Text to Speech reads my book

When no one is home, I will often read my story out loud to myself. It is really one of the best ways to test your writing. However, there are still those times when I will read what I am expecting to read and not catch the little mistakes that are there. Text to Speech, on your computer helps catch it all.

When others are here and the tv is blaring, I use Text to Speech in my Windows XP, to read my story to me. And, I know those of you with VISTA have this feature also as it is about the only thing in VISTA that actually works. JRockGuitarMan, youngest boy, has a writing disability and uses it to dictate his papers. You can go into Control Panel and set the speed at which he reads, and sometimes it is spooky.

I swear I have caught Text to Speech putting emotion in that was not accounted for by the punctuation. It has also, I swear, added a Scottish accent to one of my characters. Now, I did use “ye be going” type of speech but I only alter a few of the words because I do not like it when a lot of foreign speech is inserted in a book, but this little machine voice started speaking this characters work with an accent. Okay, so maybe it was late at night, but I swear it's true.

In any event, hearing your writing read aloud should be part of your final line edit. You need to listen to each sentence and analyze whether you have written the most visual sentence you can or is there a better way to say it; to keep your reader in your world. Remember, each and every sentence counts.

Dream big and start Marketing

I firmly believe it is better to have dreamed and be let down at the end, than never to have had that dream. I'm a "glass is full" kind of person. So, I move ahead with the final edit of my YA novel, with the thought in my mind. My daughter, the teacher, is to do a final, final edit for anything, like five hundred commas too many and then it goes out on it's journey. I will find an agent and a publisher. So, I am getting marketing ideas in order.

I am updating my website, a much needed task but a bit more fun now, but I am still undecided which way to go. And, I have two blogs. Blogger is my “official” writing blog and WordPress is my family fun blog. There really isn’t anything on Word Press that should offend anyone, but you never know. I do have a cause: child abuse, so I did rant and rave when the FLDS in Texas were in the news. The worse that would probably happen is an agent telling me a couple of posts to delete.

Listening to the three boys who live with me, joke and laugh together about things such as being locked in closets for a month and beaten with a horse cinch, tear my heart out. I hope someday to find a way to be an activist for this cause. Lest I get started on that, again, I will move on.

One of my favorite marketing sites is Shrinking Violet Promotions with Robin LaFevers and Mary Hershey. There is a great blog Shrinking Violet Promotions: Marketing Task Recap. It lays out what needs to be done, in cooperation with your publisher, starting 9-12 months out from publication. There is a lot of other information on their site too.

One thing they mention is a fear of public speaking and how it may be helpful to join Toastmasters. Since I have spent years teaching art, including a short stint as an Adjunct at Casper College in Wyoming, I'm not terrified by the prospect of readings or book signings, but it won't hurt to brush up anyway.

For those of us who are not into things like FaceBook and MySpace, it’s a must read. Okay, so I dated myself there, but I just started Blogging this year, so give me time to catch up, while I dream.