Dragon NaturallySpeaking

A few weeks ago, I had a comment on this very blog that mentioned voice-activated dictation software. It described Dragon NaturallySpeaking as a secret weapon when it came to formatting text documents in readiness for publishing. I've had a lot of problems with using Word and PDF generators but had got around it by using Open Office Writer. I was interested to hear about this Dragon product as another alternative to using Word.

It was as I researched Dragon NaturallySpeaking that I realised that this might be an alternative to learning to touch type. I had already embarked upon a touch typing course (E-typing) but it soon became apparent that I would never be as quick as I fought or spoke. I am a reasonably fast two fingered typist but very often my ideas come spilling out of my brain and my fingers trip themselves up. In fact, I seem to be getting less accurate as I get older.

I decided to try Dragon NaturallySpeaking and ordered the Preferred version, complete with a Philips Digital Voice Tracer. It was very simple to set up. All I had to do was read some prescribed text at the software got to know my speech characteristics. Within half an hour I was dictating text to my machine.

During the second session, I began to wonder if the software was going to make much difference when it came to writing my next book, because I seem to be correcting things such a lot. However, with just a little more practice, speed and accuracy increased significantly. I have a lot of made up names in my work Dragon NaturallySpeaking didn't really have a chance in getting these right first time. I had to spend some time to teach it to recognise words like Anarchadia or Euphobia. A little effort spent at this stage seems to pay dividends later on.

For instance, I am dictating this text directly into Blogger. Occasionally the software doesn't recognise one of my mumbles but I'm already much faster than I would have been typing all this in with my two fingers. I find myself pausing frequently to think about what I'm about to say and write but this is probably not a bad thing. I've had it for about a week now and still have the feeling that I'm just scratching the surface of what it can do.

I described my experiences with some of my fellow rail travellers during the week a common response was, "Oh, I tried speech recognition software back in 1999 and it was rubbish." It seems that things have moved on quite a bit in the last 10 years.

The headset became a standard works alright but is incredibly uncomfortable to wear. I would say that it's more designed fret head the size of a child's. I have taken to wearing it around my neck like a kind of colour. It still works okay.

Philips Digital Voice Tracer allows me to record my thoughts anywhere. Just like the Dragon NaturallySpeaking software, I just speak normally into it. If I speak slowly or exaggerate my words the system doesn't recognise it. Uploading it onto my PC is easy and it's fascinating to see on the screen what you can hear as playback on a digital recorder.

So, although it's still only early days, I think this is the start of a wonderful new relationship with my PC. I can see this system increasing my productivity dramatically. Making blogs have suddenly become a whole lot easier. And I am more likely to avoid any problems in the future with carpal tunnel syndrome or repetitive strain injuries in my hands and wrists. If I can get a Bluetooth connection, I can lounge around anywhere in my house and just speak my stories out loud that they will appear on the screen ready for me to edit and save them.

Over the years, I've got into the habit of taking notebooks around with me. These often take the form of old diaries and my stories often start out as references to a series of dates that allow me to string together a sequence of ideas and eventually form a narrative. With Dragon NaturallySpeaking I can read out my notes in his diaries -- provided I can read what are written on the train -- and build my books up that way. What I used to have to do, was laboriously bash the text in with my two fingers. This way, my third book is already coming together much more quickly. Even though I was still learning to use the software, I still managed to ride over 7000 words this weekend. A lot of this was cribbed from my notebooks but I would never have been able to reach that kind of word count if I'd been pushing the keys instead of speaking the words. The text still needs editing but that all important initial draft will take dramatically less time to complete.

I can see this technology really making a difference to a lot of my friends who have an even greater difficulty in typing accurately than I have. I have already provoked some rather thoughtful expressions by demonstrating Dragon NaturallySpeaking to my friends and neighbours and it has occurred to me that I ought really to be getting commission on the numbers of future sales that I have probably already generated. But what I am really looking forward to is stringing together all the ideas that I have recorded in my notebooks and seeing my third book, The Grey Ones, come together in record-breaking time.

Titles in revision

Both The Horsepower Whisperer and The Wormton Lamb are now in revision at Lightning Source. I can enter my account area to monitor progress and once the revisions have been accepted I will order proofs. It's a case of checking every day now. Once that stage is complete, I should get proofs in a couple of working days.

In the meantime, I've been working on the next part of the Soul Trader trilogy. The title for this is The Grey Ones. This is also the title of a short story by J B Priestley, which I really enjoyed. The story is completely different but if anyone challenges me about it I'll say I'm paying "an homage" to it.

I probably mentioned this before, but I raved about this story on a car club forum a few years ago. Everyone was griping about the growing police state and the sense of big brother watching you and slowly grinding our spirits down. I recommended J B Priestley's story to those in need and many years later at a meeting in Edinburgh I met an Australian who was visiting this country. He had been one of those gripers. And he'd taken up my recommendation, bought the Fontana collection of ghost stories in which it had appeared (why ghosts? it was more horror) and hadn't enjoyed it.

The lesson for me wa sthat this story offered no hope. It was agreat idea but it didn't point the way forward. That's the target I've set myself - a positive resolution, or at least the promise of one with the concluding part of the trilogy.

Real life follows fiction - again!

It's happening again. First there was the giant lamb born to one of Caroline's ewe. In fact, they're Jacob's sheep but belong to Caroline. This means that as sheep they are usually quite modestly sized.

Then there's been all the soul-destroying influences we've been subjected to. We can't do anything fun because it damages the environment. We have to think about everything before we do it, audit our actions and ensure they stand up to scrutiny. Whose scrutiny? Why the Conformorians of course! Did you ever doubt they didn't really exist?

And now here's Monika-Sandra, a third instance of real life following my fiction (although I suspect the Conformorians have been around for years before I ever wrote about them). You know the character called Heidi in The Horsepower Whisperer had a pet bat? A friend of mine called Heidi has rescued this little person. Unfortunately Monika-Sandra the Pipestrelle bat had a broken wing and died a few days after these pictures were taken. Julian was found off the coast of Anarchadia waterlogged and close to drowning but is still with his fictional keeper.

I'm a bit spooked. What else will happen in real life that has
already happened in my books? I'm going to have to really careful what I write from now on.

From now on, the weather in my stories will be brilliantly good. All I have to do is get cracking with The Grey Ones - as soon as I've finished doing my book covers.