Welcome, I’m Mary Louisa Locke, the author of the USA Today best-selling Victorian San Francisco Mystery series and the Caelestis Science Fiction series. In this daily newsletter, I reflect on my life as an indie author trying to age gracefully, including my struggles to maintain a balanced life, what I listen to, read, and watch for entertainment, and occasional bits of information I’ve gleaned from doing the research for my novels.
Daily Diary, Day 1271.
This is going to be very short because I’ve injured my right knuckle, which means typing is hard. So, I am experimenting with text that I’ve dictated into my phone.
Yesterday was fun, but because of my knuckle I didn’t get any writing done. My relatives did visit and we had a great time. The weather was perfect for sitting outside, sunny but not too hot. I also got in one walk, my regular cleaning, and of course yoga first thing in the morning. I also started to catch up on my science magazine reading.
Today, I’ve scheduled a zoom chat with one of my friends who lives back east, who I’ve known since first grade. I figure if I can’t write I can catch up with friends. Then I have another scheduled phone call in the afternoon and I should be able to get in both walks and my Pilates.
I’m hoping that the knuckle is just bruised and has simply caused my arthritis to flare up, thus means in a couple days it should be fine. If not, I’ll go in and have it checked, but I’m not sure even if there is some kind of fracture if there’s anything that I can do besides limit use of that hand. However, if this dictation works, then maybe I can get back to writing at least the first draft by dictating.
There are lots of authors who always write their first drafts with dictation and then edit, and they often swear that this is a faster process. Since I often slow down because I have trouble not editing as I go along, maybe this will turn out to be a good test and I will find this is something I want to do a lot. This would certainly be silver lining to one of those side effects to aging.
The photos are of some succulents, which seem to be the major plants which are flourishing right now.
Hope the rest of you are having a great weekend.
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I recently had a guest blogger on The Writers In Residence - Liz Hedgecock - who tells her unusual way to write first drafts - she dictates them as she walks each day. Of course she has to edit and write a second draft, but the story is down, and she has exercised instead of sitting by a desk. She says this technique also gives her books energy! So... good for you, Keep it up!
Hope your knuckle doesn’t broken!