Update 10/27/14 · 1:00am Oct 28th, 2014
Okay, news time.
I just spent a large chunk of the day actually writing. Not with my hands, granted, but with the voice dictation software. I’m starting to get a little bit used to it. It is introducing some… Issues. One is that in order to keep my speed up and not be annoyed at it, I am skipping a lot of the punctuation that I would normally have to speak. So the new stuff doesn’t actually have anything like quotation marks in it. I do put in commas, periods, ellipses, etc. it’s the quote marks that are the big thing missing. This means I'm going to need an editor to go in and fix this to save my hands.
Also, sometimes if I get on a roll, the software will garble and eat things and I won’t notice it until my editors catch it.
On top of that, I am one verbose mother*****. You can probably see it in my last few blog posts. This is coming across in the writing as well. Over the last couple of years, I have trained myself in typing to be less verbose. But, this isn’t coming across in the writing. I trained myself to be less verbose specifically when I was typing. I never applied it to my voice and speech patterns… So… Yeah.
Of course, there are also the incorrect words and other random things that you have to expect with this sort of software. I also still do not feel that my writing is as good through voice as it is with typing.
This having been said, I think about 80 to 85% of the quality is there. In addition, I’m picking up on how to keep up my pace a little bit better now. Over the course of the last five hours or so, I have written a little more than four thousand words. This is pretty good. It isn’t ideal, and to make up for the extra editing needed I still have a long way to go, but it still isn’t bad. In terms of pacing, if I can get to approximately 1200 to 1500 words per hour, I’ll be in a good place with using voice dictation. I might not be as accurate, or as high quality in the initial run, but fifteen hundred words per hour is actually faster than my normal typing pace. As a result, what I lose to having to edit more, I gain in increased speed of writing.
Now, I’m not there yet. But the fact that I’m getting to nearly 1000 words per hour is an encouraging sign. It means that this is absolutely doable.
Now, there is one more obstacle in my way. And this is going to cap the number of words I can write in a day, and that is the durability of my voice. My throat is honestly rather sore right now. Hopefully, over time I’ll get more used to speaking this often, and I’ll be able to go for longer periods of time doing this without getting sore.
No news on moving just yet. Still waiting for the re-inspections. Maybe sometime this week or on the weekend I’ll try to set up the loft as an office. At the very least, I’ll probably need a space heater of some kind.
The MRI I had done was completely clear. The doctor is now fairly confident that this is a repetitive strain injury. Quite possibly as much posture as it is damage to the fingers. Hence, it’s going to be a long time before I can type again.
At least with the dictation software I can continue to write. You have no idea how good it feels to finally make some progress in mission four. I’m still a long ways from done on this one, maybe only halfway. Actually, even less than that. A lot of the early stuff is unfinished or inaccurate and must be rewritten now. So maybe I’m only a third of the way in. But progress is being made, and that feels great. Again, thank you everyone for sticking with me.
Editing is still going slowly, unfortunately. So it’s still going to be a while before book two launches. But hey, writing is happening!
For the first time in a long while, I feel some hope.
-Cv
Woo! Looks like Cv is back in the game!
I am praying that you find more to be hopeful for, that maybe a way can be found to fix the issue with the wrist, as well as the other things you have mentioned in previous blogs.
I would offer to edit, but the quality of my editing skills does not come close to matching what you need. By that I mean that you write so well, I would feel overwhelmed by the quality, my editing will suffer, and I would be of no use for you. And even if I was not overwhelmed, I would probably miss too many things. I would have good intentions, but you know what they say about good intentions lol
I do know a few people out there I would recommend, who have the quality in what they do to match what you produce. But I do not see them having the time to do so.
Ah, good. Humans do tend to often be pretty adaptable, and I'm glad to hear that you're finding ways to make things work.
It seems like this site is good for your health, in a ways. Keep up the... well, now literal talking... because we will listen.
I hope your good feelings continue to rise, for nothing can replace the warmth of an honest smile.
I am amazed that after all you went through you still write, you are an amazing person and everybody could learn something from your determination/passion.
Congratulations for trying new tools for writing. It sounds like you are adapting.
Nevertheless, I will continue to pray for you each night. May God bless you.
Sounds great, man.
Cv, I’ve got a solution. I actually posted this here three weeks ago, but I’ll copy ’n’ paste it for your convenience:
That's great! I'm glad you're able to do what you love again. God always finds a way.
Keep on going; He will help you to do it even better. "But he said to me, 'My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.' Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ's power may rest on me." 2 Corinthians 12:9. You can do all things through Christ who strengthens you, so keep on moving and keep on writing. He'll help you with exactly what you need.
Glad to hear it.
1k words/hour is more than I can write in a day, when I am feeling particularly inspired. Not for lack of typing ability or ability or anything, but that's pretty good if you can keep that up for a couple hours a day.
I salute you, you dedicated son of a gun.
I'm glad you are able to keep writing. I can imagine most people would just give up instead of trying something new with the dictation software. Godspeed.
I'm proud of you, and I eagerly await your horribly un-quotation-marked writing!
Here's hoping you can actually get some sleep now. Wishing you a quick recovery.
Glad you can get back to what you (obviously) love doing.
That sounds like really positive news Cv! I hope your situation keeps improving for you as quickly as possible.
Yay!
Woo! That's great to hear, CV
fc07.deviantart.net/fs71/f/2011/257/a/9/rainbow_dash_is_awesome__by_danbackslide7-d49uarn.gif
YAAAAAAY!
If you need any more editors, I'd be glad to try and help. I'm not a professional, nor do I have anything to show, but I'm extremely picky with grammar and sentence structure. That means something, I hope. :P