Formatting. The very word makes me quake. My friends,
publisher, and editors all run for the hills when I ask questions about making
my manuscript look pretty.
Some of my difficulties included:
1. Getting solid or
broken lines across my pages.
2. The case of the disappearing
header.
3. Wonky spacing.
What's a techy-challenged writer to do?
1. Hit the search
engines - whatever you use will work. They've steered me to solid answers on
how to use my Microsoft 2003 program. (Yes, 2003 - not a typo!)
2. Ask questions.
Someone eventually takes pity on me and unscrambles my brain.
3. Improvise. With my
current WIP, Out of the Mist, I got around the formatting problem by saving a
correct document with the next chapter number, deleting the content, and then
proceeding to write the new chapter. (Each chapter of my book is initially in
separate documents.)
I'm hoping when this manuscript is ready to be sent to my
publisher that it will be pristine. Maybe he and the editors will eventually
forget my past formatting woes.
Writers: What areas
of formatting trip you up?
Readers: This is more of a plea than a question. When you
see a formatting mistake, please extend some grace. This process isn't an easy
one, especially for the techy challenged among us.
Photo Credit: miljan
