Has this ever happened to you? You’re about a hundred pages deep into editing your manuscript, changing a phrase here and adding a scene there – and then you run across a paragraph that you’re sure you deleted in the last go-round. And then you realize why it’s still there: you’re not working in the most recent version of your file.
You might think your options are limited at this point to: a) pulling up the correct file, setting it side-by-side with the file you’re presently working in, and spending a couple of hours manually transferring all of today’s edits into the right file; b) chucking the computer out of the nearest window, or c) sobbing. But you have another, much more appealing option: you can use Microsoft Word’s Compare function. Continue reading “How Using Compare in Microsoft Word Can Save Your Manuscript (and Sanity)”
The conversation in the minion canteen sometimes takes interesting twists. The other day the authors in the group started discussing the process they use to produce a book. They also discussed which things they pay for, what they do themselves, and those they trade or barter to accomplish. (When we complain about how empty our stomachs are after eating, we’re told how ungrateful we are to have the opportunity to slave for one of the best websites around, so we’ve learned to talk about other things, like writing.) Having nothing to contribute to this discussion and knowing how these things always turn out (the Evil Mastermind or his Enforcer asking “who wants to do a post on this?”) I started taking notes.