General Questions:
Q. Who is this “MarcyKate” person anyway?
A. This is me in a very tiny nutshell:
- I am most often described by other people as a “nice girl.”
- I rarely get a good night’s sleep and I drink enough coffee each day to give a horse a heart attack.
- I wouldn’t know what day it was or where I’m supposed to be without my iPhone.
- I wrote an opera as the equivalent of a senior thesis in college.
- I have minor obsessions with Depeche Mode, Tim Curry, and the color blue.
Writing Questions:
Q. How many novels have you written?
A. Three: GLOW, THE GHOST WRITER, and THE CRYSTAL BOOK.
Q. Plotter or pantser?
A. Plotter! I love outlines. They let me hop around in the storyline so I never have to worry about writer’s block, I can just keep writing.
Music Questions:
Q. What music software do you use on this site?
A. Primarily I use a composition program called Harmony Assistant to write my music. They have a browser plug-in that enables visitors to my site to listen and view the music directly from almost any web browser. I can also generate mp3 files for those who do not wish to install the plug-in. When listening to the mp3′s please keep in mind there are limitations to what the software can do and they will not sound quite like a real voice or real instruments.
Q. How do I use the Harmony Assistant files?
A. These files are Mac and PC compatible and can be played in the browser with their Music Plug-In which is FREE. It is fully functional with most web browsers. This program has one particularly innovative difference that sets it apart from any other music composition program I have seen. It sings the words. It’s a fascinating program, but does have some drawbacks. For example, the program will sometimes mispronounce words that have more than one way of being spoken. “Live” is a good case in point. It can be pronounced as L-ih-ve or L -eye- ve, but it is only programmed to choose the latter.
