No Thanks, Dragon

My morning routine is like a song on repeat. A pretty mediocre song. Same thing every day. And because this pre-6am hour certainly isn't my favorite time of day, I find going through the same mindless motions and cross referencing the clock to make sure I'm on track keeps me in line and on time.

{it's 6:30am.... I should be half finished drying my hair by now... it's 7am... Matt Lauer is doing the Today Show intro... I better be dressed and my teeth brushed}

Yeah, it's a little much. I'm not like that with everything in my life. Just the getting ready for work part. It does make this dark and depressing time when I'm forced to leave the warm cloud of my bed a little more manageable.

Anyway

Because of this total type A personality strict routine, I see many of the same commercials every day. One I've seen nearly every morning, and I'm sure this directly relates to Christmas coming up, is that one for the Dragon speech recognition software. Some elementary age kid is sitting there with his headset, all pumped up with enthusiasm as he tells the tale of some pirate, and it shows the verbal corrections you can make to edit your words, which are then typed right on your PC as you speak...

I think it's cheating

Anyone can tell a story, but not everyone can write one. It's a whole different game to get your point across, a story told, humor properly conveyed- while using only words, and no body language or changes in tone to help you. It takes away the need to review and analyze what you wrote. I'm no English major (Oh, you look shocked!), but some kid who needs to write a paper will sit there with the mic on and just ramble on with some kind of story. I doubt they'll go back and review it to make sure the word placement is correct, or to see if they could have used a more powerful adjective in a certain sentence.

Part of the reason I enjoying blogging (obviously not for my huge following of subscribers) is the fact it helps you write better. Of course, my need to express all my thoughts, opinions, rants, and raves is the #1 reason, but I wouldn't mind getting better at the writing thing too. There's nothing that irritates me more than a never ending chain of simple sentences- all written by an adult! No wonder I always enjoyed getting out the red pen and proofreading my co worker's memos or presentations. It's so frustrating trying to find the perfect word or closing sentence, but when you do- it's thrilling! Well... perhaps thrilling is exaggerating a little, but it feels in a way like you've solved the puzzle. (Only, it's not Wheel of Fortune, and there's no prize, no cheesy hosts who look like they've only aged 5yrs in the past 20...okay, okay I'll stop)

I'm sure there will be plenty of Dragon software sales this Christmas, but if it were up to me... I'd rather write the story myself, no matter how many drafts it takes :)