Dictation tool rundown

A writer writes: Do you play with any dictation tools? 

Many people like to think out loud. I do in the car when I’m alone. I spend a lot of time in my head and sometimes it feels like being coherent requires a bit of practice before I’m ready for prime time. So I talk out some of my ideas as a way of warming up the connection between my brain and my mouth.

This works when you’re faced with a blank page! Perhaps you’re the type of person who needs to ramble a bit to get into a flow, or maybe you’re the type who does a great job of explaining verbally. If so, here are a couple of tools to turn the ideas in your head into text.

Dictate within your document

• Google Docs has a voice record option: Tools > Voice Typing Command + Shift +S

• So does Microsoft Word: Dictate

• These are more like old-school dictation programs, where you have to verbally insert punctuation (“insert punctuation comma”), and you definitely have to go back and manually edit.

Auto transcripts and summaries from recordings

• Fathom records, transcribes, highlights, and summarizes your meetings so you can focus on the conversation. It connects to Zoom and other programs. https://fathom.video/

• It does a great job of transcribing multiple voices and generating summaries and copy from video recordings. 

• Castmagic transcribes, highlights, and summarizes audio recordings, like podcasts. https://appsumo.com/products/castmagic/

• It does a great job of transcribing multiple voices and generating summaries and copy from audio recordings.

A voice recording app that automatically converts messy thoughts into clear text

• https://audiopen.ai/ 

• I think this one will work for most people. It’s an app, so you can use it on your phone or on your computer. It is easy to use! I tried it this morning to get this post started.

All of these allow you to try them for free. So why not experiment and see what facilitates your flow? Don’t let the blank page stop you from getting your stuff written!

Speaking of tools, I recommend Jane Friedman’s free biweekly newsletter, Electric Speed, that shares resources for creative people. This is where I learned about AudioPen! Sign up here.