my computer transcribe them. When I first started, I managed 550 words dictated in about 20 minutes. Using my IC recorder to record two 11 minute files today I'm happy to report I'm up to 1190 words!! :)

I've taken copious notes about my sessions to dictate and my sessions to edit those words. I am consistently over 1000 words for 20 minutes of dictation. However, that total increases significantly when I dictate for longer periods of time I think because I become more comfortable telling the story. In 40 minutes, I have consistently dictated 2500 words plus. But what about editing?

On average it takes me half  of the time it took to dictate the words to edit them into a polished state I consider draft material for my editor. My editor is my business partner and she reads over it, makes changes, and runs through autocrit. We do use a copy editor for our final drafts to look for typos.

So here's where I'm over the moon, jumping for joy, and screaming from the rooftops:  two hours of dictation this week equated to over 7000 words of raw material. It took me two more hours total, to edit all of that material.  And while that's an average of 1750 words per hour, that's higher than the words per hour I can type physically without even going into what I have to pay later in pain to do so. So even if you're not a victim of stress-related injuries, training your own Dragon might still be a good idea to shoot your productivity into the stratosphere.

Taking on a Dragon is not something you should do lightly.  I tried twice before when I had no motivation to really make it work and failed. But, since Toothless and I have become best friends forever more, I've heard from other authors who've given it a try and found it works similarly for them. Make sure you're willing to give it a week or two to adjust to writing a new way. Keep telling yourself the words you write in the words you say all come from the same place: your brain. It takes a little bit of practice, but I think within a week you'll find yourself flying high as a kite with your own  Dragon!

**My lunch period is over :(  I have to go dictate more/edit more. I promise I won't keep giving Dragon updates. In reality, I won't need to, you'll just see my author page filled with books I talked out loud. :) But I thought one week of working with my Dragon was a good status report to share.
 
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#4 ·
Congrats on finding a method that works well for you.  :)

I am intrigued by voice to text - but I currently can't imagine dictating a story.  I could improvise one with just dialogue, and that would flow reasonably well - but to dictate it?  That seems like such a big and scary step.  So very different to the way I currently work that it seems impossible that I would be able to adjust.

How did you feel before you tried it?  Were you similarly uncertain, or did you think it was something that would work for you even back then?
 
#5 ·
I have to go pick up my daughter, I forgot today is a half day. GRRR.

I felt like an idiot the first time I tried it years and years ago (like version 6 back in the mid 2000s). In 2012, I started off just dictating IDEAS. Since I always get plot bunnies and ideas for a project when I'm driving, it was frustrating to never be able to write them down. Now I just turn on my SONY recorder and stick it in the cup holder and off we go and I talk to myself.

This time around, I expected to be SLOWER talking my story out. Ha! Yeah, we speak waaaaay faster than we type. Way faster. Those 11 minutes files for example? Probably 25% is silence. You can talk with huge gaps in between thoughts and the Dragon just ignores it. So when you're recording you FEEL super slow. When it transcribes, you're like "Holy hell, how did I say that many words??" I did research and realized most people speak about 100 word per minute, auctioneers 300 words per minute. The FASTEST I've ever written typing was 1250 words in an hour, creating words. I type fast, but typing words I have to come up with, 20 words per minute is what I can manage. Dictation I'm transcribing 54 words per minute, coming down to about 30-40 wpm if you include editing time.

ok gotta jet!

P.s this was typed. I think I make more mistakes when I type lol
 
#7 ·
LAST post, just got back, then I have to go work. :)

To Lydniz, no it doesn't get annoying. When I talk into my Sony recorder I just talk. I can't SEE the words, so there's no desire to rewrite. By the time I transcribe it, it's been a little bit of time and I'm editing it anyway, that's when I rewrite a sentence or two. I think speaking has improved my writing because it's more storytelling. I tell more details speaking than writing because I think writing I see it in my head and assume it's all getting there on the page.

Truly, if you don't want a dragon, don't get one. Once you HAVE a dragon and train it, you won't go back. :)
 
#8 ·
Elizabeth Ann West said:
Hi all!

I'm still on lunch break. I have 6 minutes to post this. That's okay, me and my headset I have aptly named Toothless can do this! In fact, just now when I dictated toothless, it made the name lowercase, and I was able to use my voice to go back,select that word and tell it to make it capitalized. It did that and we're moving on.

To recap, it's been one week since I purchased Dragon NaturallySpeaking version 4 for Mac because primarily of my injuries from poor posture in my neck. I also use a Sony IC recorder to dictate my stories all over, often in my car, and have my computer transcribe them. When I first started, I managed 550 words dictated in about 20 minutes. Using my IC recorder to record two 11 minute files today I'm happy to report I'm up to 1190 words!! :)

I've taken copious notes about my sessions to dictate and my sessions to edit those words. I am consistently over 1000 words for 20 minutes of dictation. However, that total increases significantly when I dictate for longer periods of time I think because I become more comfortable telling the story. In 40 minutes, I have consistently dictated 2500 words plus. But what about editing?

On average it takes me half of the time it took to dictate the words to edit them into a polished state I consider draft material for my editor. My editor is my business partner and she reads over it, makes changes, and runs through autocrit. We do use a copy editor for our final drafts to look for typos.

So here's where I'm over the moon, jumping for joy, and screaming from the rooftops: two hours of dictation this week equated to over 7000 words of raw material. It took me two more hours total, to edit all of that material. And while that's an average of 1750 words per hour, that's higher than the words per hour I can type physically without even going into what I have to pay later in pain to do so. So even if you're not a victim of stress-related injuries, training your own Dragon might still be a good idea to shoot your productivity into the stratosphere.

Taking on a Dragon is not something you should do lightly. I tried twice before when I had no motivation to really make it work and failed. But, since Toothless and I have become best friends forever more, I've heard from other authors who've given it a try and found it works similarly for them. Make sure you're willing to give it a week or two to adjust to writing a new way. Keep telling yourself the words you write in the words you say all come from the same place: your brain. It takes a little bit of practice, but I think within a week you'll find yourself flying high as a kite with your own Dragon!

**My lunch period is over :( I have to go dictate more/edit more. I promise I won't keep giving Dragon updates. In reality, I won't need to, you'll just see my author page filled with books I talked out loud. :) But I thought one week of working with my Dragon was a good status report to share.
Do you use a mike or headset independent of the mac? Or is the mac's built-in mike sufficient?

Thanks.
 
#9 ·
I have the headset that came with Dragon 12 for PC. it works on my MAC. The mac built in mike works fine too as long as your room is quiet. I prefer the SONY recorder to anything (so I can get comfy), the headset over the built in mike because I can listen to music while I dictate (the headphones are independent of the microphone piece, even though they are connected).
 
#10 ·
With the latest Dragon for PC -- DNS 13 -- my laptop mic works fine. That wasn't the case with DNS 12 on either my laptop or desktop.

I am the world's worst typist. What I discovered when I *finally* made the switch to Dragon was that I had been self-editing to avoid typing to much?!?!? A TOTAL surprise.

When I started dictating, I added much more color and dialogue... all in all, it was a dramatic improvement.
 
#12 ·
X. Aratare, did you have it analyze your manuscripts? I told mine to run through my manuscripts and it's got all of my character names well aside from Lady Catherine de Bourgh (it always wants to make her de Burke). You can also do vocabulary training.
 
G
#13 ·
Thanks so much for sharing. I already dictate my ideas on my phone. I feel like I would clam up and get a brain freeze if I tried to dictate my books, but maybe it just takes getting used to. I'm going to try it. I've had surgery for carpal tunnel in the past and am very careful with not overworking my hands.
 
#14 ·
Elizabeth Ann West said:
X. Aratare, did you have it analyze your manuscripts? I told mine to run through my manuscripts and it's got all of my character names well aside from Lady Catherine de Bourgh (it always wants to make her de Burke). You can also do vocabulary training.
I've only ever done the vocabulary training. Maybe having to analyze my manuscripts would make it better. Thanks for the tip!
 
#17 ·
It ignores all breathing, silence, UMMMS , hmmmm, beeping noises like when you're backing up in a car and your parking sensors are beeping. It does not ignore human voice. And when you want to PUT thought noises into your dialogue like

"Hmmm, would you say Anne is on death's door?" Darcy asked, raising an eyebrow

On my Sony recorder, I have to say

OPEN QUOTE SPELLING MODE H M M M M COMMA DICTATION MODE would you say Anne is on death's door QUESTION MARK

 
#18 ·
AH!!! I love Toothless <3<3<3

I tried Dragon Dictate about two years ago, but it felt really awkward. I was using it for screenwriting so the formatting was an issue. I had to say tab or enter all. the. time. I would like to get a cordless mic and try again next year. I can't imagine I'd be able to dictate my steamier stuff (can you imagine dictating a sex scene--how awkward!), but I'd love to be able to even do an hour or two less typing a day.
 
#19 ·
X. Aratare said:
Names though (unusual ones) do NOT work on Dragon. I train them religiously and nope! Doesn't work. It is so frustrating. I keep hoping that it'll get better but it doesn't. But I can write so much faster by talking than typing.
Do you have the latest version, Aratare? I've found the newest one is dramatically better at things like that than version...12? for PC.
 
#25 ·
I have a sony ICD SX 712. Apparently it's a $400-$500 recorder but I didn't pay that for it. I bought it second hand for $20 when I bought my IKEA desk for $20 from a family on Craig's List (gotta love rich folk in Connecticut with too much stuff). But I've used a rinky dink recorder (less than $100) and it works just as well.

Tonight I tried to record a scene making dinner, putting away dishes, family in the way . . . epic fail. I will have to re-record that in a quiet place (like my office or bedroom). I hadn't tested the full extent of background noise issues. Now I know. You can't record cleanly with people around. It worked fine in a quiet part of a casino, and fine in my car. But it doesn't like RANDOM noises it doesn't know to edit out or not. It was only 900 words in 10 minutes (because I was cooking and cleaning at the same time which worked fine when the house had no one else in it, but not with people). So I didn't lose much.

I FINALLY finished off editing that 7K I had, and I only have the 1.2k left to do plus whatever else I record tonight (which should be in the 8-10 K range)
 
#26 ·
This could be out of date, since my Dragon's a couple of years old, but two things I did:

1) I dictated into Notepad instead of Word, and it was MUCH faster.

2) I periodically went through the Dragon dictionary deleting people's names that corresponded with words, so Dragon wouldn't capitalize them. Burns, Carpenter, Rich, that sort of thing.

 
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