Monday, July 18, 2011

Moving Monday: Reading while Packing

Honestly, I can't say that I'm a big fan of packing. Oh, I like to have things organized and packed...I just have a hard time getting myself motivated to actually do the work. It seems like a rather solitary task. But, there's no getting around it. We're moving in eleven days, so I must pack. I've been experimenting with ways to make it a more enjoyable (or at least a less boring) task.


Recently, I discovered a cool little feature that my Kindle has -- text to speech. I can actually have it read to me as I declutter and pack boxes. It is by no means perfect. My main complaints are that it:
  • speaks in a very "roboto" voice
  • mispronounces things sometimes
  • and really doesn't know how to pause appropriately between chapter titles and main text.
But all of those things aside, it is pretty cool to be able to hear a book while I packing. I don't know that it would be great for an adventurous sort of novel. (Roboto voices don't really convey drama.) However, it has worked well for a more "self-help" style of book. I've been having it read Organized Simplicity: The Clutter-Free Approach to Intentional Living by Tsh Oxenrider and truly it has been great. I'm working my way through a book that is inspiring me to get rid of the clutter as I pack.

If you have a Kindle and have never used this feature, it's super easy to use! All you need to do is:
  • Open the book that you want to have read to you
  • Click on the Aa button (down by the spacebar)
  • Then move the cursor down to "turn on" right next to Text-to-Speech.
  • It will automatically start reading from the page that you are on. If you need to pause it, just press Aa button again and click "pause" next to Text-to-Speech.
Maybe, just maybe, I'll finish this book while packing and be inspired to start a new clutter-free approach to intentional living in Williamsburg!

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