Dennis Cass Wants You To Be More Awesome

I am pleased to announce that I’m currently hard at work with a designer on improving the look and functionality of Dennis Cass Wants You To Be More Awesome.

I realize that the proper thing to do is to continue blogging through a redesign, but for this particular one-man media empire it hasn’t worked out that way. (More on that later.)

We should be back at it soon. Thanks again for your patience and support.

About two weeks ago I bought a copy of MacSpeech Dictate. The idea was to find a tool that would help me be productive while also saving wear and tear on my delicate, sugary forearms.

So far so good. I’ve been able to keep up with my deadlines. I’m back on Facebook. Pretty soon I’ll be able to be up on this blog with more frequency.

I’ve also gotten a lot of interest from writers about how the software works, its accuracy, and in general what it is like to write with your mouth.

And so here is my take on using voice recognition software. With the exception of a few minor tweaks, I am letting the work stand.

How does it work?

It’s pretty simple. You install some software. You “train” the program so it recognizes your distinct speaking style (this takes about 10 minutes) and then you’re ready to go.

Included in the price is a headset with a specially designed microphone. So you pop that baby on and commence filling the air with your words.

You can speak about as fast as you normally speak, although you have to tell the program when you’re using punctuation, which can slow you down a little bit. But after a while you get pretty good at putting in the commas and periods and then you don’t notice that you’re even doing it.

If you make a mistake, then all you have to do is say “scratch that.” If you’ve just called for a piece of punctuation then the program will remove only that. Otherwise it will pick a word or phrase and delete that. More on how this affects your writing later.

Is it accurate?

Yes. For the most part it gets what you say right. It can handle homophones (full disclosure: it did take me a few takes so that word didn’t come out “humble phones”) although when it gets something wrong it can be frustrating and your best bet is to put in a placeholder word and move on.

For example, I would have preferred to write “sweet, delicate forearms” in my opening line, but I had to go with “sugary” because the program got the context wrong. It kept writing the word “suite” as an address. Still, the fact that the software takes context into account is a big plus.

If anything most of the problems have been my fault. One of the humbling aspects of using voice recognition software is that it lays naked your bad diction.

For example, I didn’t realize that I pronounce the word “already” like the man’s name Artie. As in “I Artie did that blog post.”

(I was also called out by a friend when I promised in an e-mail to “deftly” get in touch with her after the holidays.)

But this is easy enough to fix by over enunciating some words. When I need to say the word “disgust” I put more of a Z. sound into that first syllable, so it doesn’t come out “discussed.”

Does it feel weird?

At first I felt like a parody of the slick, self-involved artist who talks his thoughts into a micro recorder. But once I started enjoying using this new tool I got over any feelings of self-consciousness.

What’s nice about the software is that once you get into a groove you find that you can produce a lot of words in one sitting.

You can also talk your way through an idea and it captures your entire thought process. You are not always as aware of what you are writing as you are when you do it by hand, but I like that quality, especially when I’m in the discovery phase.

But that lack of awareness also brings us to the most important question:

That’s nice, but is it writing?

I’m going to say that it’s not writing, but that doesn’t mean the voice recognition is not an extremely useful tool for writers.

The reason I say it’s not writing is that the nature of the software rewards you for plowing forward. There are all kinds of commands for editing text but so far for me they’ve proved to be too cumbersome. Even saying “scratch that” a million times to undo the work can become a pain. Often it’s just much easier to spew and then fix it later.

I’m also going to say it’s not writing because it’s so easy. You just don’t agonize over the words, the structure, the internal rhythms, etc. of your work the way you do when you’re writing by hand or typing. It all just kind of comes out and that’s okay.

I’ve also noticed that after four hours of dictating I’m not at all tired. It reminds me a little bit of when I first started writing and everything that came out of my pen seemed like pure gold to me. And the reason was that while I was generating copy I wasn’t purposefully working the material.

Same goes for this software. I’ve had a 5000-word morning using MacSpeech Dictate, but when I went back and looked at those 5000 words I ended up cutting a lot more than I would have cut from 5000 typed words.

But given how I work that’s not a problem. I’ve always liked getting it all out in front of me and then working with it later. So this tool suits me well. But I definitely wouldn’t recommend it to the writer who agonizes their work one line at a time. I think you’d get too caught up in the mechanics of the program and you’d lose any benefits from being able to say it to the page.

One thing I do know is this: I’m working and my arms don’t hurt. So I will continue to use the software and perhaps even dig deeper into its many features.

Take care and have a great holiday break. I’ll be back up on the blog in the new year.

Thanks to everyone who has been inquiring after my health during my leave of absence. You have my gratitude. Also know that even though my site has gone (temporarily) dark I’ve thought about you (and your growing awesomeness) every day.

The good news is that I’m actually typing this and it doesn’t hurt like the Devil. The bad news is that these 144 words are the only writing I’ve done all day. So we’ll see what happens when the holidays are over and the money work returns and I have to manage both.

Help might come in the form of my new voice recognition software, which has been amazing. The next thing I do (hopefully sooner than later) will be to dictate what it’s like to “write” using only your brain and your mouth. I think you might be surprised.

In the meantime, be good.

Cheers!

The Awesome Blog can’t catch a break.

I have to go dark again for awhile until I heal up. I’ve been calling it tendonitis although the physical therapist I met with yesterday said it was really more a case of “forearm overuse” and “tired arm.”

I think this is payback for all the times I made fun of people with Restless Leg Syndrome.

Bottom line is I can’t type. Like, at all.

I just bought some voice-to-text software that I will be training in the next few days. It’s going to be an adjustment but hopefully I’ll be back “writing” sooner than later.

Take care of your hands, people!

It is a strange experience . . . to be locked out of one’s own blog.

I will not bore you with the details, but let’s just say that when you pay $9.97 per year for Domain Name Mapping, then you can expect about $9.97 worth of customer service when it goes wrong.

In any case: back. The first lesson from Awesome Writing Prompt #15 will begin shortly.

I don’t miss the culture . . . but I do miss you

For the past three weeks I haven’t read a blog, listened to the news or picked up The New Yorker. The Sunday Times has been used entirely to light coals. My ass has been completely unplugged and I have to confess that for all my love of music, books, TV and film I haven’t missed our culture one bit.

But I have missed you. There were moments (like while eating a fudge-covered Belgian waffle on a stick at the Minnesota State Fair) when I thought about spiking this blog. But then I thought of you, dearest, gentlest, sassiest Reader and I knew I had to come back.

Giving up feelings great . . . but it never lasts for long

I was also severely burned out when I went into the break. I was burned out on writing and reading, but I was especially burned out on keeping up.

This happens to me once in a while, when the Dream in all its dreaminess feels like a crushing, cement pillow instead of a fluffy, lifting pillow. The only solution is to quit, which I did. And I meant it. Until I didn’t.

Now I’m back working on the novel, teaching, this blog, etc. and it feels good.

(Sidebar: I’ve never been a fan of the writer who says he HAS TO WRITE. Because if you were abducted by an alien race who took you back to their planet and forced you to mine peanut butter, then guess what? You’d f*ckin’ mine peanut butter.)

I’m bored with the state of the industry . . . but I’m still 100% committed helping you

A writer friend recently sent me this amazing and spine-tingling article by the amazing and spine-tingling Daniel Menaker. It’s perhaps the best article I’ve ever read about why publishing is broken, but it’s also the thousandth, and frankly I’m sick of hearing about it.

I also realized during my paragraph partying that I really enjoy working on the page. It’s perhaps the one aspect of what we do that’s immune to all the other nonsense that passes for our industry.

I’ll continue to give career advice, but if you notice a shift toward craft please don’t be alarmed.

That said, I have a backlog of questions to answer. Best get to it.

1. Thanks to a new reader for alerting me to a flaw in DCWYTBMA’s comments section (too many requirements?). I have made some adjustments and it should be easier to post.

2. I am working on revamping my categories so it’s easier to find posts that are related to each other.

You might not realize it from stopping by now and again, but there is a whole greater-than-the-sum-of-its-parts thing happening here. (I just don’t have the site designed in a way that allows you to make the most of the awesome.)

3. I am about to finish Junot Diaz’s THE BRIEF WONDROUS LIFE OF OSCAR WAO. It offers, in my opinion, a master class on awesomeness.

Which got me wondering if y’all would be up for a DCWYTBMA book club. We would all read the same book and then I would lead an online discussion that focuses on how said work can teach us to be better writers/creators/thinkers/etc.

I don’t know if we quite have the critical mass needed to pull this off. Maybe we could do a trial run using a movie in order to keep the time commitment down.

4. I thought this piece in the Telegraph (U.K.) on the changing relationship between writer and reader was worth linking to. So I linked to it!

At the beginning of the year, I set the ambitious goal of helping 100 new people through this blog. Unfortunately, according to my site stats, my contact page has been languishing. (Bio and About do great, but Contact . . . not so much.)

And so, with the sound of Robin Hoodian trumpets, I present the text of the newly christened I Help U! tab:

I started this blog to help people. It’s that simple. I, Dennis Cass, want to help U, dear Reader, become a better writer, artist, rodeo clown, whatever.

Said help takes many forms. The most common is the reader question. Drop me an e-mail at dennis<dot>cass<at>gmail<dot>com and I will answer your question with an eye toward increased awesomeness.

In some cases, I get more involved.

We might talk through an idea you’re struggling with, or I might give you feedback on a proposal you’re writing.

I might offer some insight into how to decide between agents, or deliver a rousing pep talk on the benefits of a healthy diet and daily exercise.

There are no rules for this project other than the ones we invent as we go along, but it lives and dies with you.

Please take that first step. I joke around a lot, but in this case I’m not kidding.

Better?

I hope you all enjoyed your holiday break. Santa (who does so exist) was very nice to my family. Even nicer was the opportunity to be away from the internet for a few days. I do love you so, internet, but sometimes it’s nice to take a break and see other technologies.

Now I’m back. Here’s what will be on my mind in the early part of 2009.

1. Teaching

I’m back at Carleton College teaching creative nonfiction this winter. Here is the course description:

Do you like it when true things happen? Would you like to take those true things and make them sound truer than true? Would you like to use words while doing that? In this course, students will write a rant, a reported essay, and also explore a creative non-fiction form of their choosing. Class time will be spent on live writing assignments, giving and receiving feedback, learning basic research techniques, and having discussions about things that seem trivial right up until the moment that their ultimate significance is revealed.

The course will be similar to the freshman seminar I taught in 2006, but with some nice upgrades. I’ll keep you posted on anything I learn.

2. Speaking

I’m giving a talk called “The Always-on Artist: Technology, Creativity and Making Meaning in the 21st Century” at the Minneapolis Central Library on Tuesday, January 20th. Here is the description:

If Shakespeare were alive today, would he be on YouTube? If so, would it diminish him as an artist, or prove his relevance? Author and journalist Dennis Cass will talk about the tension between the opportunities technology creates and the dangers of getting caught up in the “Next Big Thing,” and also offer tips for aspiring writers and artists on how to make a name for themselves in our crazy, mixed-up world. living arts The “Living Arts Series” is a program of The People’s University. Books available for purchase and signing. Seating is first come, first served. Doors open at 6:15 p.m.

I will be testing out material for the talk on this blog. You would do me a great honor by hitting me hard with any criticism you may have. I’m setting my expectations higher than usual this time and will appreciate any tough love you can love me with.

3. Blogging

Even though I was only gone for a week, the distance gave me a chance to give some serious thought to this blog. Here are some goals for 2009:

• Teach myself iMovie and Photoshop
• Sharpen and clarify the blog’s mission and/or better define the “awesome” in Dennis Cass Wants You To Be More Awesome
• Get the posts on a regular schedule
• Help 100 new people
• Twitter?

Final thought:

I will always remember 2008 as the year I learned to stop worrying and love the internet. It hasn’t been easy, and I would have quit months ago were it not for good readers like you. Thank you for your attention, for your insightful comments, for your skepticism and for your honesty. For those of you who I have helped directly, I’m especially grateful that you would put your trust in a stranger to help you with your life’s passion. That takes a lot of guts. I hope you feel your courage was rewarded.

That’s all for now, my friends. Here is to 2009 being that breakthrough year.

Two weeks ago I wrote a post about the inherent laziness of year-end round-ups. Did I write that post from a position of highness? Or mightiness?

No.

I wrote that post fully anticipating that I would be writing this post, in which I invite you to comment on the highs and lows of DCWYTBMA in 2008. I have my own thoughts, but as this endeavor is mostly about you, I’m opening it up to you. (Why am I suddenly italicizing, like, everything? I do not know.)

For those of you who can’t be bothered, I present the Christmas Tree Cluster: