Friday, October 21, 2011

"Hello, Computer"

~~Did you hear Mr. Scott, AKA the late, great James Doohan, say those words as you read the title? If you love all things Star Trek, you did. For the rest of you go HERE for a clip of that immortal line. ; )

~~Before you get worried about my sanity, let me tell you about my newest toy, Dragon NaturallySpeaking, an advanced speech recognition program. I've wanted to be able to dictate my writing for years. Lately, my wrists have made it a priority. I tried the built-in program that came with my Vista operating system, but it and my pronounced southern accent didn't get along. Dragon, on the other hand, allowed me to select American English and Southern Region during installation.

~~I'm very impressed even though I'm still learning to use it. can't go straight from brain to screen though. I've always had to draft longhand first, but once it's on paper, the dictation is easy. I'm sure can type a bit faster, but not for any length of time. Now I can just write without dreading typing. Who knows? I might even get 50,000 words written during November's NaNoWriMo.

~~ If you're interested,  go to Nuance's website, and check it out.  They've been running a sale, but I got it half price at my local Staples.

~~ Next on my must-have software list is  Scrivener for Windows. According to the website the beta version runs out early in November. Here's hoping the full version is available soon.