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…that is, with Dragon Naturally Speaking. This is my first day of working with Dragon NaturallySpeaking. I’m hoping to use it to make blog posts, email, and tweets on Twitter. This will save my fingers a lot of work. So far I’ve gotten it to work for emails for some posts but not on Twitter yet. Right now I’m using it. It definitely changes the rhythm of my writing. It’s also slower than writing right now.
I won’t be using it for fiction writing, because I use so many strange names and strange words and it takes time to teach it how to do each one of those. But just using it for ordinary writing chores will help a lot. The first big project will be the annual wildlife management report. That’s to a very standard format, and uses far fewer strange terms. Besides all the strange terms it does use are English.
Have any of you used any dictation software? If you have, how did you like it? Do you have any recommendations for a better microphone than the one that came with Dragon? I find the headset uncomfortable, and am hoping to find a separate microphone that I can use alongside my other headphones.
As I warned it’s going to take me a while to figure out who won the contest please be patient. Thank you.
Comment by Larryp — January 11, 2015 @ 10:20 pm
head set wise I use the steel series over the ear gaming head set It has padded earphones, tho it tends to collect dust on the earphone covers, also logitech head phones are good as well. A beam forming mic form creative labs is very good tho I think you have to get a new sound card to use it. Amazon has it (SoundBlaster Z PCIe Gaming Sound Card with High Performance Headphone Amp and Beam Forming Microphone ). take a look and get the one that fits you is all I can say.
Comment by Wickersham's Conscience — January 11, 2015 @ 11:42 pm
Elizabeth, among writers Terry Pratchett is the one I know who uses dictation software the most. He has an odd form of Alzheimers that makes it impossible for him to type, so his last 5 books or so have been written using dictation software/hardware.
I strongly suspect a contact from a fellow fantasy/science fiction writer would get a response. He’s also an exceptionally nice man.
Comment by Sharidann — January 12, 2015 @ 9:05 am
AFAIK david Weber is a huge fan of it, came to it some years ago after he broke his wrist, if Memory serves.
I toyed with Dragon myself and found it quite good… Alas, I bought it right before our first kid was Born and after that my writing activity drifted into slumber due to lack of time… From what I tested, it was ok, but at the beginning definetly slower than typing.
Comment by Moira — January 12, 2015 @ 9:22 am
Elizabeth: if you’re not a PC hardware junkie (and your posts suggest not) I would strongly discourage you from getting anything that would require changing other computer components (like sound cards etc.) The caveat to that, of course, is if you have a friendly local PC monkey to do it for you – uninstall, reinstall, configuration, testing… expect anywhere from 2-4 hrs or more depending on possible complications. And of course your computer is out of commission for the duration.
Better by far to get something that just plugs & plays. It usually means a little less in audio quality and functional flexibility, but for most users it’s more than worth it.
I’ve never used Dragon (I suspect he would not be impressed AT ALL at the very idea, and probably wouldn’t even bother to inquire as to my wisdom) myself, but I know it has improved beyond all recognition over the past 20yrs or so. As with all software I suspect the key is to learn to work within its limitations / requirements, rather than expect it to behave like the voice of Majel Barrett on ST!
Glad your poor wrists are going to get a bit of a break, at least.
Comment by Moira — January 12, 2015 @ 9:31 am
P.S. Yes, forgot to say, Sharidann is absolutely right: the beginning will be hard slog as you learn the program and what it expects of you. Once you get in the groove it should be fairly smooth and probably faster than typing – unless of course you’re a speed queen at the keyboard.
I once worked a temp job where one of the FT employees was a speed queen – she could type around 120 words per minute. You should have seen her fingers fly! And with accuracy to match. This woman was a grandmother, probably had nothing more than a HS education and thus was classed as a lowly secretary. But I was in awe and she definitely won my respect (besides she was a darn good human into the bargain).
Sorry to stir the pot a bit, but I just can’t help myself (I inherited my father’s Big Wooden Spoon): I wonder just how low on the totem pole secretarial skills would be if typing were considered a traditionally male skill?!
Comment by Linda — January 12, 2015 @ 7:24 pm
Dictation … argh! I remember when that was part of the weekly spelling tests in elementary school. I’m not even sure what the point was … At the time I thought it was to teach us to write fast, and I struggled, not being able to remember exactly what the sentences were. We even did it in French classes in gr. 7, 8 and 9.
In any case, it discouraged me and convinced me I could never make it as a secretary. I never did take typing, but now get along just fine with computers. My Father threatened to kick me out when I refused to go to secretarial school after earning my undergraduate degree.
I suspect I may have been offered a full scholarship for Grad school partly because I truthfully answered the question about what financial help I could expect from my family. They were and still are very well off, but as I had worked several jobs throughout college I had a nest egg for grad school. The career I chose for myself turned out to be a perfect fit, and all those college jobs served to teach me a lot about what I was not going to be good at.
The stories of Paks ( a young woman who made the right choices in the face of family opposition) and Dorin (who really didn’t do things her family’s way) have been affirming, even if I don’t fight with a sword or find myself chosen by the Gods.
Good luck with Dragon. I get impatient with new software, but then if becomes second nature, and I wonder how it could have ever been so frustrating. Other software I give a lousy review, and I at least have more insight into what will work for me.
I would imagine that dictating creative work would be very different from “non-fiction” because there’s so much editing which happens before I put the period at the end of the sentence. As I am typing I change my word choice, notice grammatical problems, and sometimes change my mind entirely in the process of articulating an idea.
Hope things are looking up for you. Having spent much of the last two days crawling around under my house thawing water pipes and drains, with temperatures getting below zero at night, I am grasping at what gratitude I can muster.
For example, I discovered that the freezing was happening because a plumber had torn a big chunk (more than 4 sq. ft. ) out of the wall around my crawl space. As it is under a porch, and part of an ell where the ledge nearly meets the joists, it was invisible. So instead of being ticked off at the plumber it is easier to be thankful that the problem was clear (eventually) and I am even taking advantage of the missing wall to create better access to the trouble spot.
Comment by Sam Barnett-Cormack — January 26, 2015 @ 4:38 pm
To make it work best, you have to do all the training, and then keep using it regularly, correcting it when necessary. It will get better as you do so, and then you have to keep using it, as your speech patterns change slightly over time, so if you don’t use it for a few months, it won’t quite work as well.