Showing posts with label formatting books. Show all posts
Showing posts with label formatting books. Show all posts

Tuesday, May 26, 2015

Three Rules for Writing

I read many books and articles on writing. Something I am sure many aspiring, and some successful writers also do. But of everything I read, seems like its Mark Twain that had the most knowledge of what it took to be a successful writer.
My favorite Twain quote on writing – his  three rules for writing. “First write, second write, and the third is write.”
Doesn’t really let anyone in on how Mr. Twain did his writing but a good idea of how hard he worked at it.
Speaking of three rules, Somerset Maugham once said, “There are three rules for writing a novel, unfortunately, no one knows what they are.”
So why did I think of this stuff today? I am patiently waiting for, what I hope will be my final review copy of my CCC book. I thought I was done, but I didn’t like the looks of the formatting on my last review copy. Re-formatting a book with nearly 300 headings and 200 photos is not that much fun. Thought I could do it in 10 hours or so – took about 50.

My new three rules for writing.
   - Write and write some more (this is the fun part)
   - Edit and re-edit (not as much fun, but not bad)
   - Format it correctly the first time (not fun to do this one again and again)

And, how about a number four? If you don't do number three correctly all the lines may not match up as needed and wanted. (See #3 above)

My attempt at night photography - saw this yearling moose walking up out of a creek bottom about a half hour after sunset Sunday evening. Looks like he/she is still dripping wet. This photo has nothing to do with the post but I don't see many moose and thought it might be fun to post.

Sunday, January 11, 2015

Formatting and Editing

This week I spent all my writing time, editing and formatting my nonfiction book. Formatting a 270 page book with more than 100 photos can be a pain, and it is. Word does not always like to put photos or captions where I want or need them, but I am learning more about how it works. Not sure I will be doing another book with so many pictures anytime soon. I might be reaching a bit with that as I have a finished, children’s book, with 20, or so, pictures.
I am eager to finish up these two books and get on with the two westerns that I have ready for final formatting and editing. I work at a rate of only about four or five pages an hour right now, hope to double that production soon. Who knows? Maybe for an old retired history teacher, four or five pages an hour is the new record.
Back at it in the morning. Hope to finish both of these projects by the end of the months, not a new year’s resolution, but a goal.

Meanwhile I will leave with a photo of my little town from Roundtop Mountain, about three miles away.