From the book 61+ Ways to Write Faster:
This will help you form the habit of pressing forward against all odds, surging ahead like a swimmer going through a series of breakers, always on the verge of being swallowed up, but finally coming through. Furthermore, it forces your mind to perform more and more efficiently in hearing unexpected words and word arrangements and instantaneously organizing your fingers' writing responses to those unexpected word arrangements. It's this sense of urgency, combined with practice at the proper speed, and reading back your notes, that will help you increase your speed.The authors of this speedbuilding tip also believe that if you practice the same take over and over that you lose the sense of urgency that's so important in speedbuilding. You may think to yourself, "Oh, I'll get that word the next time." Yes, I've thought that and perhaps you have too.
You may also have a tendency to create an "on-the-fly" brief for an uncommon word or phrase that recurs each time you listen to the take. A brief that isn't well thought out, and one that you'll probably never use again. Yes, I've done this too.
Argghh ~ all my dirty little sins are being exposed in this book! On the other hand, they give good advice on speedbuilding.
That sounds like a good technique! It reminds me of something I read about studying court reporting, and I can't remember the exact words, but it was along the lines of 'practice as you plan to perform in the real world' or something. It's true, though, we never hear the same thing twice out in the working world.
ReplyDeleteI was doing this myself and it wasn't working for me. As soon as I started doing multiple takes I started improving. The reason for this not working is that I would pick a dictation, muddle my way through it, not look at where I was going wrong and then move on to the next one. Now I do a dictation, look at where I went wrong, think about why I went wrong and come up with a solution (drill that word, delete that entry etc). And then I don't mark that dictation as done till I've got it almost perfect (I'll let myself make one or two typos but no drops).
ReplyDeleteMaybe a combination of doing multiple takes and doing single takes is the answer? I notice in some textbooks they have audio dictations like that. e.g. some you only get once chance to get right, others they might give you two to three chances.
Melissa,
ReplyDeleteYou're very dedicated! When I tried doing multiple takes, I found myself just starting the audio over without reading my notes or analyzing my writing because I knew I screwed up badly. I think I was probably listening to takes that were too fast for me. I'm glad to hear that it works for you!