Brain. Dribble. Out. Ears.

[auronlu]

So, after getting yet another sinus infection -- world, this is NOT FAIR; I had sinuplasty and other surgery done a month and a half ago so I'd stop having these things! -- I've discovered a way to make the time go a little easier while spending fifteen to twenty minutes every few hours in neti pot meditation.

Copy and paste several chapters of a fanfic into a text-to-speech app, and have my computer read it out to me while I poach my nose. (I've got cheapo speakers with a long cord, so I prop the speakers on the towel rack and leave the computer safely in the next room).

NaturalreaderFree + the Alex voice works fairly well, except that I have to global replace "—" with "..." because it reads em-dash oddly.

Anyway, I've been doing this for a few days with owlmoose's epic, Death Shall Have No Dominion. I'd read a good chunk of it in the past, but between my fears of overlap between it and LHaD, and grad school, I'd fallen hopelessly behind. So I started from the beginning and read it again.

I've been reading a few chapters at a time, but tonight I got sucked in and read the last 15 chapters all at once. Of course. It was a good yarn, as I knew it would be. I just wish I'd read it all while her co-author kunstarniki was still with us.

Brain is now dribbling out ears. I should sleep -- siiiick -- but I am selfish about my creative writing-time. Maybe I can get a little bit done before I conk out.

Comments

[trekqueen.livejournal.com]

icky crud! *hugs* hope it disappears soon.

one of my computers here talks to me but it is some narrator thing for people with sight issues. It is just funny how it pronounces stuff... reminds me of the GPS we've had in the car - prounced a local Spanish language origin street really funny. :D

[owlmoose.livejournal.com]

Now you have me wondering what the story would be like, read aloud.

I'm glad you got sucked in! Well, maybe not glad for your health, but. >.> Did you write the comments as you were reading and then pop them on the chapters in batches?

[auronlu.livejournal.com]

The ones before your birthday were collected over time, but most of the comments since then were written as I read, or else written the day after I'd read one the night before.

I'm a fairly fast reader once I get going, as you may have noticed last night! (I wasn't doing text-to speech after chapter 17 or so; that was over dinner and after).

By the way, should I get the urge to chew on another of your longfics, what should I tackle next?

[owlmoose.livejournal.com]

AGL. A Guardian's Legacy. My big epic Auron fic, his past and his future. It's the second thing I ever wrote (before I knew that fandom frowned stories about beloved characters that are chock-full-o OCs -- at least one of whom, you already know!), and my first big project, and my baby. I admit that now I cringe at it in places, but other parts of it I still love. It's oh-so-long (46 chapters, plus prologue and epilogue), but if you are inspired to read it, I would love your take.

There's also The Confessional, which was my first collaboration with Ikon. It deviates from canon in some places, but I do think we did a good job of telling the same story from four viewpoints with minimal behind-the-scenes communication.