Review of e-Speaking: First Impressions

Well Folks, it's been a long time since I did a blog entry. To be honest, I have been busier than one legged man in a butt kicking contest. Well today instead of talking about the every little writing website that I've found I want to talk about a product that has changed my writing forever.

It's called e-Speaking. It is a bare bones voice recognition software program that cost a grand total of $14.00 if I remember correctly.

And let me tell you what this stuff is amazing . I truly never realized just how fast you can get your thoughts out in your head and onto the "paper". From then on your time is spent editing. This is simply awesome and I just can't believe and I'm still this amazed.

There is a small learning curve. Unlike the more expensive voice recognition software programs that cost hundreds of dollars, you have to train your voice using the Microsoft SAPI. And of course there was spent some time simply practicing. The thing I've found toughest to get used to was speaking out loud and enunciating the punctuation marks. That takes some serious adjusting. And I'm not going to tell you that the final product when you're done talking is perfect. There will be editing involved. I figure I am up to about 90% dictation accuracy. And, you will realise that when dictating there is a tendency to ramble. Both are issues I am willing to deal with, and the price was right.

Voice recognition software is the wave of the future. We all grew up watching Star Trek, and the speaking computer is here now. I have to say that I really wish I'd done this a long time ago.

When you go shopping for voice recognition software the first thing you want to consider is how often you'll use it. The second thing is how patient you are. If you are a low to medium user, and you have the patience to practice e-Speaking is the voice recognition software program for you.

If you are going to be using your voice recognition software a lot, or have no patience, then I'd recommend looking at a product like Dragon Naturally Speaking. Just be prepared for sticker shock.

Technorati Tags:
voice recognition, e-speaking, writing tools

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Stumbleupon Surfing With Writers Block

I was kicking about the internet today with a severe case of writers block. My head felt like it was loaded with soaked cotton and nothing would really gel for me. I clicked on the "stumble" icon on the Stumbleupon Toolbar and looked in depth at three sites.

This was the first stumble. And it delivers on the promise. I clicked through several pages and thought that the ideas presented were really good. I think most would work best for fiction writing, but there are some that seriously give you some great ideas for non-fiction article writing.

Skelliewag.org » Posts » 110+ Resources For Creative Minds: "Tips, tutorials, exercises and inspiration from the fields of visual art, writing, photography, blogging, design and invention. Next time you’re stuck for ideas or inspiration I hope you’ll find something here to get your right brain firing. A tip: sometimes the best sources of inspiration often lie far outside your own creative field.

1. 7 Can’t-Miss Ways to Kick-Start The Writing Habit
Write nothing but headlines. Write crap without feeling guilty. Schedule and show up. Write about problem solving. Edit older articles. Type out other people’s articles. Add your tip. [Tips: Writing]"

The second site has a different flavor to it. I think it originates in the UK. It seems fresh enough that you won't be writing deathless prose in the Shakespearean style. Instead it focuses on core skills. If you need a brush up, then this site can help you.

50 Free Resources That Will Improve Your Writing Skills | Developer's Toolbox | Smashing Magazine: "Effective writing skills are to a writer what petrol is to a car. Like the petrol and car relationship, without solid skills writers cannot move ahead. These skills don’t come overnight, and they require patience and determination. You have to work smart and hard to acquire them. Only with experience, you can enter the realm of effective, always-in-demand writers."

The second link had an ad on it for demand studios. I clicked the ad because I wanted to see how they ran the program. There are two ways to get paid. The first is a flat fee, the second is residuals. To apply you click the link and upload a resume along with a writing sample in either .doc or .pdf format.

The site states they are looking for a college degree, or writing/journalism experience. I didn't go to college. And if I had a lot of experience you would not be reading The Freelance Rookie. I didn't apply, but the site is bookmarked for future reference. And if you didn't know it, Demand Studios owns eHow.com

Freelance Writing Jobs | Demand Studios: "Demand Studios

is always looking to add new writers to the team. To apply please complete our online application by uploading your resume and writing sample."

So, feel free to stumble this post and check out those links. It ought to unstick a portion of any block you are working thru. If nothing else it will be entertaining, and in the case of the DS link, you might get a job.

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New Article's and Social Networking Tools

I am beginning to think that I will always be a rookie. It seems that the more I write articles or blog entries, the more I learn. And, there is so much more to learn than just writing techniques. So, I have added a twitter feed to this blog. I think that is pretty cool. And, I also put out a couple of articles on different platforms on how to use photos with your blog or article writing.

Everyone knows that photos are important, but not everyone knows how to use them from a technical standpoint. So, the photo articles on Infobarrel and Xomba will break it down. If you are looking for a code snippet, check out the Infobarrel Article as it has example code.

I've also learned that article promotion takes time. An - Awful - Lot - Of - Time

I submit my articles to various social networking sites. Going to each site and dealing with the logins, and the idiosyncrasies of each site often takes as long as the writing or research that went into the article. As of last night I found an alternative.

Onlywire.com offers simultaneous submission to a huge number of social networking sites. There are two options you can choose from. One is simply to pay for the service. It's inexpensive and likely worth every penny. The other option allows free usage of the onlywire service as long as you include an onlywire button on your site. I have no problem with that because I hope people are going to subscribe and bookmark my articles anyway.

I used it for the first time today and it worked great. I strongly suggest you add this button to leverage your social networking promotions for your blog or articles as well.

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My Basic Writing Formula

Hey there folks. Well I have not been very busy on eHow due to real life taking up all my time. But, I was wondering what process you go thru to bring your ideas from Inspiration to Publication. Do you have a formula that you use?

My formula is simple. I get the idea and then write the article without any thought to keywords or SEO. Then I post it up and run the SEO Workers tool over it. From there I will tweak it and run it through the Google Adwords tool. Then, I publish. I will usually wait a week or two and see what I can do then to improve it. Now, since I am not a huge money maker I am open to y'alls ideas or suggestions.

Oh, and I finally made payout for the first time! Woo Hoo!

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