If you get a break in your writing go back and read some of the stuff you wrote. Pay particular attention to those moments in writing when you were typing away at a feverish pace and you really had no idea what you were saying. Trust me, while it may momentarily cause you to question your abilities as a writer, it is sure to make you smile at some point.

For example, yesterday my main character woke up, made some coffee, drank some coffee, then went out for coffee. I’m pretty sure right now she is drinking more coffee. Guess what is sitting on my desk while I write? You guessed it! Coffee!

Or I have plenty of these little gems:

“The elevator slowed to a stop at the penthouse floor and the doors opened automatically.”

Only in fiction will you find elevator doors that open automatically! If only we could harness that technology in the real world! Sometimes I just amaze myself with my forward thinking! This one is going to be right up there with the food replicator on Star Trek.

Do you have any gems of your own to share?

Have a productive writing day!

So our little group of Wrimos started at midnight and wrote together until 2:00 a.m.  We were able to secure free space at the Wingate Hotel which was a lifesaver. While the pancakes and coffee were much appreciated last year at iHop, this was much more conducive to the writing process.

So my word count stands at 2,885 at 5:00 p.m. on the 1st. Not too shabby. What is more perfect is my first chapter has been written and revised. I know, not the way it is supposed to work but I felt the need to get to know my characters better. Now that I have a good idea of what they look like and how they might behave, I think I can now push forward with enthusiasm.

I  want to offer my thanks to Stephen King for his words of wisdom contained in his book “On Writing.” Particularly the section on the benefits of not plotting  which I read for the second time during the eleventh hour last night. Thank you Mr. King. I am looking forward to having my characters surprise me once again.

Happy writing!

I would really like to try MacSpeech Dictate for writing my next novel but I worry that my mind, which has been collaborating with my fingers all these years, will reject the idea of working with a new partner, my voice. You see it isn’t a question of whether or not the software will work. I have complete faith that the product will do what it says it will. I even accept the limitations and issues that come with voice recognition software:

1. You need to speak clearly
2. You need to speak in chunks
3. You need to speak punctuation
4. It requires the use of a headset so unless you buy a compatible wireless $$$ headset, you are tied to the computer
5. It won’t curse unless you teach it to
6. It does not make spelling errors (Which means if it replaces your word with what it thinks you said, you may not catch it in editing.)

My concern is that I won’t be able to adapt to this new style of writing.

As Apple provides no speech-to-text capabilities built into Mac OS X, as opposed to Windows which I understand has a basic program built in, there is really no way to test the function myself. I also cannot find any shareware on the market. To the best of my knowledge, MacSpeech does not offer a trial version. This may have to do with the limited number of headsets that will work with the software. At any rate, I emailed MacSpeech several days ago about a try before you buy version and I never heard back. This lack of response may give credence to the few negative reviews I have read about MacSpeech lack of support.

As for price, MacSpeech retails for $199 including headest and $299 with a wireless USB headset plus $8 for shipping.  I did find that the Apple store offers an educational discount and free shipping which brings the wired version down to $189 inlcuding tax.  This is a still a pretty steep price for something that I’m just not sure will work for me. All I need is another bluetooth device collecting dust and an unused application taking up memory.

So the jury is out and with NaNoWriMo fast approaching it appears I will most likely be typing away come November 1st. My mind will be happy avoiding retraining in the eleventh hour.  I just hope my fingers will forgive me for contemplating a job replacement action.

I recently downloaded Storyist for Mac and although I have only had limited time to test it out, I am thoroughly impressed with the features. It offers so much more than what I was previously working with. So far my favorite feature is the customizable character, setting and plot sheets. I also like the nifty cork board, index cards, and polaroid shots of my characters. I can’t wait to use the word count and timer features for NaNoWriMo. Look for a more in depth review in the weeks to come!

Note the blank manuscript page on the screen! Formatted and ready for November!

A room with a view.

My grandfather's typewriter will provide inspiration.

I do need to go chair shopping, but this one will keep me awake!

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