Last Week I Decided to Expand My Writing Community

I registered for DVCON. It was created from #DVPit. I am very excited for the first ever DVCON. I'm excited for the writers that will be speaking, the seminars, the people. It really seems like there's a community there. They have social hours and events on Discord too. 

Also, quick question - Does everyone use Discord now?

I also registered for Boskone 58. It's the convention for the New England Science Fiction Association. The con is all about sci-fi and fantasy. More topics I can be excited about. It seems pretty big. February 12 to 14, there are multiple speakers at every time slot. How am I going to choose?

I did some Pajama Writing with Inkslingers. At various times of the week, Inkslingers is inviting writers to to spend an hour totally focused on writing. Close the door, turn off phones, no social media. Pick an intention/project, post it in the chat and then get to work. At the end, writers are invited to post a line that they wrote (or edited) that evening/morning/afternoon.

What's a talk about writing communities without my own writing community, the WCYR (Writers Community of York Region). I say mine, because these are my friends, colleagues, co-conspirators. I've met so many wonderful writers over the years, people who are quirky, and weird, just like me. I'm registered for the February and March events. I'm looking forward to them. I've gone to many and will be going to more workshops. I love a good workshop. The WCYR also currently hosts two virtual write-ins a week (sorry, members only). MJ Moores wrote about it on the WCYR blog. Even though it's on Zoom, I feel like I've connected with other writers I might not have seen at the in-person events.

I miss in-person events though. I never thought of myself as a big hugger, but I miss hugs.

Apps - For the Reading and the Writing

New Year, new reading and writing goals. For a reason I can't remember now, something sparked my curiosity, and I began looking at book-related apps. There are quite a few. Some of them, I already use. Others, I used in the past, but stopped. I thought I'd share some of the apps I currently enjoy... Here are the book and writing apps that I use.

Book Tracking:

Leio

I discovered a few years ago that when it comes to reading, I like to see my progress, especially when working my way through big books. I think I'm halfway done, but am I really? Leio gives me all the information I want. I also really like that Leio predicts the date I will finish the book. It motivates me to finish the book even sooner (sometimes). The interface is simple and easy to navigate. Some people are familiar with Bookly, which does many of the same things. Why not use it instead? (It's got the cute factor.) I did use Bookly for over a year. With several of the updates, the features I liked were slowly becoming part of the premium version. I got frustrated, so I deleted it and found Leio instead.

Goodreads

Most readers are familiar with Goodreads, right? Has it gotten more commercial over the years? Amazon did buy it, after all. I think it's still a useful reading tool. I don't see myself ever giving it up. It's got my library. I save books I want to read so I don't forget about them. One of my favourite things is their end of the year wrap up. I love seeing all the books I read, which was the longest and shortest. All the stats from the whole year. It makes me happy.

eReading:

iBooks 

I use iBooks the least (sorry). That's mostly because it can only be used on Apple devices. I have a PC and other non-Apple products, so, ya. 

Kindle

I was using Kindle the most. I really like it's interface and the adjustments you can make so that it suits you. It was an easy reading experience. I like how it saves notes and highlights. 

Kobo

I've started using Kobo more and more this past year. I really like how you can customize your home screen. It helps me pick the next book I want to read or reminds of the books I "aught" to be reading. I find it nicely tailored to me, and I can edit which types of books are displayed. Kindle's home has mostly become advertising with only a few of my own books showing up. I'm also trying to buy less from Amazon, though I know several indie-authors and they want me to buy Kindle, so that's what I will do for them. 

I'm going to stop before this gets all philosophical. This is about apps. Kobo has become the one I use the most.

Time to turn to the other eReading apps, Library Apps.

Libby

I LOVE Libby. I really do. I like reading on it, though one of its last few updates changed the interface enough that I had a hard time finding some of the stats info. But I adapted and I love it again. I like searching for books on it. I think Libby has done a decent job of getting that "browsing" feeling to translate to the app. It's obviously not the same as going into a real library or bookstore. I appreciate the feature sections. They're always highlighting Ontario authors (we're in Ontario). There's a "Just Added" section. They rotate through different highlighted areas, "Diverse Voices", "Indigenous Voices", "Action Packed Adventures", "Love Through the Ages", and more. Like a display inside an actual library or bookstore. There is so much I enjoy about this app. I can't recommend it enough.

Hoopla

While Libby offers many graphic novels and audio books, Hoopla has it beat. Which is understandable since I think they're supposed to work together. They're both "powered" by the same library. If you're a comic nerd, but don't want to spend thousands of dollars on every series. Use Hoopla. Is it the same as reading an actual comic in your hand? No. But that goes for any book versus ebook. They added some She-Hulk comics and I'm excited. They also offer comics that are out-of-print or hard to find. You want to read some Avengers from the 1960's, Hoopla will help you do that. Did I mention they offer music and movies? It's a great library app. Paired with Libby, what more could you need?

CloudLibrary

You could need CloudLibrary. CloudLibrary drives me a bit nuts. I don't like their homepage. I do not enjoy the browsing. When I use CloudLibrary, it's because I'm looking for a specific book. I search and they either have it or they don't. Why do I use it? One of the libraries I belong to switched from Libby to CloudLibrary. Why? Book availability, I think. CloudLibrary just has more books. Things I can't find on Libby, I can find there. Waitlist times are greatly reduced. a 6 month wait at Libby might be 10 days at CloudLibrary. So, depending on what I want to read and how long I have to wait for it, I might choose CloudLibrary.

Time for some writing apps.

Scrivener

I buckled down and got even "even though I have Word". I have it on my iPad and PC, which is a bit of a pain to sync (I'm hoping they make it compatible with Google Drive or iCloud). Over the last year or so, I've begun to enjoy writing on Scrivener. There's a steep learning curve, but once you push through, Scrivener is great. I am also really enjoying/appreciating the iPad app. I often feel trapped behind my computer, in the same space all day, since I also work from home. The app lets me go to my reading nook and write there, surrounded by wonderful books. Or anywhere, really. (Not that there are a lot of places we can go these days.) The app is also easier to use than the desktop program. But ya, Scrivener.

Google Docs

To use MS Word on mobile apps require subscriptions now. No thanks. I'm not a fan of the whole subscription thing. If I pay for your program. I want to own it. That's it. If I have to pay a little extra for the mobile version, fine. But subscriptions are an automatic turn off. So, not only have I been using Scrivener more, I've also been using Google Docs more. I can open documents in Google Docs, edit, do whatever I need to and save it as a .docx file.

Pages

I can also save files as .docx in Pages on my iPad. Pages lets me use the Apple Pencil, which is *almost* as good as writing by hand in a notebook. This way it gets converted to text right away. Time saver! If Pages, Google Docs, and Scrivener can all give me .docx files in the end, I don't need to pay for a subscription.

Have I mentioned I don't like the subscription thing?

If I find another writerly or bookish app, I'll be sure to add it to my list, but unless something happens in an update, I don't see this list changing anytime soon. 

Last Week A Lot Went Down

A lot happened last week. COVID-19 infection rates are increasing more and more. Though, two people I know have already been vaccinated. There was an attempt to overthrow the government at the US Capital. As I may have mentioned before, I'm a fan of the late night talk shows. I think both Stephen Colbert's and Seth Meyers' takes on what happened are worth the watch. So, last week, I watched. I also watched more news than normal, in general. It was announced that children in Ontario will be home until the 25th of January. However, based on all the other information I've come across, I feel like my children will be home for a couple months. 

Last week, I started reading The Stand again. I actually started it in the summer, but it stressed me out, so I stopped. I've been starting and stopping with this book for a while. When I picked it up, I really wanted to read it, and when I am reading it, I am enjoying it. Then I get to a part about how the survivors of the Super Flu are treating each other, and I have to take a break. For the last couple weeks, in between bouts of The Stand, I have been reading Some of the Best from Tor.com, 2016 and The Collected Poems of Maya Angelou. Two vastly different works, but they both speak to me.

Besides political commentary, I re-watched The Matrix and Indiana Jones and the Raiders of the Lost Ark. Now that our daughter is a little older, my husband has started taking her on a tour of some of his favourite movies. After a few minutes, he started poking holes in Raiders and I called him "Amy Farrah Fowler" and he laughed. 

I also watched Netflix's Best of Stand-up 2020 and realized I need to watch the specials from Jack Whitehall, Hannah Gadsby, Michelle Buteau, and Bert Kreischer. I'd already watched a few of the 2020 standups, but not these ones. (I like stand up specials.)

That's it for me. Did you watch or read anything good? I'm always adding to my TBR and Watchlists.