Voice to Text for Ulysses
Ulysses is where serious writers craft their long-form work. But typing thousands of words for manuscripts, blog drafts, and research notes is exhausting. Blurt lets you hold a button, speak your ideas, and release. Your text appears instantly in any Ulysses sheet, ready for editing. No workflow interruption. No switching apps. Just talk, write, and keep your creative momentum.
The Typing Problem
Your book manuscript is stuck at chapter three
You have an entire book outlined in your head. The story is clear, the arguments are solid, the chapters are mapped out. But translating all of that into typed words is a slog. You sit down to write and manage five hundred words before fatigue sets in. At this pace, your book will take years. The gap between what you can think and what you can type is killing your project.
First drafts take longer than they should
Every writer knows the first draft is supposed to be messy. Get the ideas down, edit later. But typing forces you to slow down, second-guess sentences, and wordsmith prematurely. You catch yourself rewriting paragraphs that should just be rough placeholders. Your inner editor hijacks the drafting process because typing feels too permanent.
Blog posts pile up as ideas instead of published articles
You have a Ulysses folder full of blog post ideas. Titles, outlines, bullet points of things you want to say. But turning those notes into full drafts requires sitting down and typing for an hour or more. You keep adding new ideas to the list while the old ones languish. Your publishing cadence suffers because drafting feels like a chore.
Research notes never capture everything you wanted to say
You just finished reading a book, article, or research paper. Insights are flooding your mind. But by the time you type them into your Ulysses research sheet, you've forgotten half of what you wanted to capture. The act of typing breaks your flow of thought. Your notes end up as fragments rather than the complete thinking you had moments ago.
Writing sessions drain you before the real work is done
You block off two hours for writing. After forty-five minutes of typing, your fingers are tired, your focus is scattered, and you've produced less than you hoped. The physical act of typing consumes energy that should go toward thinking and creating. Your writing sessions end when your hands give out, not when your ideas do.
How It Works
Blurt works everywhere in Ulysses: sheets, notes, comments, and any text field. Anywhere you can type, you can talk.
Click into any Ulysses sheet
Open a manuscript, blog draft, or note. Put your cursor where you want to add text.
Hold your hotkey and speak
Press your chosen key, talk naturally about your ideas. Blurt adds punctuation automatically.
Release and continue writing
Your words appear at the cursor. Keep dictating the next paragraph or switch to editing.
Real Scenarios
Drafting book chapters through voice
You sit down for your morning writing session. Instead of staring at a blinking cursor, you open your manuscript sheet and start talking. 'Sarah walked into the office and immediately noticed something was wrong. The usual hum of conversation was absent. Every desk was empty except for Marcus, who sat frozen at his computer, staring at something on the screen.' Fifteen minutes of talking produces two thousand words of rough draft. You've captured three scenes that would have taken ninety minutes to type. Now you can spend your remaining time editing and polishing.
Getting blog post drafts out of your head
You have twenty minutes before a meeting. A blog post idea has been nagging at you all week. Open a new sheet in Ulysses, hold the button, and just start explaining the idea like you're telling a friend. 'I've been thinking about why most productivity advice fails. The problem isn't the techniques. It's that the advice assumes you have unlimited willpower. But willpower is finite. By mid-afternoon, most people have burned through their daily supply...' In fifteen minutes, you have a rough draft of eight hundred words. The blog post that lived in your head for a week is now on the page, ready for editing whenever you have time.
Capturing research notes without losing the insight
You just finished a chapter from a book that's relevant to your current writing project. The ideas are fresh and you want to capture them before they fade. Instead of typing fragmentary notes, hold the button and talk through your thinking: 'The author's main argument is that habits form not through repetition but through identity change. You don't become a runner by running every day. You become a runner by deciding you're a runner. This connects to what I wrote in chapter four about character motivation...' Full, contextual notes captured in the moment of insight.
Writing through writer's block
You're stuck. The words won't come. Every sentence you type gets deleted. Instead of sitting in silence, start talking. Even if it's just about being stuck: 'I'm not sure what happens next in this scene. I know that the character needs to make a decision, but I haven't figured out what drives that decision. Maybe it's fear. Or maybe it's ambition. Let me try the fear angle...' Speaking loosens the block. Talking feels less committed than typing. You can ramble your way into the breakthrough that was hiding behind the paralysis.
Adding notes and comments to manuscripts
You're reviewing your manuscript draft and realize you need to research something before finishing a scene. Instead of breaking your reading flow to type a detailed note, hold the button and dictate: 'Need to research Victorian-era clothing terminology. The description here is too modern. Check what a gentleman would actually wear to a formal dinner in 1880.' The note is captured with enough context that future-you will know exactly what to look up. You return to reading without losing your place.
Morning pages and freewriting sessions
You practice morning pages or freewriting to warm up your creative mind. But typing three pages of stream-of-consciousness writing takes thirty minutes or more. With voice, you can complete the same exercise in ten. Hold the button and just let thoughts flow: 'Today I'm thinking about the conversation I had yesterday with Michael. He said something that stuck with me about how we never really finish projects, we just abandon them...' Freewriting becomes a quick warmup instead of a time-consuming ritual.
Outlining and brainstorming in sheets
You're starting a new writing project and need to get your initial ideas organized. Create a new sheet and start talking through your vision: 'This book is going to be about the hidden costs of optimization. The thesis is that when we optimize for one thing, we always sacrifice something else, usually something we didn't even know we valued. Chapter one will introduce this through the story of...' In five minutes of talking, you've captured an outline that would have taken twenty minutes to type and organize.
Ulysses has built-in macOS dictation. Here's how Blurt differs.
| Blurt | macOS Dictation | |
|---|---|---|
| Activation | Custom global hotkey, works instantly | Function key twice, slight delay |
| Accuracy | AI-powered transcription, context-aware | Standard Apple dictation |
| Punctuation | Automatic, no verbal commands needed | Say 'period' 'comma' 'new paragraph' |
| Long-form reliability | Designed for extended dictation sessions | Times out after pauses |
| Works offline | No, requires internet | Yes, with Enhanced Dictation |
| Pricing | $10/month or $99/year | Free with macOS |
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