{"id":256,"date":"2003-06-07T09:53:26","date_gmt":"2003-06-07T16:53:26","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.dianeduane.com\/outofambit\/?p=256"},"modified":"2020-07-26T11:46:58","modified_gmt":"2020-07-26T11:46:58","slug":"a-moment-to-breathe","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.dianeduane.com\/outofambit\/2003\/06\/07\/a-moment-to-breathe\/","title":{"rendered":"A moment to breathe"},"content":{"rendered":"

Wizard’s Holiday<\/em> is with its editor now, and I expect I should be hearing from him momentarily with notes on the manuscript. While that’s happening…there’s this strange brief halcyon time (three or four days, anyway…) in which I actually can sit around for the better part of a day and not do anything.<\/p>\n

— For some values of the above, anyway. “Not doing anything” this week has included: work on updating the “European Cuisines” website,<\/a> preparatory to moving it into its own domain: testing new webtracking software: some assorted gardening: going up to the local nursery to consider what tree to plant in the hedge to replace the one destroyed by the joyriders who nearly crashed through the hedge and into the corner of the house: stripping unnecessary files off Ryoh-ohki’s hard drive, since she may have to go back to Japan next week for a service (the keyboard has begun acting up in the wake of the sake incident last week, though there are also signs that it might be putting itself right — it’s hard to tell, just hafta keep hacking at it for a while): doing the laundry: cleaning the fishpond: doing “travel agent” things regarding an upcoming trip during which Peter and I will go away and soak our heads for a week…<\/p>\n

And there’s still been time to get some other writing done. While gearing up to get the Rihannsu sorted out at last (and also doing early prep work for Wizards at War)<\/em> I’ve been able to at last finish “Herself”, the Irish fantasy story I’ve been fiddling with for the best part of six months, and get it off to its editors, who liked it. Now I get to write a story about a game show for another anthology. The brain is ticking over on this one, which I suspect will be another candidate for an eventual, putative Duane short-story anthology called New Gods for Old<\/em>. (Assuming the thing ever happens. )<\/p>\n

And yes, pre-work work on The Door Into Starlight<\/em> is going on as well. Don’t think I’m not sensitive to the background screams and cries of those who’ve been so patient for so long. But things are coming together now.<\/p>\n

\"sonyicd-ms515\"In all of this, I’m finding the new version of Dragon Naturally Speaking<\/a> to be a big help…and so is the little creature to the right. I dictate into it, and then (via a USB cable) Dragon magically sucks the words out of the recorder and transcribes them. So I can go out for a walk in the early morning, spend a lovely couple of hours talking to myself, and then come back and — instead of having to type out the resultant material — can have a cup of tea and watch the computer do it. Ah, technology…what a wonder! (When it works….)<\/p>\n

If the recorder has a weakness, it’s that (a) the file-folder system it uses is frankly Byzantine in its complexity, and (b) the controls are a perfect evocation of that last ad in the movie Crazy People<\/em>: “Caucasians are just too damn big.” The rocker switch is very small, does about five different things, and if you push your finger a millimeter in the wrong direction at a crucial moment, you’re screwed. However, the tool is so powerful and useful that I’ve just sort of resigned myself to the steepness of the learning curve.<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, they’ve started harvesting their barley, up the hill. We’re having a few days of dryish weather, and all the local farmers seem to be taking advantage of it. This means that the early-morning walks are slightly complicated by huge harvesting machines rumbling up and down the roads (and the necessity for them to get far enough away, after passing me, so that I can record again without a lot of noise which will give Dragon the pip).<\/p>\n

…An afterthought, just in passing. There’s also one other thing which has been an issue, now that I’m doing a lot more dictation than I have for the last year or so: how to get past feeling stupid while dictating. I don’t know if others who compose while dictating have experienced the problem, but it was a big hurdle for me — getting past the self-consciousness about telling a story out loud to no one (since when it’s working well, there’s no particular sense of me<\/em> being there, either). Even when there’s no one for miles around, this affects me…though less and less with practice. — What’s funny, though, on these morning story runs, is the looks I get from drivers who see me walking along “talking to myself”. In certain moods I like to make sure the recorder is visible…not easy, it’s so small! In other moods, I don’t give a damn…let them think I’m \"bluespoon\"crazy. Like the people in town who see me talking to Peter using the Bluespoon wireless earpiece\u00a0 (ETA: no longer available, alas, I loved that thing)<\/strong>— so small it can’t be seen when my hair gets over it — and who don’t see the flashing blue light it produces when in active use. \ud83d\ude42 (There it is on the left — on my monitor it’s nearly life size, a shade under two inches long [35 mm]; it weighs about ten grams. Mine is just plain matte blue — I think it was a slightly older version of the one shown here.)<\/p>\n

(Of course, sometimes when people do<\/em> see it the results are similarly amusing. A bunch of guys at the airside bar at Dublin Airport a couple of weeks ago saw me walking back and forth while talking to Peter, and did <\/em>see the bright blue flashing; they were fascinated. One of them shouted loudly enough for half the terminal to hear, “Hey, lady, c’mere, we want to see your thing!” Well, gee, thanks, guys… Another one yelled, “Hey, Lieutenant Uhura!” Heh.)<\/p>\n

(Specs, etc. for the Sony recorder are here.<\/a>)<\/p>\n

Save<\/span><\/p>\n

Save<\/span><\/p>\n

Save<\/span><\/p>\n

Save<\/span><\/p>\n

Save<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Wizard’s Holiday is with its editor now, and I expect I should be hearing from him momentarily with notes on the manuscript. 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