[stylist] Hi, everyone

Sun Apr 12 21:54:27 UTC 2015

HI Rowena, First, welcome to the group. I am an American living in New Zealand. I am a struggling writer who also does some freelance work. I have a Mac and love it. I use Pages but have also Bootcamped my Mac--meaning I run Windows, JAWS, and the Microsoft products on it. You can choose to either boot up in Windows or OSX. You can also run Windows as a virtual machine--meaning you can switch between operating systems, but you do have to have a lot of memory for this. Thankfully, my fiancé is the geek of the family and set this up for me. I must say running Windows on Mac is the most stable environment I have ever run Windows in. 
 Hope this helps some. Smile Pages is great, but I find I have better control of formatting, editing etc. with Word. This could be that I am not as experienced with Pages as I am with Word. 
-----Original Message-----
From: stylist [mailto:stylist-bounces at nfbnet.org] On Behalf Of Rowena Portch via stylist
Sent: Monday, April 13, 2015 8:35 AM
To: Applebutter Hill
Cc: Writers' Division Mailing List
Subject: Re: [stylist] Hi, everyone

Thanks so much for the replies. I am an avid Mac user and rely on VoiceOver—Apple's built in screen reader. For the most part, I love it. Unfortunately, Microsoft and Adobe products are not accessible on the Mac, at all. 

I do have a Windows machine running JAWS that I only use for my stenography when doing closed captioning. I don't even have Word or Adobe products installed on that machine. 

That being said, I'm wondering if I can somehow write Apple Scripts that will enable me to use those products on the Mac. If anyone knows how to do that, I would be greatly appreciative for a little assistance. I've never written scripts on my Mac. 

Donna, I understand about what you mean about having CreateSpace typeset your manuscript. I don't much care for their quality of work, which is why I did my own typesetting. 

Bridget, you sound like an expert in JAWS. I may need to pick your brain a bit to learn a few tricks. 

This group seems like a fun one. I'm looking forward to getting to know you all more. 

Rowena
Rowena
Author of the Spirian Saga
http://RowenaPortch.com

> On Apr 12, 2015, at 12:10 PM, Applebutter Hill <applebutterhill at gmail.com> wrote:
> 
> Hi Rowena,
> Welcome to the list. I have RP as well, and I have had no useful 
> vision for decades. My first novel, The Heart of Applebutter Hill, was 
> self-published in 2013. I tried to get an agent, but my portrayal of a 
> blind teenaged girl was "unrealistic" - i.e. not needy and 
> one-dimensional enough for the industry.
> 
> To answer your question ... I used MS Word to format my book for 
> Smashwords, Kindle and Nook. I use the screen reader Jaws and Word 
> 2010. I would not call it inaccessible, just maddeningly tedious. I 
> had used Word to format my book for print and was actually very close 
> to being done with it when I burned out and hired Create Space to do 
> it. Setting up the page formatting using CS's guidelines for finished 
> size, margins  and gutters was straight-forward, and somehow, I 
> figured out sections, styles and page numbering, but I got a bit stumped trying to get the page headers right.
> It's doable, but trying to give yourself a crash course on Jaws, Word 
> and the CS instructions all at the same time was more than I could 
> ultimately manage. I wish I'd taken a breather and completed it 
> myself, but I'm not really sorry I spent the $300 or whatever it was.
> 
> Looking forward to getting to know you, Donna W. Hill
> 
> 
> -----Original Message-----
> From: stylist [mailto:stylist-bounces at nfbnet.org] On Behalf Of Rowena 
> Portch via stylist
> Sent: Sunday, April 12, 2015 2:55 PM
> To: stylist at nfbnet.org
> Subject: [stylist] Hi, everyone
> 
> My name is Rowena Portch. I have been a professional writer for over 
> 30 years and absolutely love it. When I lost my sight to RP, 10 years 
> ago, I had to learn to continue my craft without sight. It has been a 
> long and arduous journey that I still seem to be traversing. I owned 
> my own publishing businesses, and have helped many new writers achieve 
> their writing goals.
> 
> Many years ago, I went the traditional publishing path with an 
> established New York agent and wrote for Tor Books. That experience 
> left a rather bitter taste in my mouth so I pulled myself from the radar for several years.
> 
> Today, I have nine novels published and one short story. I’m working 
> on my next two novels—yes, both at the same time.  Hopefully, they 
> will be released by the end of this year.
> 
> I’m looking forward to getting more involved with this group. For now, 
> I’m curious as to what tools my fellow blind authors use to get the 
> job done. I am using Pages on my Mac for writing. I used Microsoft 
> word to format my ebooks, and Adobe InDesign to format my paperback 
> books, but both of those programs are inaccessible, and I find I am 
> unable to see well enough to continue using those programs. So, long 
> story short, what do you use to format your books for publication?
> 
> Thanks,
> 
> R o w e n a  P o r t c h
> Author of the Spirian Saga
> 
> RowenaPortch.com <http://rowenaportch.com/>
> 
> View the Book Trailer for The Spirian Saga, a new paranormal romance 
> <http://youtu.be/XeNmJkXyJv0> 
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