A Little “Break” in Routine
How I discovered what an avulsion fracture is and also that I’m a complete, uncoordinated klutz on crutches.
How I discovered what an avulsion fracture is and also that I’m a complete, uncoordinated klutz on crutches.
If you have been here before, things will look quite a bit different from even a few weeks ago. New template, new colors, and a semi-familiar logo. Why? Lots of reasons! I took the plunge and moved over to a self-hosted site. I’ve needed to for ages, but the thought was overwhelming and confusing. And I was sure I’d screw it up and somehow my site would end up in the ether leading to nowhere. I’d planned on hiring someone to help do everything for me, but with the medical bills coming our way in the next few months, I need to save every dime. Also, I’m a control freak.…
This is one of my favorite tools to use as a writer and editor, but I also use this as a reader. Voice Dream Reader is an app you can download on your phone or tablet that will read text to you. I bought it for my iPhone in the App store, and I’m so glad I did. The app came with Heather and a few other voices. Heather is lovely to listen to, but since most of the characters I read are male, I really wanted a man’s voice. I bought Will, created by Acapela, and have used him the most. More recently I downloaded two new voices created by NeoSpeech:…
A few weeks ago, my friend J.P. Barnaby shared this cartoon with me on Facebook and tagged me in it. Yes, I’m that blonde lady wanting her manuscript back for just one more read through. It’s sort of an illness, I think. 😉 Perhaps not an illness, but it sure does slow down my submission speed, and all because I think that one more tweak of a word or phrase will solve everything. Sometimes that’s true. I’ve improved some stories on that last read through or I’ve found a tiny plot hole I didn’t see before. The number of times that has happened compared to not is quite small though.…
I’m a fast writer. My brain goes so quickly that pen and paper doesn’t work well at all, so I’m eternally grateful for the computer. This natural tendency is a blessing while writing a new novel, especially for something like NaNoWriMo. While I have my story fairly well planned out ahead of time, I can’t get too detailed or I find I can’t write as well. The curse is that I end up with a lot of mistakes and occasionally forget to put in some details that I intended but ended up chasing another scene and am remiss about leaving myself a note. That eventually all needs to be cleaned…
I know a lot of writers who dread the editing process. Just the mere visual of their lovely manuscript being marred by red or purple or yellow is enough to turn their stomachs. Granted, I’ve not always had great experiences editing. I’ve cried, gotten so angry that I’ve wanted to throw things (my computer in particular), or simply just closed my document and walked away because those marks somehow suddenly reflected back on who I was. But I persisted. Perhaps it’s cliché, but my stories are my babies. They come from a place inside me that I can’t quite explain. I carry them around for a long time before I…