Today's blog is a bit of a challenge... Next week, there is an exhibition in Thurso Art Gallery (it's the back room of the library, for any people in the area who are are interested in going along!) entitled Caithness Connections . I've had a little sneak peek on social media and been amazed by the variety of ideas the artists have used to consider the theme. It set me thinking about how differently people see their home, and how greatly it differs to how other people see it. Caithness is not a well-explored area, either in tourism (although this has improved since the NC500 route became popular) or in the arts, as its near neighbour Orkney. This is not always a bad thing - the Orkney which exists now is a far cry from the one I knew as home in my childhood thanks to the insane amount of cruise ship traffic, but when you say Caithness to most people from outwith Northern Scotland, most of them have no idea where it is if they've even heard of it. A few years ago, I wro...
Day 7 -Thursday 7th November 2019 – Software
Now the world has moved into the technological age we’ve largely abandoned the pen for the keyboard. I do still have one story which I love writing by hand, but by and large my writing is now done on a computer – usually my laptop.
It’s taken me a long time to settle into any form of writing
software, but these days I tend to gravitate towards Scrivener for my
writing. I (mostly) like the layout, and
I find its sensible approach understandable enough so that even I know
what’s going on! The use of the binder
and corkboard approach is really easy to use and keep tabs on. But I’ve got to be honest, I have no idea how
most of it works! Ultimately, my books
make their way into Word, are shaped and formatted, and then converted to .pdf
files. In this way, I feel like I’m
using the best aspect of all the software I have!
Here are a few considerations about choosing the best software
for you:
- What do you want it to do? If you’re after a word processor document, you really can’t beat Word, but it’s much more difficult to cross-reference research than in writing software like Scrivener. For a professional level, .pdf files are the most reliable, but when you’re converting them, remember to embed your fonts, or some of your characters can be distorted or lost.
- Software doesn’t feel loyalty. Don’t feel restricted to only one programme, you
can get the best of all
worldssoftware! - There’s no right and wrong. If you decide you’re happier writing your story on a different programme, on a typewriter, or by hand, that’s fine! Just find a willing volunteer who will copy it up for you at a later date. BUT always keep copies of your writing. You may not like it now, but I guarantee you will be disappointed if you lose it!
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