Me and Dragon Naturally Speaking

by Linsey Lanier

Anyone who knows me well knows I’m a sucker for any way to write faster. I’ll go to any conference workshop aboutimproving your writing speed. As a member of the Kiss of Death chapter, I’ve signed up for the quarterly BIAW (Book in a Week) three years in a row. I do NaNoWriMo whether I have anything prepared or not. And I love Jeff Bollow’s book Writing FAST.

In fact, it was a workshop on an RWA conference CD called “Write 50 Books in a Year” by Elle James where I first heard of Dragon NaturallySpeaking, the leading voice recognition software. I’ve wanted to try it ever since. But it’s expensive and I wasn’t convinced it would work for me.

So when I found a good online deal last Christmas, I decided to finally take the plunge.

Installation and Setup

I was so excited when I got the little green box in the mail containing my installation CD and a headset. But it took me a while to get the headphone working just right.

After several hours of cussing, arguing with hubby about it, and playing around with my NVIDIA control panel, it started working. Don’t ask me what I did.

Training

From reviews I’d read on Amazon, I knew that it was very important to take the time to do the training process. If you don’t, Dragon will not be able to recognize your voice.

Here are some tips I learned:

• You have to set the sound at a good level for Dragon to “hear” you speaking. (For me, this means putting up with noisy e-mail notifications that I usually have turned off.)
• You have to read the tutorial.
• You have to train Dragon. (As I said above. The tutorial explains exactly how to do that, and it’s not hard at all.)

All this takes some time and patience. I did all the above. Well mostly. Actually, I made it about three-quarters through the tutorial and decided I had the information that I was going to use. I was in a hurry to start writing fast.

The Experiment

At first, I used Dragon to dictate into a separate word document, but soon graduated to using it in my actual manuscript. First, I used it just for editing, then I began to dictate longer passages. That’s the coolest part. So far, I’ve used Dragon for two books, for blog posts (like this one), and even e-mails.

Dragon takes some getting used to. For example, you have to say punctuation (commas, periods, quotation marks). There is supposed to be an auto punctuation setting, but I haven’t gotten it to work right. But being able to talk and see your words spill out onto the page, in my opinion, is a thing of beauty.

In fact, I’m using it to write this blog post right now. That sentence above that says, “But it’s expensive and I wasn’t convinced it would work for me”? I said at in my normal speaking rate, looked up at the screen, and watched those words zip out onto the page. I LOVE that. It still gives me a thrill, even if I have to correct some punctuation and spelling. And some of the words.

Did I mention that? Yes. Even though Dragon gives me terrific speed, it sometimes just doesn’t get what I’m saying.  For example, when I just said “punctuation,” I got “pump she way should.” Well, nobody’s perfect. (Note: I went back and wrote another sentence with “punctuation” in it, Dragon spelled it correctly. It has the ability to learn, which is way cool.)

Dragon is so flexible, there’s a variety of ways to use it. You can use it entirely hands-free (great for people with disabilities), or you can use a combination of the keyboard and dictation. That’s how I use it.

Our Relationship

I have to admit my relationship with Dragon is of the love-hate variety. While its speed can be incredible, Dragon has its moments. Here are some examples.

I said: I’d
Dragon typed: ought to

I said: I downed the rest of my tea
Dragon typed: I downed the rest of my TV

I said: romantic suspense
Dragon typed: manic suspense

You can turn Recognition Mode on and off with the push of a button, but you have to be careful that you don’t say anything you don’t want typed when it’s on. If I laugh, or move papers around I get a little box that says “Please say that again.”

And then there’s my adventures with that feature I mentioned above — the one that allows you to use the software controls hands-free? Here are some of those experiences:

Table

I was dictating a scene where my heroine was laying silverware out on the table. I guess I must have paused too long. I looked up and saw Word’s Table menu was highlighted. (Pausing means you’re going to give a software command.)

Close

Then I wanted “close the door” and again must have paused too long. It closed the document. Fortunately, it must have saved it, too. My last edits were there. Whew.

I’ve had several close calls with “close.”

I’m not sure what this was

Then there was the time, I said “the  short, skinny guy.” Dragon typed “the sure”  then took the rest as a print command and  started printing the whole hundred-some page document.

I said “No, no, no!”

It typed. “no now now” and didn’t stop  printing, of course. Quickly, I turned around and took the paper out of the  printer to stop it. Then I had to unplug  and replug my printer.

I probably need to train Dragon better. And maybe I need another look at the tutorial.

Conclusion

Even with all its flaws, I’m in love with Dragon NaturallySpeaking. It captures my thoughts faster than I could ever type them myself.

I’ve taken to writing more longhand, which really helps at times when I can’t get to the computer, though my handwriting is atrocious, and the time I spend deciphering it is sometimes a waste.

Overall, I can write faster than I ever thought possible with Dragon with less physical effort. (Pounding away at the keyboard for hours at a time as we writers do, takes a lot of energy we don’t realize we’re expending. No more carpal tunnel for me.)

Right now, I couldn’t live without Dragon.

So that’s my story with Dragon. Have any of you used voice recognition software? What did you think of it? Anybody have a any questions? Fire away. I’ll just say my answers into the comment box.