This week, we finally managed to install our new (not new ) item of furniture - a mid-18th Century grandfather clock. It's not bright and shiny like more modern ones, but a dark oak with a warm patina which the beeswax polish is drawing out. In order to set it up, we had to do a certain amount of research - how to hang the pendulum, where the weight went on the endless chain - and it got me thinking... where and when did certain divisions of time come from? The time periods which I have written either had household clocks or didn't, I have not written novels from the time of their invention. Clocks have been around for a long time, and the obsession with measuring time in an ordered fashion dates back to at least the ancient Sumerians. It was they who established a circular reading of time and, I imagine, the sixty seconds/minutes came about as much because it was an easy way to divide a circle as anything else. But it wasn't until much later that the precision of seconds ...
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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