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In this issue:
Another try at dictation
Writing Prompt
WWT Tool Kit Craft Card
Another try at dictation
My goal with this new project is to write it faster. I’m aiming to finish by the middle of October. That would be about one week to write each part, or about 16-20k words a week, depending on where Plot Point One shows up.
I’ve never finished a project that fast, but I don’t see why I can’t. Especially as I clear away some of the unserving ideas I have about storytelling. It’s only about 2300-2900 words a day. At the 550-words-or-so-per-hour average I’m sitting at, that’s only five or six hours a day. A full day with two hours of goofing around built in. Sounds like my old job, minus the commute.
The first day I got 22 words, like I mentioned. Not off to the best start, but I was also still doing stuff with the last project, so I was happy to have written any new words at all.
The next day I got 794 words. Over 250, but way under the 2500 I need.
The next day: 1075 words.
This morning? I remembered that I’d once tried dictating on my morning walk. It started out clumsy, but eventually I got a little more fluent at it. I didn’t keep it up because, reasons. One of which was that I wasn’t writing clean, and cleaning up dictation days or weeks later is a lot harder than cleaning it up right away. My bad.
But I’m nothing if not a Learner. And I’d really like to get faster. So I dictated this morning.
It felt like drivel coming out of my mouth. But I told myself, no worries. Critical Mind is busy trying to keep the raucous pug under control and watching for buses and whatnot. It’s so distracted even its critiques are top-drawer. And we’re not going to leave this dictation session as it is. We’re just getting some words in while we’re out and about and then we’ll cycle through them and clean them up when we get back.
So I kept going, dictating as I walked. I passed a little lending library that had new books, a couple I wanted to read, and I didn’t have the hands to dictate, carry books, and walk the pug, so I carried the books straight home—and then went out again. Mostly because I’d been getting words down and could feel more were available.
It’s only 1pm now, and I have 3238 words for the day. I’d keep going, but I have to read through the last project so I can pass it on to the betas. And thanks to dictating on my walk, I now have the time.
Today’s Thursday, so I’ll let you know how it goes the rest of the week.
Friday
Okay, another satisfying wordcount for the day. 2876 words.
Critical mind is trying to tell me that I shouldn’t get to big in my britches about it, because this is just Part 1, and only the first half of Part 1 at that. He says I’m basically just throwing drivel at the page. So of course I can put up big word counts. I haven’t gotten to the part of the story where I have to start getting all that drivel to come together and make sense, so…
So what? I ask him. What do you think’s going to happen when we get into Part 2? Or Part 3? Or Part 4?
You’ll be sorry.
About what? I ask him. That I didn’t write slower? It’s not like I wrote words that weren’t there. They were there. They were available. Creative Mind offered them up and I wrote them down. I wouldn’t be surprised if she’s got the whole story worked out and the only reason we’re not writing it in one fell swoop is because we’re still catering to you. Meanwhile, you’re… what? What exactly are you doing?
…
Yeah, I say. That’s what I thought.
He may be right about the drivel throwing versus the making sense, but… I don’t know—and, really, he doesn’t either. So I’m going to choose to trust that all the parts will go okay. One of my betas reads this little publication of mine, but the other one doesn’t. So we’ll see if that one can tell what I dictated and what I wrote with the keyboard.
Saturday
2389 words today. I seem to do a little under 1000 words before I get antsy. Then I go for a walk and get a little over 1000 words. Then I have to knuckle down and get myself to clean up the dictated words, and that adds anywhere from 200 words to another 1000 words, depending. I got 1000 more words that first day, but only a few hundred these last couple days.
I’m liking the consistently above 2000 words though. Interestingly though, I’m shooting for at least 2500, and even dictating today, I didn’t make it. Close though. And practice makes efficient?
Sunday
1221 words today. Did that in my first session, then went on my walk, took my phone, had a feel for the next bit of the story…
But I didn’t dictate it. Not exactly sure why, but a couple reasons might be that:
the next part of the story was more narration/summary than action/dialogue, and that’s harder to dictate?
even though I was thinking about my story, since I didn’t start dictating right away after stepping outside, I got distracted by other thoughts?
I just needed a break? I didn’t write when I got home and then I watched a football game, so… maybe I just needed a break.
the story needed to percolate?
But I’m thinking it’s probably predominantly because I didn’t start dictating right away (why not is another question), and then I got distracted.
If I want to stay on schedule for this goal, though, I gotta do more than this.
Monday
Got 2860 words today, all before going on my walk.
I still haven’t read the project I finished, which I want to do before I pass it off to the betas, so I told myself I’d write until 11, take a walk, and then read the first half from 12-3. Or at least that’s the plan.
I usually don’t have a plan, not an hourly plan, anyway, but today, I actually wrote until 11 and then I went on my walk, and now I’m eating into my reading time (but right after this, I read until 4). But anyway, I might see about doing the hourly plan thing again tomorrow.
The issue I usually have with an hourly plan is that I get bored. But… if I’m making progress, satisfying progress, I might feel less bored. So I think we’ll try this again tomorrow.
But anyway, as for dictating, I didn’t today. I got 2800 words, I see myself finishing Part 1 by tomorrow, which is perfect, and my little tracker app says I’m on schedule to finish by the 15th. So I rewarded myself on my walk, with an audiobook.
Now I gotta go read my own book.
Tuesday
Hahah! So I made a plan, and then I learned it’s going to be super hot today, so I had to take the pug for a walk earlier than 11, earlier than my plan, so that she could make it the whole way, before it got too hot for her.
I got 507 words in before I went for the walk. Made sure I had my phone in hand and the Pages app open, and I made a point to say something into it right away, as soon as I stepped out the door. That’s the key, for sure. I got another 849 words on the walk. I’m about 1000 words away from what I was hoping to write this week (16000 words), but I’m not feeling like Plot Point 1 is going to happen in those 1000 words. We’re close, but it might take a few more words. Maybe another 1000. Anyway I’m hoping to get those in tonight, but it’s getting hot in the office, so I’m getting this post done now.
Anyway…
To dictate or not to dictate? I say give it a try. If you’ve got some time where your body is doing something but your mind is free to wander, give it a try. Make sure you clean it up right away, though. If your dictation program is anything like mine,2 it’ll be a mess. Still, it takes different brain power to cycle than to write fresh,3 so even if I’m tired of writing fresh, I can usually get myelf to cycle over what I’ve already got on the page. And the end result is more words than I would’ve gotten otherwise. You might be similar. Give it a try.
Whatever you do, though. Have fun.
Writing Prompt
Character: An archaeologist
Light Attributes: Connecting the past to the present. Piecing together fragments of history.
Shadow Attributes: Ignoring context to fit a preconceived narrative. Plundering artifacts for personal or academic gain.
Setting: A deserted library.
Objects: A broken vase, a tattered map, a compass.
Emotion: TORMENTED. Troubled, plagued, in agony.WWT Tool Kit Craft Card
WWT Tool Kit Craft Card
As mentioned before, I’m making a deck of craft cards to quickly remind myself of techniques while also having a convenient place to keep track of elements like character, conflict, and theme specific to each story. This week’s card is a reminder about the kinds of storylines that can come into play:
Thank you for reading!
I hope this helped you, and I hope your writing goes well this week.
Keep at it,
Megan
WritesWithTools
site: writeswithtools.com
ko-fi: https://ko-fi.com/writeswithtools
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I just hit the microphone in Pages, whatever that is.
At least this seems to be true for me.