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Tag Archives: editing

Is Printing Supposed to be a Nightmare?

Is Printing Supposed to be a Nightmare?

No, printing is not supposed to be a nightmare. It is supposed to be amazingly easy. Even if you want to do something slightly irregular, like double-sided pages while with a landscape layout, printing at home has become an easy thing. So, why did it take me over an hour to get a document to print “correctly” only after I had completely reformatted it?

I have no idea.

The Nightmare Begins

I received a document to edit formatted for half-page size. Because I prefer to edit hard-copy, I went to print it out. My theory was that I could print two half-page sheets on one piece of paper. Well, Word and/or my printer did not agree. It didn’t help that I also wanted to print double sided, which apparently added a whole new level of confusion to the mix.

What I kept getting were four pages to a sheet without filling up the full piece of paper. As you might imagine, that was a bit difficult to read.

Pride Kicks In

I advertise myself as someone who will make Microsoft do my bidding. I have figured out more software out of stubbornness than anything else. So, when the published instructions didn’t work, I got a bit miffed.

My next thought was to take it to Acrobat. I have a full version, so I’m able to do more to a PDF than your average Joe.

Wouldn’t you know it? Adobe didn’t want to help me either. It wouldn’t print two pages to one sheet of paper; it wouldn’t let me manhandle the pages and force them two to a sheet; it WOULD print four pages in very small font on one sheet.

ARGH!

Killing the Nightmare

Because what I needed was readable copy on 8.5 x 11 paper, I gave up on “finesse” and went for my friend the sledgehammer by completely reformatting the document.

There was formatting work that needed doing anyway, so that eased my pride some. The problem was then putting my edits into the original half-page document to send back. Putting hand edits into a digital document is never a cake walk; the fact that my page numbers weren’t even close just made it that much more annoying.

Lessons Learned?

Not really. Since I never got the output I really wanted, I didn’t learn some new trick to manipulate Microsoft. I guess it’s good to confront one’s fallibility from time-to-time – but who really wants to do that?

– Lorrie Nicoles

Editing Company or Editor?

Editing Company or Editor?

I keep thinking about writing a blog on self-publishing, then I get a different idea. Today, my self-publishing research became sidetracked by the Book Editing Services page on the BookBaby website. BookBaby seems to be the Full-Service Self-Publishing company of choice these days. I’m sure there are others, but my searches, random readings, and the… Continue Reading

Editing for Self-Publishing Authors

Editing for Self-Publishing Authors

With plenty of variations on the theme, I see four general categories of authors who self-publish. They just want to publish something for their close friends and family. They have a story to tell, a message to share, that they hope will go beyond just their social media connections. Their book is a marketing piece… Continue Reading

What Type of Editing do You Do?

What Type of Editing do You Do?

This question used to drive me nuts. Most folks know that my “formal” training in putting words together is fairly minimal, so for a long time I didn’t know that there were different types of editors, let alone what they were called. Editing was just the process of making written text better – I didn’t… Continue Reading

Writing, Editing & Word Smithing

I recently let my sister rant about the term Value Proposition and why it annoys her. And a very good rant it was. I try to allow my sister her opinions (like I have a choice) and yet, I must defend the term “wordsmith.” Jen defined “word-smithing” as editing. There’s actually more to it. Dictionary.com… Continue Reading