I remember once telling my boss at the teacher training school where I used to work how much I hated writing – too slow – and how I would love to 'think words onto the page.'
Fast forward 20 years and I now have my wish, well as near as dammit! You see after much deliberation and research I have just bought voice activated software in the form of the Dragon NaturallySpeaking 11 Home Edition (PC)
It is hard for a writer to admit to disliking writing and to be honest, it isn't strictly true. I love using words and shaping ideas and I get a real kick out of editing. But the act of typing or writing by hand annoys me because I'm not fast enough. With my new Dragon companion I just speak and the text flows onto the page like magic.
It takes a bit of getting used to as you have to know what you are going to say in advance and add punctuation. (Example, to write 'Hello,' she says. I actually have to say: 'New line, tab, open single quote, hello, comma, close single quote, she says, full stop.')It also needs to accustom itself to your voice and pronunciation, which you can speed up by reading training texts out loud. But once it knows you and your little foibles it is up to 99% accurate, which is way better than my typing.
My new piece of kit won't replace typing at the keyboard for me, but I just love it , especially for writing fiction and at last I can 'think' my words onto the page.