[stylist] Excited to have my first novella published!

[Ashley Bramlett]

April,
glad you got through it. congradulations. What formats is the book in? I 
know you self published it, but I don't know much about how smashwords 
produces works.

Are you using a regular computer with no special software now?
As to the computer issues, is there no one to assist you from a nfb chapter? 
Is there no
nonprofit like a lighthouse or community center to help? I know NC has 
Metrolina association for the blind, GA has the center for the visually 
impaired and CA has several such as the Junior blind of america and braille 
institute.

I'd come over and help you with jaws if I could.
Screen readers can be daunting. there is many commands and then you learn 
the microsoft commands too; so it’s a lot.

Continue to press for training as its better to get it now than when your 
vision is much less usable.
There are also services where they train you by phone. But I think if at all 
possible, you'd benefit from in person instruction.

Your vr sounds as useful as mine. Its hard to get pc training; think I had 
to wait a long time to get on a tutor's overbooked schedule.

Anyway, if you want the info for remote training via phone, let me know; you 
pay by the session, btw.

Ashley

-----Original Message----- 
From: April Brown
Sent: Wednesday, May 07, 2014 6:38 AM
To: stylist at nfbnet.org
Subject: [stylist] Excited to have my first novella published!

Good morning.

I am so excited to have my first novella published.

For the last year plus, I have struggled with trying to get training to help 
me through my vision loss.  I tried various screenreaders on Windows.  They 
bogged it down so bad that I couldn't even check my mail.  And I never did 
manage to figure out how to get one to work.

So in December I bought a Mac, since I was told VoiceOver was easy and 
intuitive.  Five months later, and I still can't duplicate any set of 
instructions I have written down.

It is too complex, and I can't duplicate directions the following day no 
matter what I do.  And there are no step by step manuals.  Lots of "Rah! 
Rah! You can do it!" No steps.   Yeah, I know how to turn it off and on. 
That's the only command that mostly works.

    I was concerned about Monday and preparing my novella for Smashwords and 
Amazon.

After all, if I can't figure out how to use a basic screen reader that any 
blind person with no computer training can use without thinking, how could I 
ever hope to do something so complex as publish a novella?

    How much trouble did I have?

    I had to try a second time with the cover for Smashwords.

    That was it.  It was a breeze otherwise.  Less than two hours. And that 
counted the time to reformat based on Amazon's directions.

    What does that say about me?



April Brown

Writing dramatic adventure novels uncovering the myths we hide behind.

aprilbrownwrite at gmail.com

Website: https://sites.google.com/site/uncoveredmyths/
Twitter: http://twitter.com/UncoveredMyths
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