Today I was forcibly reminded of why people used to like my user manuals [back when I was a tech. writer]. Because I always managed to get things wrong when learning a new software program, I always assumed that anyone prepared to read a user manual would be the same, only a little less sanguine about making mistakes [after all they had paid for that piece of software, I hadn’t].
Sadly, my enormous capacity to make mistakes is not quite so welcome now that I’m trying to publish my first ebook. The only silver lining I can see is that, if I ever get all this sorted, I’ll have a lot of material for a post on how to use StoryBox to produce a Kindle-ready ebook.
Not that any of this is StoryBox’s fault. Nope. The fault lies with Word’s Track Changes, and my own ignorance of how this useful feature actually works. 😦 For example, I worked out how to delete my editor’s comments, but I had no idea I was supposed to click accept, or reject, for each small change she made to the manuscript. The kind of changes I’m talking about are little things, like adding commas. I grew up in an era when we didn’t put commas before ‘and’ and ‘but’ so there were a lot of commas required. Another thing I did not know was that turning Track Changes off does not in fact, turn the feature off, it only hides it.
So, after doing all the final edits, I thought my MS was ready to be imported back into StoryBox as an .rft [rich text format] file. Imagine my horror when I fire up StoryBox, import my MS and find a million commas underlined!
Before I go any further I should explain why I need to import the MS back to StoryBox in the first place. Okay, so I wrote the story in StoryBox because it’s a great tool for the actual writing part of things. Then, when it was time to edit the MS, I had to export the file to Word so my editor and I could use the Track Changes feature.
So far so good. The problem, however, is that I want to publish my MS on the Kindle, and it just so happens StoryBox has a wonderful feature that allows me to export my MS as a .mobi file with ease [.mobi is needed for the Kindle]. However to do that, I have to first re-import the edited file back into StoryBox. The only other alternative would be to duplicate all those edits in the original StoryBox file. Hah. Not bloody likely.
To cut a long, sad story short, I’ve wasted most of today learning from my mistakes. Tomorrow I will cross all my fingers and toes while I import the ‘clean’ MS back into StoryBox. If all goes well, I will then be ready to work out the next step, which is the ISBN. -sigh- And some time after that I will have to face the pitfalls of creating a cover image for the book… [Insert sounds of disgust and frustration.]
As many of you know I’m normally a glass-half full type of person. I’m hardwired to see the good in any situation, but I have to be honest and say that, just at the moment, my silver lining is looking a little tarnished. I really, really think it’s time for some mindless fun, so mmo, here I come!
Meeka signing out.
December 23rd, 2012 at 9:42 am
Great minds think alike, eh? I reactivated Eve two days ago. I thought that now with the holidays, I had some time to check out all the changes. It feels good to be back, but it’s such a time-sink.
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December 24th, 2012 at 1:46 am
I try and restrict my playing to just a couple of hours after dinner. It beats TV. 🙂
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December 23rd, 2012 at 6:38 am
“I’m hardwired to see the good in any situation,”…this thing about you made me go through my NaNo…you are awesome…hope you feel good again soon…usually i would suggest icecream..always works.. 🙂
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December 24th, 2012 at 1:49 am
lol – I don’t actually like ice-cream very much. Chocolate however…. 😀
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December 22nd, 2012 at 4:35 am
Sorry you’re struggling so. I imagine it’s very frustrating. I hope it sorts out for you. Hopefully you can burn off some of that stress-induced adrenalin by gaming. 🙂
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December 24th, 2012 at 1:59 am
I did, thanks. 🙂 And I’m slowly getting my skill set up. I worked out how to display a cover image today and discovered that my Kindle is capable of showing greyscale images. Now I just need to make those grey-on-grey pics look really dramatic… And finish cleaning for xmas and cook for xmas eve and… I think I need some chocolate.
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December 24th, 2012 at 2:15 am
Oh, boy, I’m stressed just thinking about it!
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December 25th, 2012 at 8:53 pm
lmao – If I get this working I’ve made a resolution to finally work out how to use my damn mobile phone… in 2013!
Hope you are having a wonderful holiday period and come back brighter than ever in 2013. 😀
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December 21st, 2012 at 11:53 pm
As a non-tech who always needs the help of others, I admire your ability to persevere. I’d have tossed the laptop across the room by now.
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December 24th, 2012 at 2:01 am
I only have a desktop so my options are restricted to swearing a lot and maybe kicking the odd chair. 😀
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December 21st, 2012 at 11:00 pm
Just reading about it made my brain hurt…. Good luck…. 😦
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December 21st, 2012 at 7:31 pm
I feel your pain Andrea, I have had similar issues in the past with things like that. The one that annoys me is when you accept the changes, you have to remember to check that there are no double spaces, or double punctuation marks anywhere.
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December 21st, 2012 at 8:45 pm
Yeah. 😦 On top of everything else I’m going to have to go through and proof it again. -sigh-
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December 21st, 2012 at 5:33 pm
Oh Dear, The World of Warcraft is in for a real hammering now.ha ha
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December 21st, 2012 at 8:47 pm
Daud! That’s a horrible thing to say. I stopped playing WoW years ago. :p GW2 is my mmo of choice, thanks very much. [Guild Wars 2].
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December 21st, 2012 at 4:51 pm
I didn’t use Story Box, but can sooooo relate. Do a Scarlet O’Hara and think about it tomorrow.
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December 21st, 2012 at 8:49 pm
Oh!?! Could I do a Rhett Butler instead? “I don’t give a damn” [with that look] is what I’m feeling right now. 😀
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