[stylist] Hi, everyone

Mon Apr 13 04:57:50 UTC 2015

In my experience, most screenreading users prefer JAWS, which is Windows-specific, but more and more people prefer Apple Macs as they provide better security-- less risk of viruses-- and tend to hold up better, so personally, I know a lot of blind people who prefer JAWS to Apple voice-over for more serious uses of a computer-- word processing, spreadsheet creation, etc.

Likewise, at least when it comes to writers, the writers I know, both blind and sighted, prefer to work in MS Word.

Interestingly enough, at university, the only formats we could turn papers and stories in with were all MS Office based. I remember those Apple people not using Word always hated this, and many did not know how to convert Apple Pages to MS Word docs or rtf's, grin.

Knowing I can still have MS Office as an option, I may go with Apple for my next laptop after-all, smile.

Bridgit

-----Original Message-----
From: stylist [mailto:stylist-bounces at nfbnet.org] On Behalf Of Pagan Tree via stylist
Sent: Sunday, April 12, 2015 8:01 PM
To: Bonnie Lannom; Writers' Division Mailing List
Cc: Rowena Portch
Subject: Re: [stylist] Hi, everyone

Bonnie, Your fiance must be a super geek. I say that with great admiration.
I have never heard of PC things such as Freedom Scientific software, being Mac possible. That is very cool. I do not know how necessary it is though as VO is very good as long as someone has the know how to use it.
 Rowena, I did not mean to ignore you, Bonnie's comment just threw me for a loop. Welcome. I am interested in looking up your work. It sounds fascinating. You sound like someone who will have lots to share with the membership as well.
Again, welcome and blessings.
Eve Sanchez
President, National Federation of the Blind of Northern Arizona 2nd Vice President, National Federation of the Blind Writers' Division

On Sun, Apr 12, 2015 at 2:54 PM, Bonnie Lannom via stylist < stylist at nfbnet.org> wrote:

> 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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> > http://writers.nfb.org/
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> >
> >
>
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