I'm trying out dictation again.

I've chilled a bit on Amazon wish lists, both because it makes me feel like a wannabe influencer and because the last 2 years have been pretty shitty.  I basically only put up a wish list if some of you suggest that I do.

Anyway, a while back, one of my wonderful Patreon supporters, who might even be reading this right now, gifted me with Dragon.  Dragon is a program for speech to text dictation.

I gave it a shot, but it just didn't work for me.  There were too many errors, and it was actually faster to just write.  I'm sure it was user error on my part but I just couldn't wrap my head around it even after a solid try.

However, tech is improving, and there are new (free!) programs out there that I've been experimenting with after Outspan Foster basically twisted my arm and (very politely) told me I was being a stubborn moron.

Well...he was right.  I was being a stubborn moron.

Last night I gave it a shot.  I spent like... 10 minutes total with the new program he told me to try.  The first 5 minutes was figuring out how it worked.  The second five minutes was dictating the following, my first stab at dictating a story.  If I can work out the kinks, I might use it to write short stories.

I'm not too sure this methodology would work for established stories with lots of lore that I'd need to look up, or lots of unique names, but for short stories or to start a series, it might be great.

I'll break this down further:

Dictating this took me about 2 minutes.  Cleaning it up took another 2 minutes and some change.  So 5 minutes total.  Imagine what I could do during a 30 minute lunch break?

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Michael crept around in the darkness, keeping a wary eye behind him. The sounds coming down the hallway were sinister, moist. He paused.  Were the sounds getting nearer? He couldn't tell.

He rounded a corner and noticed one door ajar. With a nervous glance back, he carefully moved up, keeping his every sense peeled. The room was empty. He breathed the quiet sigh of relief. Then he moved inside and very gently shut the door behind him trying to make as little noise as possible.

Ironically, his only hope of escape was to corner himself like this.  From experience, he knew that whatever was stalking him would not let him get near an exit.

Trapped in his room, he moved to the wall adjacent to the hallway, rested his back against it, and prayed. It seemed like an eternity later, but noises from the hallway meant he had company. The shuffling stopped outside the door.  Maybe something was looking inside. But Michael was out of sight.

Every other doorway in the facility had been locked, his own handiwork as a custodian.  So whatever it was out there had no reason to think this door could be otherwise. Hopefully. Michael was betting on it.

After what felt like an hour, the unwelcome visitor moved on, taking its awful noises with it. Michael gently leaned his head back against the wall and cursed his luck. He didn't think if the end of the world happened, that he'd be in the absolute middle of the very worst place he could possibly be.

With a thought, he opened up his character panel:

(insert character screen)

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So let me know what you think about this. :)  I could continue Michael's story...or something else.  Since I can dictate this stuff literally while I'm eating or driving, it won't take away time from writing Delvers LLC or anything else.

If I get good at it, I might be able to put out a few short stories a year, including stuff related to Delvers LLC, like Uluula's time in the Areva Navy.

Thoughts?