Okay guys the hugest thing happened… I started to dictate and it’s rocked my world.

I had always heard that dictating would double or triple your wordcount, but the reason I had never started before now is because I was just dang shy. There’s something really vulnerable about hearing your writing out loud but even worse if you think someone else can hear it. We all know how first drafts are and I don’t even want the possibility of anyone hearing that. I guess even myself.

I actually tried it once before but it just wasn’t right for me at the time. Dictating also takes a different mindset / part of your brain for some reason. And I know that’s true because if I’ve just had a really long writing session and then suddenly somebody wants to have a conversation with me I sound like Frankenstein’s monster. It’s like I forgot how to even make words out loud anymore. So I just put away the idea of dictating and I never tried it again.

BUT THEN a few months ago Daniel had this random project he needed help with. (And by random project I mean he wanted me to mail like 75 postcards to a Mr Beast sweepstakes. Don’t ask.) Anyway, I didn’t want to give up my writing time, but I figured the task was mindless enough that I could try to dictate my novel. So I sat there saying my story out loud as I was just like putting stamps on these postcards.

It ALSO just so happened that I was like home alone, which is pretty rare, but the timing worked out perfect. Both of my older kids go to school now and my youngest has a regular playmate so she was out and about. I was home alone. And that made it so that I was able to dictate my novel. And you know what I found out? They were not kidding, dictating is so much faster than just sitting down and physically writing, because you can go as fast as your brain can. (If you can creatively access that speaking part of your brain. I swear to you speaking and writing with your fingers are different parts of your brain haha)

Anyway, I was able to do like 2,000 words in half an hour and was totally RATTLED by this. I had been keeping track of my daily wordcounts just as a fun competition between myself and dictating blew my personal best out of the water! And I not only absolutely DOMINATED my personal best but did it ***whilst I was doing another chore***. Okay. The idea of that, as a mother, made me so hungry for more of that. The idea that I could be getting other things done while writing was just… the most heavenly presented gifts I could ever receive. So that’s what I started doing and it’s changed EVERYTHING.

And do you want to know what? I’m cleaning my house RIGHT NOW while I’m writing this blog post, in case you were wondering. Yep. I am able to just get stuff done and write and it is GLORIOUS and I LOVE IT. And side note, but do you want to know what else? I am so distracted by the writing it’s like I don’t even feel the drudgery of the chores anymore. No joke. Like all the sudden, I’ve finished an entire chapter and I’ll look around like, “Wow, my room is really clean.” I literally don’t even remember cleaning because I was off on a different planet in whatever book I was crafting at the time. It’s just such a win if you are an author who needs to do other stuff too!

This is how I do it. I got on Amazon and I bought one of those work out arm bands that hold your phone (as if I was a person who actually goes to the gym. Very funny, but that’s what I did). And then I got a microphone. (I’m not affiliated or anything, but this is the one I bought.) It has a c-type plug so if you have an Android it will plug right into your phone. I downloaded Google keyboard because it hears you a little bit better and I just dictate into Keep Notes which automatically syncs to my computer. So that’s it. I just walk around with this headset on and Daniel says that I look like a peloton instructor, but it works so well. I can do dishes with this set up and pretty much any kind of cleaning. I’ve even written while cooking. If I could just get over my own insecurities, I could even genuinely exercise and write while I walk the neighborhood.

On the opposite side of that, one of the most glorious things about dictating in my personal opinion is that you do not even have to be doing anything productive. One time I wasn’t feeling so great and I just dictated from my bed, you guys. I laid in bed, just held my phone up to my face and casually added an entire 2K word chapter to my book. This past NaNoWriMo, I felt like I was cheating, okay. I was like this is the easiest month of NaNo I’ve ever done in my entire life. Is this even kosher?? Should I do more than 50,000 words? It was such an easygoing NaNo, 50K just felt like nothing, dude. I’ve even dictated from the bath. (Try not to imagine that if you read one of my books but haha)

It’s just great and I really recommend it! It does take a little bit of practice, I’ll say. But, personally, I come from a theater background and it’s actually really fun to do the dialogue out loud. You certainly get a hold of your characters a little more when you’re acting them out. I don’t add any formatting as I go. I’ve literally been making these 100,000 word run-on sentences. But I’m not too worried. Thankfully I’m totally sure that AI is going to soon be able to format this stuff for me. And in the mean time, I go into editing and format and clean up as I go.

It’s just a really great way to get a first draft down. I found dictating freeing in a way, because it gave me this permission to just to tell myself the story. I worry so much about trying to make the material really good right off the bat and that fear slows me down significantly. But when you’re dictating, you actually like have no choice haha. You’re saying it out loud so you have to just keep going even if the writing is dumb.

For me, personally, it’s been amazing. But, it probably would not have been as efficient or amazing a few years ago. So if it doesn’t work for you, I wouldn’t be too downtrodden because it might just not be the right timing. At least that’s what happened to me. I had to get to a place where I was okay enough to write a first draft poorly (lol). I don’t think I’m totally there yet. It still sucks to write poorly, but it does help to get those drafts out, so that they can be fixed. Any writing can be cleaned up and shaped just like a sculptor slapping down the clay first and then shaping it and making it into something spectacular.

If you have any questions about anything, please reach out, comment, send me a message… I am such pro dictation now! And wow, my house is a little bit cleaner since I started writing this blog. I’m just enjoying this so much, you guys!