I use exactly the same method and it works well for me. The other morning I wrote 2,000 words in about an hour which is amazing for me.

Instead of using an audio though, I read into Dragon Naturally Speaking which write it all out as you speak. I have used it for some years now. The first time I used it I nearly smashed up my PC, it was soooo frustrating and I couldn’t get it to recognise my voice reliably at all! But now, it is very much easier to calibrate but it does use a lot of processing so I had to get extra RAM. I have also had a few compatibility problems with it too.

Thanks Ed for all your help and advice. We are so looking forward to doing the course with you next week. Already learned so much.

have a great week!

Jude x

@Karin – Yes I’m sure there are many people who will still prefer to hit the keys instead. I just found that for me when I try and type from a blank page it takes me something like two-hundred to five hundred times longer than if I simply record the subject matter. “Each to their own”.

@Tony – Great questions. I think the answer depends on how big a book and how detailed you want to go. The more detailed your book’s going to be then an easy way is to add more sub-headings or “levels” to the mind-map – so you have more detail to talk about.

As for your second point… in a nutshell… Yes! Read my second post to this series (which I’m posting shortly) and all will be revealed!

@Andy – Sounds interesting. Again like Karin said, some will prefer an alternative method to get a book done fast. Personally I found through trial and error (a lot of trial and even moer error!) that the process I’m describing here works very well for me. (Amd now I’m planning a third book to be out before Christmas – will be announcing that shortly.)

Thank you for all your comments.

The speaker rabbled it out really quick from the stage certainly not with the intention of letting anyone note it down! (luckily I mind map and write very quickly!) with the intention of selling his “get rich quick” course on the back of it!!!

I’ll scan it over the weekend and email it you. Please feel free to give it to anyone you wish, may just give a different angle that suits some folk.

Great plan and thanks for producing it, but have you left out two big steps?

1. Surely you’ve got to plan and have some kind of pre-determined story in your head for each heading before the recording starts rolling

2. The transcription will need a lot of basic editing to get rid of all the rubish, and possibly proof-reading after that.

Others have suggested this method to me too, because I do write loads about various subjects. I tend to ‘see’ my story when I’m actually hammering away on a keyboard – and although I’ve tried many times to record my ‘story’ I get ‘writers-block’ during talking and almost never during the typing process

Each its own no doubt. Very coincidently I’m reading the latest publication from The Publishing Academy about the same subject: how to become a published author on non-fiction subjects (in more than your 7 days though )

No doubt this recording method will work for many others, I think I better regards myself as an ‘old-fashion’ style writer and keep hammering the keyboard.

Karin H. (Keep It Simple Sweetheart, specially in business

Keep up the good work!

Steve