Formatting. It is the bane of my existence! Not just paragraph alignment and page numbers, it's so much more than that. From your body font to the space between your chapter headings to the first line of your first paragraph, formatting is literally cover to cover. Fonts and style have to match from chapter to chapter and it's so very easy to mess stuff up, especially with multiple drafts and converting your work from one size to another. As a artist there are so many options that it boggles the mind to think of them all. The question is, what do I want my novel to look like? It is amazing how generalized my ideas are. I want my book to look "professional," to fit into my genre and to be "trendy," especially where my cover is concerned. None of that tells me what font my title should be in, or how far down my chapter title should be on the page or how big my name should be on the cover. I almost want to pull out my hair or scream. I think I'll settle for an Aleve, or two (liquid gel, extra strength of course).
I have a draft that I have been working on for years and it never behaves as I change the size of the paper I am working with. Taking my standard 8x11 and trying to refit it to a paperback 4x6 produces problems. Every time! I finally found a way to delete all preexisting formatting, but now I have to start from scratch and I already have a headache.
The Problem you ask? Several pages had paragraphs that were disappearing in to nothingness as if text wrap had suddenly stopped working on my word doc. I have no idea how that happened, so now I am starting over. The annoying thing is that I am not sure about this book size. The publisher provided a template for the size and I am thinking about going bigger. I seriously hope I will not have to do this again.
There is only one thing I hate more than formatting and that is having to re-type something because the file is lost or corrupted. I have learned my lesson there. Save often and store well. I send drafts to my self, my friends and family in case something happens and my work is lost forever.
Do you have any formatting horror stories? Some problems? Some advice? Please share! I'm always up for learning something new.
To my fellow writers, as ever, WRITE ON!
Monday, May 25, 2015
Friday, May 15, 2015
Word A Day
My word today was askance (courtesy of Merriam-Webster via my inbox). I like this word, because as soon as I read it I had a mini movie playing in my head. I could clearly see the main male character looking at my heroine out of the corner of his eye. It was a kind of hungry look. The image was very clear and lasted only a moment, but even now I can still see it though it is not as clear as it once was. I thought in that moment, I must use this word in my novel. Today! Right now!
As a writer we often forget how important words are, mostly because we are wading through them by the hundreds in a day or even an hour. Meaning carries weight with experience. We each bring our own interpretations to the work, even as a writer we are building worlds from our own vast imaginations and limited experience. And sometimes we can become stuck on finding just the right word, searching through dictionaries, thesauruses and coming up short. How many times have I looked for a word that was on the tip of my tongue and only found a pale comparison? Too many. There was a time when words were new, and every one I learned was like a gold star beside my name.
I remember learning to read in my early teens, that is not to say that I couldn't read at all, I just did it very poorly and I hated it because I was so bad at it. Eight grade was when I found my love for reading and devoured book after book. I started my own dictionary. As I read there were words that I didn't understand, or wasn't sure if I was getting the meaning right with the context and so I would look them up and write down the definitions. After a while I had to write down less and less words until I no longer needed to look something up. I am not a walking dictionary, but in daily life and reading I can say with confidence that I am a very proficient reader and yet some words still strike me.
I know some one may think it's silly, but I have a few favorite words. Pugnacious which is an adjective and means to show a willingness or desire to fight or argue (definitions thanks to Merriam-Webster Online dictionary, www.m-w.com). My family doesn't swear, like ever, and so my favorite swear word is Fustian. While the definition dose not conjure the meaning I have for the word, I enjoy a Victorian blue-stocking sort of heroine that often utters this phrase under her breath. (I'' leave you to look up the definition for yourself!)
So what is your favorite word? Is it old-fashioned? Modern slang? Something you read or something you heard? What does it mean to you?
Good Night my fellow writers and WRITE ON!
As a writer we often forget how important words are, mostly because we are wading through them by the hundreds in a day or even an hour. Meaning carries weight with experience. We each bring our own interpretations to the work, even as a writer we are building worlds from our own vast imaginations and limited experience. And sometimes we can become stuck on finding just the right word, searching through dictionaries, thesauruses and coming up short. How many times have I looked for a word that was on the tip of my tongue and only found a pale comparison? Too many. There was a time when words were new, and every one I learned was like a gold star beside my name.
I remember learning to read in my early teens, that is not to say that I couldn't read at all, I just did it very poorly and I hated it because I was so bad at it. Eight grade was when I found my love for reading and devoured book after book. I started my own dictionary. As I read there were words that I didn't understand, or wasn't sure if I was getting the meaning right with the context and so I would look them up and write down the definitions. After a while I had to write down less and less words until I no longer needed to look something up. I am not a walking dictionary, but in daily life and reading I can say with confidence that I am a very proficient reader and yet some words still strike me.
I know some one may think it's silly, but I have a few favorite words. Pugnacious which is an adjective and means to show a willingness or desire to fight or argue (definitions thanks to Merriam-Webster Online dictionary, www.m-w.com). My family doesn't swear, like ever, and so my favorite swear word is Fustian. While the definition dose not conjure the meaning I have for the word, I enjoy a Victorian blue-stocking sort of heroine that often utters this phrase under her breath. (I'' leave you to look up the definition for yourself!)
So what is your favorite word? Is it old-fashioned? Modern slang? Something you read or something you heard? What does it mean to you?
Good Night my fellow writers and WRITE ON!
Tuesday, May 5, 2015
Tools of the Trade
Sure, a pad of paper and a pen (or pencil) is all you really need to be a writer but in this day and age there is so much more to play with. I've talked in the past about some of the things I use to help me write. Well, these items include things you might not think about as tools, like file folders, labels, or poly zip envelopes (pictured below). Some might use shoeboxes or vanilla envelopes to organize paper, but I have just spent a lot of time and a bit of money organizing my household files and my story files. (And I am impressed with the outcome!)
A few months ago I bought a large, four drawer metal filing cabinet at a thrift store for about $10. With some hard word and creativity, I cleaned it up, painted it and stuck some wall decals and new handles on it and it looks brand new, better really. I don't have enough files to fill all the drawers so I use some for storage. They hold extra supplies and what not. I found some cool project files at the dollar store that you can write down the description of what you are working on, start and stop dates, etc. I like color coding, though I admit that I am still working on it. Five colors never seem to be enough. Perhaps my categories are too detailed...?
One of my most useful purchases are the clear poly zip envelopes from staples. They are just zip bags made of heavy plastic with colorful zippers. I use them to coral the papers I am currently working on in my "story basket." The basket is a medium sized plastic bin from Big Lots that I use to keep all of my paperwork in, including the printed spiral bound drafts that I am working on. Inside is also the envelops which contain my brainstorms; things like illustrations, blueprints of buildings, timelines, maps, character sheets, and outlines. I've labeled them with name tag stickers, the cheep 99 cent store kind. I can just peel off the sticker and re-label or put a new one over the top. I've had to purchase more envelopes as I started a new story and need somewhere to stash my notes. It's organized chaos and I love it.
Envelopes range in price from 1.99-5.99. The ones that I bought were 3.99 and just plain envelopes but they have some with pockets on the outside for notecards and smaller pieces of paper. They have expandable ones and smaller sizes, almost a half or a third of the standard letter size, for who knows what. They were all very cool.
Do you have any tools or tricks of the trade? Anything you've found or made work for you? With pinterest and the web you can find thousands of craft ideas for people on a budget or if you just want to glam out your everyday items.
That's all for tonight! To all my readers: Write On!
A few months ago I bought a large, four drawer metal filing cabinet at a thrift store for about $10. With some hard word and creativity, I cleaned it up, painted it and stuck some wall decals and new handles on it and it looks brand new, better really. I don't have enough files to fill all the drawers so I use some for storage. They hold extra supplies and what not. I found some cool project files at the dollar store that you can write down the description of what you are working on, start and stop dates, etc. I like color coding, though I admit that I am still working on it. Five colors never seem to be enough. Perhaps my categories are too detailed...?
One of my most useful purchases are the clear poly zip envelopes from staples. They are just zip bags made of heavy plastic with colorful zippers. I use them to coral the papers I am currently working on in my "story basket." The basket is a medium sized plastic bin from Big Lots that I use to keep all of my paperwork in, including the printed spiral bound drafts that I am working on. Inside is also the envelops which contain my brainstorms; things like illustrations, blueprints of buildings, timelines, maps, character sheets, and outlines. I've labeled them with name tag stickers, the cheep 99 cent store kind. I can just peel off the sticker and re-label or put a new one over the top. I've had to purchase more envelopes as I started a new story and need somewhere to stash my notes. It's organized chaos and I love it.
Do you have any tools or tricks of the trade? Anything you've found or made work for you? With pinterest and the web you can find thousands of craft ideas for people on a budget or if you just want to glam out your everyday items.
That's all for tonight! To all my readers: Write On!
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