I've always been the kind of person who's more than willing to try something challenging, provided that challenge doesn't constitute a threat beyond a possible hang nail. That's why I recently purchased Dragon Naturally Speaking8® from ScanSoft®. I learned about the program from good friend and fellow author, Kathie Denosky, who recently had carpal tunnel surgery. During her recovery time, Kathie was on deadline and needed to keep working, which led to her initial purchase. Even after hearing Kathie extol the virtues of the software, and reading some stellar reviews, I still wasn't quite certain I wanted to make the investment. But when she informed me that she'd actually increased her productivity by several pages a day, I thought, Why not? After all, I had two online gift certificates to cover the cost and nothing to lose. And there was that recent matter of getting my hand trapped between the ledge of my desk and the arm of my chair, resulting in the sound of a crack and my fear of a possible fracture, which fortunately did not occur. At least not yet.

If you like the thought of closing your eyes and immersing yourself in a scene, you might find it to be a great tool.

My Dragon® arrived several days ago (I fondly call him Pete--which is not that creative but I'm saving that for my stories) and I waited until late evening to load him on the computer. I chose the midnight hour for a couple of reasons, the first being that I tend to work better at that time of night. Secondly, I had to talk to myself, or I guess I should say talk to my computer. Of course, this is nothing new to my family; I mutter to myself frequently. Nothing new to my computer either, since I verbally bash it on occasion when it misbehaves. After I was assured my husband was tucked away in bed and my son was still out being a teenager on summer break, I loaded the software onto the computer and began the process.

The download was simple and relatively quick. However, I was instructed to go online and obtain a service patch (I've decided everything involves a patch these days-from smoking cessation to birth control and probably hang nails), which didn't take long, either. I was then ready to roll with the tutorial-a series of about fourteen interactive exercises taught by a man and a woman with no discernable accent. I have to admit, I don't normally like tutorials, but this one was actually fun, and fairly amazing. After I learned how to work with punctuation (you can turn on Auto Punctuation mode to have it include commas and periods-although you have to handle quotes, etc. yourself), how to select and correct various words (with both voice commands or menus), and how to speak precisely into the microphone, I was ready for the next step: training Pete.

Since Pete is housebroken and doesn't talk back, this was much less challenging than dealing with a pet or a child (or spouse, for that matter). First, Pete scanned my current files to get a handle on my style. I initially panicked when I thought he meant to scan ALL of my files; I figured I was in for a few hours of wait time. As it turned out, Pete only scanned four current documents, including my current work in progress, and it took five minutes, tops. Now that I was armed with sufficient knowledge of the software's workings, and Pete had been introduced to my voice, it was time to tackle the book.

I immediately learned a few things after I began to dictate-it is important to speak very clearly; it is important not to be sleep deprived; it is very important not to drink a glass of wine while sleep-deprived before you begin. Pete does not take kindly to muddledmouthed, hazy-brained writers. Despite all this, I remarkably managed a scene. My friend did advise me that it would take some time for Pete to get used to my vocabulary. I found this to be true. I believe that Pete was born in the UK, knows perfect King's English, and has never heard a Texas drawl. However, he actually began to learn my inflection as the night went on. We did encounter a few stumbling blocks during the process. For instance, in one scene, my heroine was having a phone conversation with her sister, Hannah. During that exchange, she sensed Hannah was worried, her internal thought. When I dictated this, Pete typed: Hannah of Horry. I have since learned that 'Horry' is a county in Ireland (a problem since my story takes place in Louisiana) and not a personal dig at my heroine's sister. After all, Pete is not acquainted with Hannah, so why would he insult her? Admittedly, I found this so humorous that I could not stop laughing and therefore had to correct the error manually rather than by microphone. Although this was amusing, it did not quite compare with my friend's initial problems with the word 'predict.' Because of the questionable interpretation of that word, I am not at liberty to print it, but I'm sure you can fill in the blanks.

My main goal is to eventually purchase a digital recorder (Panasonic®, Olympus® and Sony® all make compatible models) that I can take with me on out-of-town trips, or keep by the side of my bed so I can deal with nagging scenes and noisy characters in the middle of the night without having to roll out of bed and trudge back to the computer. This portable device will also allow me to dictate anywhere, then transpose that dictation onto my computer directly. I do see a couple of problems in dictating during a drive, particularly if I'm the driver: I'm not exactly tolerant. On occasion, I have been known to spew a few choice words directed at the person hogging the left-hand lane while poking along ten miles below the speed limit. But I'm willing to make a few concessions for the sake of convenience.

You may still be asking: Is voice-activated software right for me? As with anything, that's a personal choice. If you like the thought of closing your eyes and immersing yourself in a scene, you might find it to be a great tool. If you have problems killing an internal editor, this could definitely be for you. Since we all have to edit our work eventually, making corrections following the dictation is a part of the normal process. All in all, so far I've found the experience with Pete to be a good deal of fun, albeit a little slow in the beginning. Will I utilize Pete all the time? Probably not. But I can guarantee that there will be times when I'll want to go solely into creative mode, close my eyes, and simply speak from the heart and soul-as long as I have plenty of sleep and nothing stronger to drink than a glass of grape juice. I do hope to have Pete satisfactorily trained soon, and I'm sure that in no time, I will have him speaking Texan. Who knows? He might even retrain me.

And in case you're wondering, yes, Pete did type this article. I only encountered a few minor problems, including his insistence on typing 'grape cheese' instead of 'grape juice.' That said, please send all concerns over content to Pete in care of Old Author.

Kristi Gold resides in Central Texas, is a member of HBARWA and considers Houston her home away from home. Her favorite tricks include trying to stay grounded when her head is in the clouds, and rolling over and playing dead when someone requests she do laundry. Her eighteenth Silhouette Desire®, MISTAKEN FOR A MISTRESS, will hit the shelves in August, 2005.

Copyright © 2005 Kristi Gold. All rights reserved. Used with permission.