I have found a device which helps me with verbal note taking. It's called Pocket, and I can speak into it and it will summarize my self-discussion! It was designed to help summarize meetings conducted on your phone, etc. And I used it once for that and it worked great. But the dictation/note taking helps me organize my thoughts and creates action items. It also records verbatim what you say, so could be used for dictation writing, although I don't think commands like "new line," work. I've tried that method and just can't get used to saying the punctuation stuff. Long ago I actually wrote my first novel using an old pocket recorder, then transcribing it with a machine--the one with foot pedals and earphones! Because I actually spoke the chapters as if I were the characters -- took me awhile but it fits me because one of my learning styles is audio - I seem to remember things from audio books more readily than just reading 'em! So I haven't tried the Pocket strictly for dictating work yet -- we'll see. It's not cheap, tho - $129 and magnetically attaches to your phone and works through the app. They have a subscription option that gives you some flexibility and supposedly the audio-to-text is better, but it's $16.5o a month (if you buy a whole year at a time -- $199 -- so I go with the free option. It saves everything into a file (including a mind map!) which you can export as a zip file to external storage to circumvent the 30 day limit on saving files. So it's helped me write in that it's great for idea capture and organizing your thoughts!

@Troy Lambert Yes, I think that's right, i.e AI imitating humans is more dangerous. Think of all the "Nigerian email scams" on steroids! (And much worse of course). Oh, I forgot about "I, Robot" with the "benevolent" V.I.K.I. programming interface who was going to unleash her robot army because humans do so many things contradictory to their best interests. What ever happened to benevolent robots? Anyone remember the old Outer Limits episode, "I Robot" where Adam (the robot) is accused of murdering his creator? Maybe the initial introduction to non-science fiction geeks of the Three Laws of Robotics!

@Michelle Finch Yes, for sure! This was a great, non-stop action ride of a movie!

@John Elcik I noticed you are planning a “strategic session” with your pen names? Do you have a pen name for each genre? Do you find it makes your marketing work more complicated? How do you manage multiple names?? I am working on a fantasy and a middle grade sci-fi that I’m not sure would do well with the pen name I have which is associated with romance (historical) and will be also for my cozy mystery in progress (a planned series!) Thanks in advance for your wisdom!

@John Elcik Hi John - thanks so much for your thoughtful reply. I especially like the "there isn't one correct answer" to all this! I guess that's the case with much to do with writing. I continually try to force certain behaviors on myself (mostly with respect to my writing process -- still don't know if how I operate is just "bad habit" that can be changed somewhat, it's just the way I roll. I guess one can always look for more efficient ways of doing things...it's just that sometimes it's so darn hard to change!!

I finished two chapters of my cozy mystery 1st draft- yeah!!