TESTING OUT CHRIS FOX'S "WRITE 5,000 WORDS IN AN HOUR" METHOD // a writing experiment vlog

[@LiselleSambury]

Good on you for trying the dictation! I am the sort of person who cannot do that at all, my brain doesn't work that way. I have to write and see words. I do agree on this point that he's not necessarily saying anything that no one has thought of, but I think those actionable steps together is what kind of clicked and helped me. Loved seeing this video and your thoughts!

[@jessielynn101]

Same! Writing is kind of something I just have to see to be able to think about what I'm going to say.

[@madisonmaya94]

I wish I was a productivity machine. 5000 a hour, 20,000 a day, 100,000 a week, 2 books a month, 24 books a year, just imagine!

[@giomanuel3852]

Yeah. Just imagine hahahahaha

[@xtonibx5770]

24 first drafts at least. Editing, revising, and writing the many different drafts of the book that will come after the first one are going to take a lot more time. It is amazing either way, though. Finishing a first draft is such an issue for so many people and I dream of this productivity as well.

[@mindlessprocrastination6630]

It doesn't really work like this, in reality. I've used his method to get 5k words per hour before, but after like 8k words your wrists start to cramp, back hurts, and if you push yourself too much, you get a massive headache. Contrary to popular belief, the quality is pretty decent for the speed. Also, I need a deep outline to maintain the speed without stopping, and that takes hours to prepare beforehand. And then there's the slowing down over time as well. Not maintainable for four hours. For most people I'd recommend finding their fastest speed, then taking a little step back. If I spammed the keyboard I would get 5k/hour, but maybe if I slowed down to like 3k/hour I could do like 3 hours and get 9k, avoiding burnout. Of course, dictation does change everything...

[@TheRonnieaj]

@@mindlessprocrastination6630 Super late, but the issues with your wrists and typing are the same as with your throat dictating. You will get laryngitis if you’re not careful (ask me how I know 😉).

[@PhoebeWritesFiction]

OMG. THIS GAVE ME THE BIGGEST REVELATION. I'm always torn between my art tasks and my writing tasks, never finding enough time for both. WHAT IF I COULD DICTATE MY NOVEL WHILE PAINTING??? WHAT IF, KATE?? WHAT IF?? Because I can listen to audiobooks while painting - what if I could be making my own story instead of listening to someone else's?? And how have I never thought of this before??

[@sarahlovespaper4577]

Ok, I am stealing this idea! It is a good idea, worth trying anyway :)

[@michalehess2178]

Let's know how it goes 🙂

[@Lisa_Flowers]

That seems like it would be a lot on the creative brain to be both painting AND writing, at least to me. It already takes me a certain level of concentration to write even kinda shitty first draft words, so I can't imagine doing that while also having to paint. Reading strikes me aa a more passive activity since you're just listening to someone else's story as opposed to creating your own. Kind of like watching a video in the background ground or having a conversation with someone. But idk, maybe it will work stellar for you. If so, kudos to your brain, cause mine certainly couldn't! 😂😂😂

[@Iwasonceanonionwithnolayers]

@@Lisa_Flowers I had so much wind in my sails, then I read this...lol. You're right. A lot of people (me included) would probably suffer burnout doing this. I might still try it but I was so excited I didn't even consider this.

[@Iwasonceanonionwithnolayers]

I always struggle with managing my creativity. If I'm drawing I feel like I should be writing, if I'm writing I should be drawing or working on music. Sounds like a potential solution!

[@BenjaminTMilnes]

I can write 5000 words in an hour easily. They won't be good words - in fact more than half will just be the word 'something' - but I can write them.

[@ChrisFoxWrites]

The idea that quantity and quality are mutually exclusive is a bit of a myth, IMO. I have 30 books in print now, and my review average across 30,000 reviews is 4.6 out of 5 stars. When Michael Jordan played he didn't play slowly. He played at speed. He practiced slowly. Our practice is craft. It's learning story structure, and how to write character arcs, and how to properly construct our prose, and how to type or dictate. Once we know those things it's all about entering flow state. We write at speed. In case it isn't clear I'm the author of 5,000 Words Per Hour. Yeah, its' a click bait title, but it's also helped a lot of authors write faster and more consistently =)

[@MikeGraceJediDad]

@@ChrisFoxWrites thanks for the books Chris. I did 80000 words in 2 weeks and they definitely didn't suck. I have you, Jessica Brody, and Stephen King to thank for kicking my ass into gear. Frankly, skepticism is warranted and healthy, but cynicism is just a weak cover for apathy.

[@princessoftheworld1107]

😂i like you

[@JuniorChante]

It’s possible just edit carefully after

[@RivkahSong]

I know this is a pretty old video but I only just discovered Chris Fox and his books and he has helped me SO much. One trick I figured out for dictation is rather than stopping and saying "open quotation", "close quotation", "period" etc I will instead say "BB" for quotation marks and "JJ" for period, etc and then just use the find and replace command when editing it later. Repeated letters are so much quicker to say and aren't usually mistaken for any other word so it helped speed up my dictation and keep a creative flow much easier. Also for complicated fantasy names, words, or spellings I just use a super short and common name like "Bob" or "Steve" and then find/replace it later for the correct name. It's hilarious to go back and edit it later and see stuff like "Steve raised the mighty sword of Bob and brought it down on Tim's exposed neck. The men around him broke into exhausted cheering, having proved the might of their vengeful god Betty" 😂

[@sheelachattopadhyay]

That's awesome! I'll have to try adding in those techniques when I dictate too.

[@hhoi8225]

I have written up to 7,000 words in an hour when I was really panicky about my NaNoWriMo wordcount. But that's words. The number of salvageable sentences was laughable.

[@lindxey2]

same here. I write more in a panicked state of mind but its also the same state of mind that kicks my ass when I don't replicate it.

[@yesyes9698]

？ 7000 in an hour? I can barely write 1500

[@yesyes9698]

Of good readable I mean. But still. 7000??????!!!!

[@hhoi8225]

@@yesyes9698 Yes, it was pretty crazy and I haven't had many hours like that. It really wasn't worth it for anything other than that NaNoWriMo goal because the content was very poor quality.

[@SarahCahillWrites]

I’m notorious for not doing the exercises at all, and just going straight for it. Love that you’re giving this a try, and can’t wait to see your progress. I’m so excited to try this one day. My average is around 3200 per hour at the moment.

[@KateCavanaugh]

HOLY CRAP SARAH. Already 3200 an hour??? You don't need this book, we need your knowledge baha

[@reginaduke7451]

I agree with Kate…3200 words an hour??? you go, girl. Wow.

[@somerandomalex4991]

What!? If I’m lucky, I’ll get like 500 in that time, probably less. That’s amazing!

[@beckthter]

HOW

[@liznotslow]

What if you had a challenge "I can't write for more than 2 hours a day!" And try it for a week. You could plan what you're going to work on. And maybe even do an outline. But once you hit 2 hours, you can't write any more that day. It's like the antithesis of a "write for 24 hours" challenge.

[@pawnda1359]

Personally I dont like dictation but I found out that this five minute sprint method is incredible for me. it take 2 min to write the outline for the scene and in 5 min I can write 200-250 words so I can write 450-500 words in 15 min and 900-1000 words in half an hour (without breaks of course, but at the point that im in the flow with music and I am seeing how much Im getting done I dont need breaks). Thanks Kate!!!!

[@Kelly-ib1hf]

Dictation is definitely a no for me. I think there's something to be said for finding a balance between fast drafting and concious the-best-it-can-be drafting. I would never have the energy to edit something I just word-vomited onto the page, so I think it would ultimately take me longer. That's awesome if it works for some people though!

[@manvellvn]

5000 words in 1 hour? Bro my NaNo progress chart would hug me for that.

[@floraellesse4440]

You could win NaNo in 10 hours 😲

[@xtonibx5770]

@@floraellesse4440 I knew 5000 words in an hour was fast but this comment made me realize just how fast it is omg that's insane.

[@AbbeeRambles]

I'm not a fan of dictation because my talking brain and my writing brain work so differently. Writing 40-50wpm is easy for me, but I have really bad ADHD so speaking in complete sentences is hard. Also I already work from home and don't go anywhere or do anything so trying to dictate while doing other things just wouldn't add much.

[@williamwest3594]

I feel your pain.

[@kiethveseyofficial]

Did you try Google Docs voice typing?

[@t0dd000]

To the folks that "can't" do it (myself included), I suspect you/we can. It just takes practice. More importantly, it takes a desire to do this. I really should attempt this again.

[@AntoineBandele]

I want to be writing friends with you.

[@itsapapap]

Kate: Duke do you want to go outside?! Duke: **licks floor** 🤣

[@JimmieHammel]

While this book didn't get me to write 5k words per hour, it did get me to write everyday. I genuinely loved this book.

[@thefrancophilereader8943]

This was one of your best videos in the series. I like how you organized it. 1) Reading Christ Fox's book, 2) doing the exercises, 3) trying voice-to-text to increase word count, 4) conclusion. I saw how your process developed over time.

[@sarakat3707]

His writing books are so good! 5000 wph and Lifelong Writing Habit really helped me.

[@jonevansauthor]

For all the people saying they can't use dictation because or they can't churn out good quality material that fast, you clearly never acquired any other skills such as walking, speaking, driving or playing an instrument. You will obviously get better at all of these skills if you practice them. If you don't do the exercises, and you don't keep practicing, and you don't track your progress you will never know how much you can improve. The same is true of all skills. If you work at them diligently, you should improve. Someone mentioned writing 24 novels but they'd all require loads of editing. Nope. Lots of authors don't need much redrafting, they write clean. If you could gather that data, you'd quickly establish that the cleaner drafts come from the people who've done it a lot more. The argument that everything you turn out will be trash if you write too quickly is silly. Look at speed painters, or chefs chopping cucumber. There are a whole bunch of things we can do, each of which improves our overall writing speed. If you continue to practice, you will get faster, and require less rewriting and less editing. You do need to actually do the work though. Regardless, if you go from 1,000 word per hour, to 2,000 word per hour and never get close to 5K, you are probably better off... You can also read Kevin Anderson's book on dictation, he's written a fair bit and knows what he's talking about plus 2K to 10K by Rachel Arron which is similar tips to Chris's but reading the same general ideas from two different people might help them stick in your mind better. 500 words a day is 180K a year 1,000 is 360K a year 2,000 is 720K a year You don't need to hit giant figures to really benefit from this.

[@brosirs]

Chris shares a lot of this stuff on his channel too. I tried adopting some of the method for NaNo a couple of years back. I'd plan out a scene to some degree ahead of time, then I'd write it. My actual writing speed was about 3k WPH (I can do 100 WPM on typing tests but obviously there's no thinking involved there). I wrote each scene as a sprint rather than writing for a set time (32 scenes for that project). For me I found it easy at the start, but I needed more time to think of the scenes, how they fit into place etc as the story went along. I'd say that for every hour writing you need 1-2 hours letting the story evolve and percolate in the mind. If you see Chris's 21 days to a novel challenge, you'll see he does similar, thinking in his off time. In short, focused writing works great for getting words down. Having some idea of what you're going to write really helps.

[@Bluebird-xz1gw]

As someone with chronic fatigue I experience burnout very easily, so I found this very interesting! Will definitely give it a try

[@hannahreeves6300]

This honestly inspired me to write for at least five minutes before I go to school. I've been giving the excuse "when Nano comes I will be writing all the time, I don't need to write now." Not the case now that I'm thinking about it. So, yes, five minute sprints before I go to school and before I go to bed. Sounds good.

[@HellsMirror]

Doing the hardest thing first definitely helps. That's what got me through writing my Bachelor's Thesis (which I just finished the first draft of)

[@KateCavanaugh]

Wooooo!!! Congrats on finishing the first draft! That's a whole bunch of knowledge and hours!

[@madisonmaya94]

I think the only way this could be done is if you know undoubtedly what you want those 5000 words to be. NO TIME FOR THINKING lol

[@KateCavanaugh]

I had some pauses in there as I was going/thinkinh, but having the bullet points and knowing everything that NEEDED to be in the scene really helped to speed it along.

[@Phaedramatics]

This is the earliest I've ever been 🙌🏻

[@Wallisimo]

How interesting! Everything is worth trying once but I think I might struggle with dictation because ✨I hate the sound of my voice ✨

[@KateCavanaugh]

Bahaha I've now heard my own voice so many times with editing, I've moved past the hate. It's almost white noise (except not relaxing? So just noise bahah) but I 100% feel you.

[@skytower1662]

So you dont like speaking at all? The point of dictation apps is you aren't having to listen back to it, it types out what you are saying. You *can* look back if it mistyped something, but usually its mistakes are the kind that you can still fill in and correct without having to listen back. I've found dictation is the best for those times when im talking about my writing to a friend and as I am talking about it im having lots of new ideas.

[@Wallisimo]

Sky Tower yeah so I don’t actually mind hearing my voice on a recording. It is truly my actual speaking voice (the one I hear when I talk) that can make me cringe. Normally it doesn’t bother me in conversation because I’m focused on communicating with someone but when I’m alone, practicing giving speeches or doing voice over for videos, I find myself constantly being put off by the way I sound.

[@skytower1662]

@@Wallisimo fair enough. I was the same way until I went into food service and learned how to change my voice to a register thats comfortable for longterm speaking.

[@reginaduke7451]

@@KateCavanaugh My first attempts at dictating my stories was a miserable failure because I had to do it on cassette and listen to all my pauses and I also disliked having to hear my “recorded” voice as opposed to the way my voice sounded in my head. However, when voice to text software became available, I was able to get to a point where I could “fast draft” 1800 words of a scene but I need to edit it within 24 hours so I can remember what I meant when the software hears something ridiculous and doesn’t make sense on the page. :D

[@NatalieLocke]

Well, the book isn't 99 cents anymore, but I still bought it. I need to step up my writing game so that I can account for non-writing days. When you said you got 1K in the bullet method my interest was greatly increased. Thanks for the suggestion. Glad I'm already tracking for milwordy!

[@Emee.M.]

This was such a fantastic video! I've heard of Chris Fox and I believe I even have his book, but I never finished it. I love that you gave a high level look at the entire book/system. I'm going to go back and give it another read (and finish it this time!). I will definitely try dictation, too. And I laughed when you said Brando Sando. That's how I refer to him, too. I guess a lot of people probably do! Thanks again for a great video!

[@Rayowag]

I think speech-to-text would be very cool for non-fiction, because it's a bit like giving a presentation. For fiction I'm not quite sure since scenes need to ruminate in my inner cinema a bit and writing leaves more time for that.

[@thegmanviews11]

i think context is very important here when it comes to the word count for Chris - he types fast and practice really helps. He can get 1200 words to 1500 words per short sprint so I'm not surprised he can make 5000 words per hour so really it's practice and finding out the length that is your sweet spot for getting the most words. I've read his book - I always thought my sweet spot was 20 minutes but I will be redoing the exerces soon to see if that's changed. I'm going to re read it again soon. Greeat video

[@MandiGraceAuthor]

I can't do speech to text for my stories. I don't see words in my brain that way, it's so visual and my brain somehow makes it words through my fingers 🤷‍♀️😂

[@PermaPen]

Dictation is probably an efficient process that I need to work on, but mostly I don't know what I think until I see it written out. When I dictate I feel as though I'm speaking from a void, even for mundane stuff... Since that now seems ridiculous, maybe I'll try it some more.

[@TimothyNiederriter]

I read this book a few years ago. At the time I only typed and tried the dictation. Last year I switched fully to dictation and ended up discovery-dictating 6-7k in a full hour. I kinda want to review this book again, because I actually didn't use most of the advice in it to get to my rate, just talked faster. It's a good book, in my opinion, but there are lots of ways to approach dictation (And even more to take on writing in general) so it's nowhere near hard and fast. I will say that dictation has increased the amount of time I spend on edits but I'm a slow typist and it cut the time of a rough draft to 25% of what it once was.

[@kiethveseyofficial]

I mostly use voice dictation for writing blogs. Yes, editing is a bit daunting (like what I'm doing now on a voice-typed comment lol). I don’t know how marketers that do affiliate marketing do thousands of blogs writing thousands of advertisements. I’m surprised those people still have fingers at this point.

[@sheelachattopadhyay]

I love that! I've improved my speed with discovery dictating too.

[@1monki]

One thing that's helped me get into dictation is doing morning pages--a 15 min. daily brain dump/train of thought thing. It's low stress and gives me a place to experiment with the process: standing, sitting, walking, thinking about how I want to say something before speaking, etc. I also use a digital voice recorder. So I'm free to travel about and often do. Then seeing how the software transcribes my speech is a guide for improving dictation.

[@sheelachattopadhyay]

I do the same and it really has helped a lot.

[@AbiofPellinor]

Kate. This video? It gave me SO MUCH motivation to do prep for nano! Thank you so so much!! 🖤🖤🖤🖤🖤🖤

[@thedirewolf5535]

Thank you so much for taking the time and effort to do this video. It's been incredibly enlightening. I'll try this out myself.

[@cryskiiim]

really enjoy these writing experiment vlogssss ~~~~

[@Binary-]

Woah, that's a lot of words, nvm in an hour. I've heard about that book, excited to see how it treats you!

[@brittnieflom5958]

This was such a helpful video! I've been struggling with time management (cuz covid) but this brings me hope. Getting his book. Another great writing experiment!! Thanks!

[@willow8783]

I'm so jealous! This was going to be the year I tried out dictation for my writing and then the virus came and our kids are doing eLearning from home. I was so looking forward to using that time when my house was empty during the day so I wouldn't be self-conscious when writing/dictating (on top of some scenes not being possible to dictate in front of my kids).

[@AMG_Creates]

I have SO MANY A.D.D butterflies that dictation will be just one big cluster of words. But it makes sense that that's how one gets the most words.

[@thelatentobserver121]

I have ultimately settled on dictation (into a Sony recorder) after trying so many ways. However, I pause the recorder and speak the punctuation, and try to get as close to finished as I can. I typically get 3K/hr of really good words. I’ve dictated my past 8-10 books this way, and I’m getting better.

[@sheelachattopadhyay]

Awesome! 🎉 Practice makes perfect.

[@montanamalin9972]

I'm loving your makeup too! You look gorgeous!

[@sproutbliss]

This is some powerful stuff!! The dictation idea is BRILLIANT especially with scenes mapped out in full detail ahead of time. I’m gonna try this literally now.

[@whyisthisachannel]

My dog were more excited when you asked Duke to go outside, laughs. As for dictation - I use it situationally, but I don't really think in words. It slows me down to sit and struggle for the right word, when my normal process is to close my eyes and describe what it is that I'm seeing. I do think I'll pick up the book though, maybe see if anything will integrate into my method.

[@kbanks5754]

Ahh! I have the same standing desk! I don't know why that made me so happy. You're a champ, Kate, by the way. Good luck with your audacious goals.

[@anastaziakettlewell7064]

as someone already almost 5000 words behind on my goal this week (today's the last day of my test week), I really needed this. thanks :D

[@elizalagonia1049]

I found when I stared reading outloud to my boys I realized my mouth would get tired I'd start sounding drunk. The nurses would laugh. It would be cool to see what voice to text would make of it

[@JacquelinElizabethWrites]

Oh I'm excited

[@RocketNinjaSlap]

I've never read Chris Fox's book, or tried dictation before, but i'm definitely interested in trying it and i'm DEFINITELY the sort of person who reads through once before attempting the exercises, just because I like to know what i'm getting into

[@BrekkeEl]

Kate, i’d love to hear how your dictations are going several months out. I’m glad that you mention it sometimes, but I’d love for you to talk about whether or not it’s an essential part of your process or a convenience thing.

[@t.j.johnsonthewriter]

Brandon Sanderson read this book: and I took that personally

[@ladywiththelantern]

This is good information. Thank you for giving the high lights on his method. This may work for me. I tend to think of ideas easier when I am moving around outdoors.

[@alipie02]

So glad you covered this, I've been thinking about trying his system so it's great to see someone go over it. Thanks!

[@herothebard]

I would say you should read No Plot No Problem by Chris Baty (the founder of NaNoWriMo a NaNoWriMo Novel) it is very good for making you think about how to write a lot of words all at once. If you think about milwordie as 50000 words every month for 12 months. Or even if your just thinking about writing for NaNoWriMo

[@ianbarr4716]

Kate, this is a fantastic video here. Thank you.

[@ScribeOfDreams]

Honestly, I'm weird cause I can, at full force, write about 2000 words per half an hour, though I can't promise they're good words haha. So if I do that for an hour, I'd have 4000 words which isn't too far off what Chris Fox is putting forward. But even doing that can wreck my hands for the rest of the day lmao, I'm not sure that trying to write 5000 words would be very helpful for me all around. I literally hate dictating anything, so I have to type. I think I'm better with pacing it and doing it over a few hours. But the book seems pretty good for advice anyway? It seems to be pretty helpful even outside of the main point of the book.

[@SRForge-zk6cp]

I'm with you here. I can write 3k in an hour but my quality is... Meh.

[@helenburdett6570]

Duke, what a handsome dog with such a gentle face. 🥰💜

[@laurabarnard52]

Only just started watching this video, and Kate, today's make-up/eyeliner look makes you look like a disney princess :D

[@BentleyHouseMinis]

I feel like I never have time to write so I will definitely try out the dictation method. I don't really listen to the radio so it will make my drive times a little more interesting and productive😄!

[@sheelachattopadhyay]

There's a few writers that dictate while driving out there. I do as I'm walking around since I don't have a car. It's been much easier that way.

[@jamesrichey]

Thanks, Kate. I picked up the book and have started reading through it. So far, I like what I see. I do use voice dictation to write more quickly. I was able to write a novel in 5 months using that method. I hope to condense the time even further.

[@serenoli]

Such a helpful video. Going to try this now!!

[@thejellyestbean]

I wrote my first two novels using his system of writing 5k an hour and my output is through the roof. It's an amazing system and glad you tried it out!

[@HKDarkwood]

I'm in the process of training my brain to use dictation instead of writing. But it´s weirdly hard, I was really surprised.

[@chaplainfeeser]

Wow... so I'm adding those books to my TBR... I need the advice and motivation... thanks!!

[@keltavuokko]

Personally I think 4 books a year is nuts. Now seeing you try his method out I understand how that can be possible, but still I can't help wondering if four books a year is necessary and if it will cause too much stress for writers (especially if that would become a norm in the indie industry). Sure, of course fans like to receive the next volume in the series as soon as possible, but then again - at least for me - part of the fun is waiting for the next one and the wait makes the new book release an event. If my favourite authors would crank out a book so often, I wouldn't necessarily be excited about the next release after a while since it would be just another this year, you know? Of course this is highly theoretical since I haven't followed any authors who publish so often, but this is what I think would happen with me. I think two books a year would be the most I would go for as a writer, both for my sake and for the readers. I haven't tried dictation yet, since I think I would feel pressured, but I think I will after seeing you do it! Thanks for a great video!

[@LizzieBelina]

My mild ADHD says nawh with dictation...my brain gets hella lost. Haha.

[@Shadowkitty360]

I loved Brandon Sanderson's youtube lectures!

[@authoreloisebahr]

First! Thank you for always posting such lovely videos, you are an inspiration and ray of sunshine. Second - I downloaded a dictation app to try it out on a screenplay idea and use it this morning on my drive to work. Got 1400 words in, but no punctuation or line breaks and probably half of it is nonsense as I'm thinking out loud. I can't decide whether I'm happy about it or not.

[@BayleyMae]

This is so cool and interesting! I'm definitely going to give this book and some of the methods a try. I don't think dictation would work well for me, I really need to write the words out when I'm writing, but that's such a great idea. Love it!

[@noraamel2124]

I tried dictation before and I don't think it would work for me. I hate editing a lot. I'm an outliner and like my first draft to have at least decent prose and punctuation. so when i looked back at what I "wrote" it was a nightmare for me. but i'll definitely try the micro writing sprints.

[@nycrawgirl]

Thank you, Kate. I just bought the book.

[@torjones1701]

RE: dictation. I use Dragon professionally, and there was even training I had to go through in order to use it properly. The most important thing I learned in order to make Dragon work correctly, and this was fairly universal for everyone learning dictation in training, is that you need to develop your "dictation voice." I've found that this is also fairly universal regarding software as well since at home, I can't really afford Dragon either. Monotone and Enunciation are the two biggest things that control how your software will recognize your speech and encode it to text. Put a tiny little pause between words will also help with recognition. Don't skip the training phase in the software, you're teaching the software how to hear your voice, not just teaching you how to use that particular piece of software. If you slow down and get used to the software, and let it learn your voice patterns, you'll soon speed back up and be rocking a 220wpm dictation speed. Knowing what to type/dictate... work in progress... :)

[@yellowbluegreen9614]

I've never heard of dictation before this! So excited to try it but I just need a time when no one else is in the house because that would just be embarrassing. I'm trying to find quicker ways to write BC with my current schedule my only time to write is on my commute :///

[@milicadiy]

I could not handle dealing with voice-to-text for too long, but this is a pretty good video.

[@vic70ria]

I’ve been waiting for years for dictation to get actually good. Because I’m so bad at typing it stunts my creativity. And I get so frustrated. This is great.

[@ninimeggie4771]

Dictation does not work for me... It's just garbage. I cannot talk through things that way. I um and ah and stutter my way through it... The results are unusable, honestly not even worth the time to edit. The only exception is dialogue. Talking through a dialogue scene before writing it can help me make it more realistic and natural

[@TAROTKATREADINGS]

5000 words while in Margaritaville? That I want to read. LOL I've done micro sprints for years now, bc my attention span barely meets hamster standards. They work for me.

[@livewireOrourke]

I can write 5000 words an hour. [proceeds to recreate the dictionary]

[@moonyloops]

Lol

[@sheelachattopadhyay]

I've read his book and he's got a lot of valid points. I have to dictate because of metacarpal tunnel syndrome. I've been able to crank out over 20 (single spaced) pages in an hour through dictation without using punctuation this way for my audio journal. It is completely doable in all honesty. I'm glad that you finally gave dictation a try, @Kate Cavanaugh. :) I often outline with a fountain pen with notebook and a zettelkasten system for keeping thoughts together - most of my writing is non-fiction personally.

[@sheelachattopadhyay]

I've also used some of the methods from Rachael Aaron's 2k to 10k book along with his and it massively helps. My best record when I'm able to type is 1k words in 25 minutes, so every bit helps too. If you'd like a book on dictation, I can totally send one to you @Kate Cavanaugh.

[@bhsprinkle]

That corgi is adorable! And I would like to test this method as well.

[@AuthorZaraHoffman]

How did I miss this upload?! Loved watching your experiment. I really should go back and try this again. When I've tried it in the past, I didn't do too well because I'm like Brandon Sanderson.

[@SKEllis-ie3ug]

I’ve recently discovered the dictation process too- it is such a game changer but I hafta say I really gotta sit my butt down to do all the revisions whenever Siri thinks I’m having an aneurysm

[@reginaduke7451]

Just got home and saw your vlog! I’ve been visiting friends on their ranch and taking dogs to the groomer. What a nice surprise to find you waiting for me…”Just for me” …. :D I do the dictation as a nice break from staring at the computer screen for hours at a time. If you did 900 words dictating for 10 minutes, that is 5400 minutes for the hour. But you have to have 8 or 9 scenes lined up to make good on the 5K on a steady basis. :D (My opinion and experience.) I have that book of Chris Fox’s as well, and it’s very energizing. But it applies to first drafts (or even zero drafts), again, in my opinion. :D Happy Sunday!

[@ElliotScottDating]

I hate (love) how pretty your eyes are 😍

[@elly9311]

5000 words in 1 hour means 1,4 words per second... wow I don't think that's possible for me since English words are pretty short and I write in German. Maybe I'll try dictating too :D

[@singingsanja167]

OMG, it never occured to me that our long words lead to a smaller wordcount, LOL! So we are semantically challenged, aren't we?! ^_^ ;-D

[@elly9311]

@@singingsanja167 Exactly! When English books get translated into German the wordcount increases

[@singingsanja167]

@@elly9311 That means we have to work harder during NaNo - what a bummer, LOL! ^_^

[@UselessRambling]

I think my WPH max was somewhere around 2800, which I always thought was a lot considering I only use two fingers of each hand to type. 5000... that's insane lol

[@Natalieogriffin]

I'm thinking of using Dragon for Nano this year. I've used it before when I was at work and it helped so much! I loved it. Oddly enough, I tend to do more description that way.

[@EmiKawaiiDoodle]

I have read is firt trilogie series and the novella that comes with it. The novella and the firt book were amazing to me. Book two and tree have good plots but take on to many POV to my taste.

[@LeahRummel]

That many words is WILD to me 2k is a good full day of writing for me lol. I haven't tried dictation but I will have to! I'm trying to work on my fast drafting skills because I agree, I think being able to finish a draft more quickly will hugely help with burnout, boredom, etc.

[@LizAllier]

I have the book and I've started it, but I haven't gotten deep into it. I've never tried dictation just because I'm not big on talking in general. Or outlining lol

[@chilliverse7326]

Very inspiring video. Made me want to try dictation once.

[@soulofash2112]

I'm with Sanderson, I don't think of writing in that way. Dictation doesn't work for me, but hey, if it works for you, go for it! I write... uh... Not a lot. My writing is fueled by PTSD episodes, so basically I write when I'm struggling with that. One day, I'd like to finish my project, but by the same token, I kind of hope I never do? That make sense?

[@njmanga617]

I have tried dictation it gets the word count put quickly but since dictation doesn't pick up everything and gets cute with some word choice I also tend to keep a recorder near me to fill in the words that may of been missed by the dictation program

[@littlestpineapple2898]

I haven't read the book, but this might be the thing that pushes me over into actually trying it. I've been meaning to try dictation for ages bc I think it might really work for me -- at least when I'm writing first person -- so any pressure to try that is probably valuable.

[@starrynightfall00]

Dictation is my new obsession :) I can lay in bed with my eyes closed and dictate. I'll keep my dot points next to me and dictate my first draft. Ir's probably the laziest yet fastest and most efficient way to write lol It also helps you get past your internal editor. Also, I prefer to make a voice recording and then type them up later. The Text-To-Speech is just too distracting for me. Typing up the scenes is sort of like a second draft where I can discard repetitive points and include better ones. Also, it feels good to be able to type up a lot of words especially if you use them to progress on 4theWin (a site that gamifies writing).

[@marias8007]

Yes, I'm going to do this tomorrow. I need 4,000 words and giving myself 2 hours. Thanks for the inspo

[@KateCavanaugh]

OMG! Good luck on your goal!

[@marias8007]

@@KateCavanaugh I did it! In 3.5 hours and I typed, but still! I got my word goal - thanks again for the inspiration

[@GingaNinjaTV13]

My fiancé’s best friend is a journalist and he SWEARS by the Otter speech to text app. It is $100 a year, but he uses it all the time to transcribe interviews and city council meetings. You can teach it words like the name of a character or town, so it won’t constantly mess up the same phrase over and over

[@bunnybeetle1304]

I tried that too aaand I got 181 words in, within 5 mins - from 140ish from a few days ago! Lovely.

[@shreyavatsana]

I just got his book and I'll be trying out the exercises 🤓