A slow start to the morning, but we were out by around 7:00 am! It was a pleasant 58°F out, so I had a jacket on but no need for gloves.
It was a bright start too, with the sun rising ever earlier. Keely took her time as well so by the time I was on the eastern edge of Lake Ella, the view was kinda stunning:
I did a little experiment in dictation as I walked, and it was at least technically a success — I was using otter.ai with my phone and bluetooth earbuds, so I expected some wonkiness. My first take resulted in abysmal transcription, and I think it was due to a combination of ambient noises (read: geese) and my talking lazily. My second try I worked a bit harder to pro-noun-ci-ate and the transcript was very accurate.
The goal is to capture the ideas I often have in passing, for both blog posts and story development. I’ve done “voice notes” in the past to limited success, but if I have a way to c&p actual text into a document, I think it will be more helpful. That said, dictation is a skill set and I’m not used to it, so I think I need to be proactive about learning HOW to use it, especially as a fiction author. It might just end up being something I use for drafting out blog posts or non-fiction, but I’d love to capture some of the daydreams I have while walking and maybe develop them as stories…