#WritersTip Mac Dictation #amwriting #paranormal @liviaquinn

As a writer and a business owner I have to find ways to cut corners. I can't tell you the number of times I've tried Dragon for Mac but for some reason it just isn't accurate and actually acts funny. The cursor will just zip off on its own little journey and I'm left there screaming, "Stop. Quit." to no avail. 

But the new Mac OS has dictation built in. I tried it on my last book after I'd handwritten, oh, 10,000 words or so, and found phrases like "universal healthcare" in my paranormal romance. The problem with inaccuracies is that then you have to remember what you wrote a month ago or longer and you have to wonder what you could have written that sounded like "universal healthcare". I swore I wouldn't waste my time again.                                        

But, since I've got about 31,000 handwritten words on Take these Broken Wings, the next book in the  series, and I really, really didn't want to transpose by hand, I gave Mac Dictation another chance. I started thinking, maybe it had to do with the microphone I was using so I googled dictation and found several expensive headsets and a desk microphone that were supposed to up te accuracy. In the end, I decided to compare the two I had. Turns out this was the winner, and it was a fraction of the cost of the others. It made such a difference in the accuracy and speed of Mac's dictation that reading in all those words took only a  few hours a day for three days. 

Nuance Headset   price $34.99
Prices of the others started at $159 and went up from there.

Have you tried dictation, either on your Mac or with Dragon. How did it go?

If you'd like to know more about my books, go to my webpage where you can read all about my worlds, see a map and glossary of terms.