Here's something you might be interested in.
"Give us the tools--and we'll finish the job!" --Winston S. Churchill.
Well, I almost have "Vista Blues--Book One" transcribed. However, to do the job, I had to rely on the word processing program on Microsoft Works 9. Better than Wordstar, mind you--but doesn't have really what I need. Made a note to myself to remedy this ASAP.
Well, last month, I finally did the deed. I went down to Office Depot in Vista, and picked up a copy of Word 2010. It cost me $139--but it's money well spent. I'm more used to the WYSIWYG-format (which I was first introduced to via the Commodore 64C and GEOS 2.0 by Berkley Software), so programs like Wordstar and Word Perfect are not my cup of tea.
So far, I've re-formatted "Vista Blues" (My manuscript of my blog entries here on this site, for those of you not in the know) to Word 2007, and am doing some editing before the final printup and first submission. Each of my blog entries, when reformatted into manuscript form, can run between three-to-seven pages per entry.
Now, there is a cut-off line of which entries will go into the book. Also, I decided not to use the comments that you fine folks added to my entries. Part of this is to protect the commentators, the other part of it is to not overload the manuscript and make it unweildy. It was said that Adolf Hitler's "Mein Kampf" ran 782 pages long--yet very few people can say they have read it from cover-to-cover, the prose was so turgid and vapid, plus overloaded with useless filler.
So, to avoid making THAT mistake, I will be putting in a cut-off point regarding how many blog threads make the manuscript. As my Creative Writing teacher at Chemeketa Community College in Salem, Oregon, once remarked: "You want to be a writer the readers swear BY, rather than swear AT!"
First part was to transcribe my blog threads into book form. Second part--first edit, plus add Table of Contents, Forward, and Epilouge. Third--get the proper software, plus replace printer. Fourth--change formatting of book to Word 2010.
Now comes the fifth--major edit and spell-check. Sixth--print finished (yeah, right) manuscript up, along with a query letter to a literary agent a friend of mine uses. Seventh--upon invitation, submit manuscript to agent for review.
Currently, I still am at Step 4...but I'm getting there. I'll keep you folks informed, OK?
--LPR
"Give us the tools--and we'll finish the job!" --Winston S. Churchill.
Well, I almost have "Vista Blues--Book One" transcribed. However, to do the job, I had to rely on the word processing program on Microsoft Works 9. Better than Wordstar, mind you--but doesn't have really what I need. Made a note to myself to remedy this ASAP.
Well, last month, I finally did the deed. I went down to Office Depot in Vista, and picked up a copy of Word 2010. It cost me $139--but it's money well spent. I'm more used to the WYSIWYG-format (which I was first introduced to via the Commodore 64C and GEOS 2.0 by Berkley Software), so programs like Wordstar and Word Perfect are not my cup of tea.
So far, I've re-formatted "Vista Blues" (My manuscript of my blog entries here on this site, for those of you not in the know) to Word 2007, and am doing some editing before the final printup and first submission. Each of my blog entries, when reformatted into manuscript form, can run between three-to-seven pages per entry.
Now, there is a cut-off line of which entries will go into the book. Also, I decided not to use the comments that you fine folks added to my entries. Part of this is to protect the commentators, the other part of it is to not overload the manuscript and make it unweildy. It was said that Adolf Hitler's "Mein Kampf" ran 782 pages long--yet very few people can say they have read it from cover-to-cover, the prose was so turgid and vapid, plus overloaded with useless filler.
So, to avoid making THAT mistake, I will be putting in a cut-off point regarding how many blog threads make the manuscript. As my Creative Writing teacher at Chemeketa Community College in Salem, Oregon, once remarked: "You want to be a writer the readers swear BY, rather than swear AT!"
First part was to transcribe my blog threads into book form. Second part--first edit, plus add Table of Contents, Forward, and Epilouge. Third--get the proper software, plus replace printer. Fourth--change formatting of book to Word 2010.
Now comes the fifth--major edit and spell-check. Sixth--print finished (yeah, right) manuscript up, along with a query letter to a literary agent a friend of mine uses. Seventh--upon invitation, submit manuscript to agent for review.
Currently, I still am at Step 4...but I'm getting there. I'll keep you folks informed, OK?
--LPR