One of the final editing passes all my books go through is listening to it via Microsoft Word’s text to speech option. It helps find missed words, duplicate words, repetitive words, and awkward phrasing among other things. It can also be quite unintentionally hilarious and baffling. Here are a few I’ve come across while listening to the robovoice reading A Thread of Magic (available June, 2025).
Hello! 2022 has been quite a year. I’ve continued my inability to concentrate on television or movies, so there’ll be no recap of what shows I’ve enjoyed or movies I’ve watched. The answer is none. Always none. I have hit a slight reading slump, preferring rereading favorites or sticking with trusted authors. However! I have been writing. Here’s what I’ve done and a peek at what’s in store.
2021. The year that looked at 2020 and said, “Hold my beer.” With a failed insurrection under our belts, a pandemic still rolling across the country, vaccine reluctance giving the virus fertile soil to mutate into nasty variants, and an unexpected job loss that had us hunkering down and counting pennies until we had income coming in again, to say it’s been stressful has been an understatement.
Have you ever looked at something and wondered why? Check out any major media release—whether it’s music CDs, DVDs, or yes, books—and you’ll find a strange coincidence. They’re all (usually) released on a Tuesday. Smaller titles across the spectrum of media might pop up on the other days of the week, but the major titles, the Star Wars and the Stephen Kings? Tuesdays. Always Tuesdays. But why?