Overview

Gary and Stephen discuss using tools like Pro Writing Aid and why you shouldn't only depend on those. Not everyone wants to hire an editor, but it helps you improve your writing in ways you may not understand at first.

YouTube

https://youtu.be/cZsJxNG2O4A

Transcript

Let's talk a little bit on some author stuff.

So before we get going on our topic when you're writing what do you use to write? Do you have any special software or services that you like?

[00:28:43] Gary: No, my or my, now I just use Microsoft word. I started using that what, 20, 30 years ago. And know, when it came out and it got better. Yeah yeah.

But my first books were all and my first. Four books were written on a yellow notepad. I, and I hired people to type 'em or in one case the office administrative assistant typed it, but on my other books, handwritten data charts, everything, and she was amazing typist.

[00:29:17] Stephen: Nice. Okay. And I was thinking while you were talking biking every day, have you ever looked into, or thought about text or a voice to text that you could talk and record it and something like that?

[00:29:30] Gary: Yes, I have. I've never done it. I've actually had a little phone recorder and I've done a few little clips, like clip notes on my phone, but it, it can maybe help some writers do it.

I, it wasn't my choice. I would rather. Have a spreadsheet and fill in some data, which helps remind you of where you've been how fast you went that day, where the wind was from things like that, to refresh your memory for the stories, rather than actually talking into a reporter.

Another thing on the trip, like somebody's gonna write a travel log. Our daughter and others success suggested a little camera on my bike or helmet that I could actually report. And yes, had I planned on doing a video afterwards. It would've been yeah, way more clips to go through, but I just used my cell phone and I travel along.

So some of the pictures were obviously blurry. You cut that out and that's why you maybe only have two or three seconds to put in a YouTube video. And so that was my what's neat about things today is your cell phone has a daytime reference daytime and location. And so if you. Writing and you've done a travel log like this, you have a date, you have a time that you did it, you have the location.

And so that puts you in a, you as a writer back in time, visualizing what actually happened that day. And you can explain yourself, I think, far better by having those artificial memories as I call it in my book culture.

[00:31:07] Stephen: Yeah. It is kinda scary sometimes that literally, if you just have your cell phone, how many things you can do absolutely go back to the nineties, the eighties, you didn't have, you have kids, don't get it.

You got your cell phone. I can take pictures. I can take videos. I can record my voice. I can see what day it is, where I am on GPS. I could write on it. I can communicate with people all on this little device. And some of the real practical things yeah, talking to somebody on the phone where we used to have to pay.

[00:31:38] Gary: 40 cents a minute for long distance calls, and now we call us Canada, Mexico for a monthly fee.

[00:31:46] Stephen: Yeah. Yeah. And the talk I mentioned I, I get parents occasionally pushing back that, oh, these things in technology they won't last or their fads o...