[stylist] JAWS and Our Craft

[William L Houts]

HI Donna,

That's one of the things which helped me to get through the trauma of 
going blind.  I went through the rage part just like anyone would, and 
when it came to acceptance I realized that as much as I had been screwed 
over by fate, I had also acquired certain gifts. Among these were a 
deeper, broader appreciation for the people around me and what they had 
to suffer.  And another was a much better grasp of the craft we share 
here.  I wouldn't wish blindness on Ted Bundy , but in some ways, my 
struggles with it have resulted in building a stronger, more 
compassionate human being  --and one who knows better how to marry nouns 
with verbs, ha.

--Bill



--Bill






On 3/14/2014 4:14 PM, Applebutter Hill wrote:
> Bill,
> I agree with you. I think hearing my writing has made me more aware of the
> pacing and flow of the words. Good writing should stand out when read aloud,
> IMO.
> Donna
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: stylist [mailto:stylist-bounces at nfbnet.org] On Behalf Of William L
> Houts
> Sent: Thursday, March 13, 2014 9:17 PM
> To: Writer's Division Mailing List
> Subject: [stylist] JAWS and Our Craft
>
>
> Glancing over some recent messages concerning screen readers and writing, I
> thought I'd pony up some experience of my own.  In general, my experience
> with Jaws as I carry on with my second novel has been spectacular,
> especially when considering that blindness itself is, to put it mildly,
> somewhat sub-optimal.  I wrote my first novel using JAWS with the Eloquence
> synthesizer  (I'm one of that screen reader's older customers --my serial
> number is only five figures long).  And as I prepare to plunge into the last
> third of my current book, I'm seeing that my writing has actually improved.
> And I think that might be because writing with a screen reader forces the
> writer to pay attention to each and every word in a sentence, and make
> editorial decisions based on rock solid standards about things like run-on
> sentences and the use of ten dollar words where two dollars would serve the
> purpose just as admirably.  Also, nowadays I have no patience for adverbs
> which clutter up my prose line.  Noun, verb phrase period, that's the way
> many of my sentences go.  Well, no, actually that's a bit of a lie.  I write
> a comparatively poetic prose line, but it's rooted, I think, in elementary
> grammar, the exception being when I think a semicolon and dependent clause
> might be called for.
>
> Anyway, I'd like to  know how other folks look at their writing from a
> technical perspective, and whether they feel that writing with a screen
> reader has helped or harmed their craft.  Any takers?
>
>
> --Bill
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> --
> "Let's drink a toast now to who we really are."
>
>             --Jane Siberry
>
>
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-- 
"Let's drink a toast now to who we really are."

           --Jane Siberry