#WritersTip Mac Dictation #amwriting #paranormal @liviaquinn

As a writer and a business owner I have to find ways to cut corners. I can't tell you the number of times I've tried Dragon for Mac but for some reason it just isn't accurate and actually acts funny. The cursor will just zip off on its own little journey and I'm left there screaming, "Stop. Quit." to no avail. 

But the new Mac OS has dictation built in. I tried it on my last book after I'd handwritten, oh, 10,000 words or so, and found phrases like "universal healthcare" in my paranormal romance. The problem with inaccuracies is that then you have to remember what you wrote a month ago or longer and you have to wonder what you could have written that sounded like "universal healthcare". I swore I wouldn't waste my time again.                                        

But, since I've got about 31,000 handwritten words on Take these Broken Wings, the next book in the  series, and I really, really didn't want to transpose by hand, I gave Mac Dictation another chance. I started thinking, maybe it had to do with the microphone I was using so I googled dictation and found several expensive headsets and a desk microphone that were supposed to up te accuracy. In the end, I decided to compare the two I had. Turns out this was the winner, and it was a fraction of the cost of the others. It made such a difference in the accuracy and speed of Mac's dictation that reading in all those words took only a  few hours a day for three days. 

Nuance Headset   price $34.99
Prices of the others started at $159 and went up from there.

Have you tried dictation, either on your Mac or with Dragon. How did it go?

If you'd like to know more about my books, go to my webpage where you can read all about my worlds, see a map and glossary of terms.

Character driven #romance from life #MFRWauthor @liviaquinn

I remember sitting at the Salt Lake airport watching a young mother and her child interact while secretly took note of their dialog. What can I say? I've not had the pleasure of having children and when I get around them, I'm fascinated by how they think. I guess I thought they would be babified or something. I'm always shocked by little ones who express such forthright opinions about their surroundings. Did I do that? I seriously doubt it.

When I am building my story - because I'm a pantser, which means I write by the seat of my pants, literally, from start to finish - the characters come to me and take the lead. It's like I'm a biographer to them. Naturally with this organic style of writing, characters from my own life always show up and inform the story, so to speak.

One such character is Freddie, the unhandy-handyman who was an inevitable addition to Storm Lake. He appears in all the Storm Lake books and is crafted from Mr. Quinn who is unfortunately challenged in that department. There's so much fodder there, but don't tell him. He probably wouldn't recognize himself in the character who falls down chimneys, builds crooked shelves, and inevitably breaks something in the process of repairing it.

As Ridge Romano says in Merry Christmas, Baby "If it can be done backward, inside-out, upside-down Freddie's a natural."

Years ago, Mr. Quinn and I attempted to build a dog house. It just kept getting bigger and bigger until it was too big to even move it from the spot on which it was built. It was more like a guest house, ;)

The DH's ex has also stormed onto the pages in the Destiny books and Hard Days Knight. If you've read those books I'd be curious if you could recognize her. Let me know if you do!

Does life imitate art or vice-versa? What do you think?

See the Storm Lake pages on my website to find out more about my books or to sign up for my newsletter and be entered to win prizes.

#Writing while bathing, exercising...driving via @LiviaQuinn

The writing process is such a fluid thing in my world. It has to be. I remember when I began writing, the summer of Katrina. I was laid off in the Spring and for the first time in my life found myself with six months of unemployment and time to write. It took a couple months to get over the feelings of rejection and unjust treatment, then I was struck by the freedom of the next few months decided to see if I could bring the stories that had been spinning in my head to life

So, I purchased six composition notebooks, pulled up my lounge chair, got some smooth writing pens and my Storm Lake series was born. Three months later the world turned upside down. Luckily, we were far enough out of the path  of Katrina that we didn't suffer any damage from the storm but statewide, businesses sagged and unemployment soared, not to mention people pouring out of the damaged areas into northern parishes. I had to go to work.

I found a job in DC working for the Small Business Administration Disaster Assistance program on a Friday and left the next day, arriving at my aunt's house so I could go to work in Virginia on Monday. I still can't believe how fast it all happened, or how fast I was back in those eighty hour weeks. The writing was nearly forgotten until my time in DC and Atlanta ended six months later. Once again, I found myself on the bayou, lounging and writing. It became apparent that if I was going to get serious about this new endeavor I needed to educate myself about the writing craft.

I joined the RWA around the time I started delivering the mail and as I drove around my route, I listened to workshops from the CDs I purchased. (The RWA has since clamped down on this which I think is a shame since it enabled newbie writers in rural areas where there were no chapters to learn from other authors and experts in our field.)

So while I was driving the route, the characters began to visit. Driving is a very creative activity for me, but since I was working, using both feet and both hands, I learned to record my ideas into my tiny recorder to be transcribed on my days off.

During my days as a sales person earlier in my career I purchased an Autodesk. The thing is indestructible and I've used it for thirty years. But it's really come in handy for my writing. When I'm on long trips or commuting to work I plop my legal pad on it and channel the characters. They love it when I'm driving-- or bathing. So I take advantage of it. Sometimes it's all over the page because naturally, driving has to take priority ;)

 

Last December I made a commitment to my health. I'd kept telling myself when I make enough I'm going to get a treaddesk but the Surf Desk I purchased in December essentially turned my treadmill into one. The first time I got on it and secured my laptop, I walked twice as far as ever before. Then the treadmill crapped out, but within three days I was back to it. 

Now, that my little seasonal restaurant is about to open, the process has to change again if I'm going to get Take these Broken Wings, Destiny 5 written. It will be a combination of treadmill, morning soaks, and drive time. This should add up to about an hour and a half to write forward on the manuscript. It also means I have to handwrite in multiple notebooks, depending on where I am. So over the weekend, I read in 31,000 words with Mac OS dictation.

As I said, fluid. A writer must adapt to what's happening in her life, unless she's lucky enough to have income in the household that supports a full time writing career. I'm thrilled that I'm writing every day, and though the first half of the year doesn't usually translate into multiple books, at least it's progress.

Livia