First of all I would like to welcome all new followers on Networked Blogs and Google Friend Connect.
Henley's Ricotta is almost done. I've spent a lot of time working out how to format a word document to Kindle. It's supposed to be easy, but maybe I'm a slow learner. I ended up purchasing some software to do the job for me. For those who don't know (which included me until recently) the reason word doc, pdf or whatever format you want to install on a Kindle, needs to be in an 'epub' format or 'kindle content' is that it can retain its format when the Kindle reader changes the size of the font.
Anyway I got there in the end and emailed it to my Kindle. Currently Henley's has a readership of one; the author. At this point in time I need to be the only reader. I found myself seeing my book through different eyes. No longer are they the eyes of a writer, I am seeing my book as a reader, and lo and behold, I can see that it needs some more editing. After painstakingly daisy-grubbing my laptop screen-shaped prose over and over again, it was all too easy for me to miss easy mistakes, such as sentence structure and minor inconsistencies with either character or plot. When a writer has created the story, it seems the mind doesn't allow the eye to linger over the words long enough to spot what should be an obvious error. But in book form, I found I'm looking at a finished product, and the effect was immediate. I was able to forget who had written it and began page turning in a more objective way.
For anyone who hasn't got a Kindle or any other similar device, you're not missing out because Microsoft Word's 'Full Screen Reading' view has the same effect. I have tried writing in 'Full Screen' thingummy, but it put's me right off course. When I'm writing I need to be a writer not a reader.
Hopefully I will be off to Harrogate this week for Theakstons Old Peculier Crimewriting Festival. I say hopefully because I've not been too well lately, but fingers crossed I'll make it. If I don't publish a post whilst I'm there I'll write one when I get back.
Anyway I got there in the end and emailed it to my Kindle. Currently Henley's has a readership of one; the author. At this point in time I need to be the only reader. I found myself seeing my book through different eyes. No longer are they the eyes of a writer, I am seeing my book as a reader, and lo and behold, I can see that it needs some more editing. After painstakingly daisy-grubbing my laptop screen-shaped prose over and over again, it was all too easy for me to miss easy mistakes, such as sentence structure and minor inconsistencies with either character or plot. When a writer has created the story, it seems the mind doesn't allow the eye to linger over the words long enough to spot what should be an obvious error. But in book form, I found I'm looking at a finished product, and the effect was immediate. I was able to forget who had written it and began page turning in a more objective way.
For anyone who hasn't got a Kindle or any other similar device, you're not missing out because Microsoft Word's 'Full Screen Reading' view has the same effect. I have tried writing in 'Full Screen' thingummy, but it put's me right off course. When I'm writing I need to be a writer not a reader.
Hopefully I will be off to Harrogate this week for Theakstons Old Peculier Crimewriting Festival. I say hopefully because I've not been too well lately, but fingers crossed I'll make it. If I don't publish a post whilst I'm there I'll write one when I get back.
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