These are the books that I have read or am reading while staying home:

1. I Am Still Alive by Kate Alice Marshall is a survival story about a teenager who is trying to survive the Alaskan wilderness alone. It’s a brilliant book if you like the Hunger Games and if you want to read about isolation from society.
2. An Absolutely Remarkable Thing by Hank Green is a brilliant story about the social media and you betcha I’m reading the next one, A Beautifully Foolish Endeavor, coming out July 7^th.
3. My book- ok, this is a work in progress, and I am feeling proud with my work in progress (WIP). Getting ready for the first round of beta readers. I’m currently in the last round of the self-edits and I do love these characters so much. I believe I began the novel one year ago and finished my first draft of the story in February.

What are you reading in these unique times?

Shout out to…

Bookshare for helping me and others who have physical or other disabilities that make reading print books difficult or impossible. Since we started sheltering in place, I’ve ready at least 8 books, including the 2 above. Before Bookshare, I would have had to have someone hold the book, turn the pages, and because of my visual tracking issues, they would have had to read out loud while pointing at the words. Thank Bookshare for making independent reading possible!

Also, thanks to Microsoft Read Aloud and Immersive Reader – reads text aloud while highlighting the words as they’re read. Wish I would have had this in elementary and high school! I discovered them several years ago while taking college classes. I use them all the time now for editing my book or reading stuff on Edge.

Final shout out is to WordQ. This word prediction software makes it possible for me to write more quickly. Very important when you’re writing hundreds of pages of a book (at 60k words)! Or my blog (almost 40k words)! It would be painstakingly long to try to write as much as I do without WordQ!

Here are some other related stories about accessibility:

• Inclusion in Action
• Pride, Prejudice & Accessibility
• Accessibility: What works for me
• Presentation at Closing the Gap 2016
• Writing with WordQ (NO POLITICS, really!)

#StayHome