Voice Typing

I'm writing this post in a slightly different way than I normally do. I got the idea after having had to do a longer piece of writing for a course that I am taking. I find that the barrier to writing sometimes is a physical one-- namely, having to tap away at the keyboard. So I'm doing what many of us do already when it comes to sending texts messages-- using voice to text software.

There are many different tools available to capture your voice and convert it into text. At the moment, I am using the voice typing tool in Google Docs. it works remarkably well. You can find it in the Tools menu. You can also use voice to text in read and write for Google parentheses which actually uses the same technology.

There is also speech typing (among many other accessibility tools) in the Read and Write for Google extension (which uses the same technology).

Or use tools built into your smartphone. Tapping the microphone to the left of the spacebar on your phone (in Android, you may have to press and hold another icon to see it) does the trick. You can dictate a block of text into your notes app, and then paste into a word processor processor to clean up any errors.

I hope this is a helpful tip that may get you out of a rut the next time you need to do a longer bit of writing. Enjoy the snow this weekend!