I am wondering if anyone here uses, or has used, voice/speech recognition software.

When typing, I find myself editing a sentence on the screen before I even finish the it. By the time I get a few paragraphs written, it has often taken a great deal of time and I have sometimes lost my train of thought. (I hate it when I misplace a train)
I also have a bit of carpal tunnel, which sometimes limits my typing time and comfort.

My thought here is that by dictating rather than typing, I won't feel the overpowering need to look at the screen. This may allow me to avoid my being in ‘constant edit’ mode and I’ll be able to get more down in print. Then I can go back afterward and clean things up with a good editing frenzy.

If you have used, or are using any software of this sort, I would very much appreciate your insights.

(Do you have any idea how many times I rewrote and edited this post before actually posting it? It took me about 35 minutes. Wow! Sometimes I even boggle me.)

There are a wide range of applications for VR technology, beyond just what you're thinking of. They increase accessibility for people with disabilities. Children with certain types of learning disabilities, for example, can often benefit from VR software.

Anyway, it's an interesting idea, that's for sure. I don't have any specific experience w/packages on the market today, though. One thought for you - what about increasing your typing speed? This might be a low-cost way to try to accomplish something similar. I type fast (80+ wpm) and I find that if I'm on a roll w/a story, I can pretty much keep up. I try to let the blemishes lie and let the word processor clean up the misspellings as I go. The less I backspace the better I can keep up with my train of thought. There are some free online typing programs (try googling "typing tutor") that may be useful.

Another thought for you would be to try to set some time aside for straight brainstorming, where you're typing just the partial thoughts, not trying to have well-formed or completed ideas, sentences, grammatically correct dialog placed in quotes just so, etc. Brainstorm documents can be long lists of fragments, ideas, etc. It can be an easy way to follow a train of thought down a path to see where it's going to lead you, and then go back later and decide what to do with it.

FWIW, I do generally habitually re-read things I write, posts, stories, emails, etc. I also often edit while I go, but then at some point I do have to accept things as they are. I've done some reading about perfectionism recently, and ...well, I'm not saying you're a perfectionist, but if you haven't read anything about it - you might consider looking up a few articles. It was very enlightening to me, particularly because I was reading them to understand my son better. I was surprised to find so much that seemed to relate to *me* in there. Who knew?? LOL

Besides, with dictation, I'd have to get somebody to transcribe what I write. Voice recognition software would eliminate that stage, but I'm still stuck with my main problem.

When it comes to carpal tunnel syndrome, try a new keyboard. I have an iMac, and those keyboards suck. So, I bought a keyboard (same kind of keys as a laptop) that is much easier on my hands, wrists, and elbows. You have to find the system that works for you.

If VR works for you, great. But if it took you 35 minutes to write a short post, how long will it take you to write a short story or a novel?

For me, the difficulty is learning to think out loud; I'm much more used to thinking by typing. It's a mental shift that takes some time to master.

One approach I've had good luck with is using VR for casual stuff like web browsing and posting, and save my hands and typing for "real" work. But no doubt all this does is continue my reliance on typing; probably it would be best if I just used the VR alone for a few weeks and rewired my brain to work out loud instead of via my hands.