This week has been a mad one. Close to the start of the Christmas period, we found out that Mum would be having a thyroidectomy on Candlemas (the final day of the Christmas season). Of course, this was not enough to spoil Christmas. As readers of this blog are no doubt aware, Christmas happens in a big way in this house. But when the day finally arrived it was nonetheless met with, if not fear, definite nervousness. I'm pleased to say that the procedure seems to have been a great success! And wouldn't it have been? Thyroid treatment has been developing for over four thousand years. You know me - somewhat obsessed with putting doctors, nurses, physicians and surgeons in my historical fiction - I made a (very brief) wander into the realms of researching the topic. I was surprised by the results. The earliest I could find a reference to treatments for thyroid issues (in this instance a goitre) came in 2697BC, when the legendary Yellow Emperor recorded the use of seaweed in treati...
Wednesday 27th November - Formatting
We're getting to the end of NaNoWriMo now. I'm just about on track to complete the 50 000 words by the end of Saturday, but it's been a real trial.
I start so many things that I give up on, so I am thrilled that I have stuck with NaNoWriMo in my very first year of doing it. I think part of the reason is my sister who completed her word count earlier on in the month. She's been very supportive, but also...I just don't want her to beat me!
So, when you've actually finished your book...in fact, when you've finished editing and redrafting, and then editing, and proofreading, and then editing your book, you have to start thinking about putting it out there in book form.
For the sake of this blog, I have concentrated on formatting ebooks.
Now, there's no reason to reinvent the wheel. There are programmes out there which help you format your ebook manuscript, and the best one I've found is Calibre.
Available here, this free programme allows you to change your word file into epub, mobi, or whatever other ebook format you can think of. It's really very simple:
We're getting to the end of NaNoWriMo now. I'm just about on track to complete the 50 000 words by the end of Saturday, but it's been a real trial.
I start so many things that I give up on, so I am thrilled that I have stuck with NaNoWriMo in my very first year of doing it. I think part of the reason is my sister who completed her word count earlier on in the month. She's been very supportive, but also...I just don't want her to beat me!
So, when you've actually finished your book...in fact, when you've finished editing and redrafting, and then editing, and proofreading, and then editing your book, you have to start thinking about putting it out there in book form.
For the sake of this blog, I have concentrated on formatting ebooks.
Now, there's no reason to reinvent the wheel. There are programmes out there which help you format your ebook manuscript, and the best one I've found is Calibre.
Available here, this free programme allows you to change your word file into epub, mobi, or whatever other ebook format you can think of. It's really very simple:
Step 1: Download and open Calibre on your computer
Step 2: Click on "add books" in the top left hand corner.
Step 3: Choose a story from your computer to convert into ebook format
Your file should appear at the top of the list.
Step 4: Click on "Edit Metadata" in the top toolbar.
Step 5: Fill in the appropriate boxes, and choose a cover file from your computer, if you like. The more metadata you fill in, the better.
Step 6: Click on "Convert Books" in the top toolbar.
Step 7: Choose the output format (what format you want your book to be) in the top corner, and then press "OK" in the bottom corner.
The new file format should appear in the right hand side of the programme.
Step 8: If you'd like to save your epub file onto your computer (eg. if you want to upload it to a website later on) then right click on where it says "EPUB" and click on "Save the Epub format to disc"
If you want another format (eg. Mobi) instead of Epub, just choose the correct output format on Step 7.
So, you'll be left with a formatted ebook. You should go through the entire of the ebook checking the formatting before you put it out there. I know it's annoying, but it'll be a lot better in the long run!
Happy Writing!
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