Re: don't want to type

On Fri, 30 Jun 2006 11:49:54 -0500, Larry Bristol staggered into the
Black Sun and said:
sandworm@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx wrote:
I am writing a book, but it's too much typing[, and] my fingers are
falling off.

Work on your grammar, or your editor and copy editor will make you do a
lot *more* work. (Strunk & White, or in extremis, _Eats, Shoots, and
Leaves_.)

I'm looking for a voice recognition/dictation program for linux
so I can just talk to my computer...couldn't find any. Is there
something like that or am I hopeless?

Voice recognition is pretty limited right now even in the best
payware systems. The systems that have the best success are limited to
one problem domain, which limits the vocabulary you can use. And they
screw up some of the time.

I have experience with both (1) voice recognition/dictation software
(albeit for other platforms), and (2) writing books. IMHO, such
software will actually make the job more difficult in the long run.

The really hard part of writing a book is not the creation of the
initial draft. Rather, the hard part comes from the hours upon hours
you will spend editing and proofreading to create a finished
manuscript. Dictating a first draft might be useful, but such
software is all but useless when it comes to editing.

True. The first draft is a bit of a PITA, though. (The first draft of my
book took me roughly 1.3 hours/day for 5 months, and it was
semi-difficult to do.)

I'm afraid you might as well get used to the idea--your fingers are
going to fall off before you finish this project.

Aye. On the plus side, you'll end up typing better.

BTW: Is it a novel or non-fiction?

This is actually important if you end up using voice recognition.
In fiction, you can use things like creative speling within dialogue
("What'chall talkin' about?" asked Bob). Trying to do that with voice
recognition would be ... interesting. Or if you have characters named
"Fz'Norglhk" or "Sonicea"[0] or "Janeen", you'd have to enter those
names in letter-by-letter.

Or you could just do what Cyril N. Parkinson (who invented Parkinson's
Law) did: Write your stuff out longhand and have it professionally
typed up. Then you'd have different muscle groups getting tired. HTH
anyway,

[0] Pronounced "so-nice-a", and there's at least one actual person with
that name, or there was in Champaign-Urbana in 1991.

--
Matt G|There is no Darkness in Eternity/But only Light too dim for us to see
Brainbench MVP for Linux Admin / mail: TRAP + SPAN don't belong
http://www.brainbench.com / "He is a rhythmic movement of the
-----------------------------/ penguins, is Tux." --MegaHAL
.

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