Sometimes I think computers are the greatest things that have ever happened to mankind. Other times, I know they are the invention of the Devil, or one of my ex mothers-in-law, designed to make my life miserable!
As I reported the other day, I’ve been trying to get my Big Lake mystery novel formatted for print. I was having all kinds of problems with the page layout, and when I mentioned it to my pal Froggi Donna McNicol on Monday, she sprang into action, went online, and found some prefab page templates for InDesign, including one that was exactly what I needed. There’s a reason they call Donna the Google Queen!
With the new template, it should have been very easy to lay the book out and send the files to the printer. Yeah, you’d think so, wouldn’t you? But of course, you’d be wrong! I reformatted the book yesterday, converted it into a PDF file, and everything looked great. Except, the page numbers were wrong. So I spent a couple of hours trying this and trying that, getting more frustrated by the moment, and finally, I hit on the right combination of trial and error and got the page numbers to work right.
So, I made the PDF again, everything looked great, and I uploaded the file to the printer, again. Their automatic format checker sent me an e-mail letting me know that I needed to adjust the page height just a wee bit. Okay that was easy enough, I made the change, made a another new PDF file, and sent it off. Twenty minutes later, the printer’s robot sent me an e-mail letting me know that all of the chapter headings were now misplaced! Now how the heck did that happen? Finally, about 10:30 P.M., I gave up and decided to sleep on it, and try again today and see what happens.
Meanwhile, Miss Terry was giving in to the demands of so many of her fans to post a new blog with her oatmeal flax bread recipe. She made up several loaves of bread, we dutifully took pictures of the process, and she tried to post the blog. Well you can guess how that came out! I keep Terry working so hard that she never seems to have the time to update her Miss Terry’s Kitchen blog, and apparently something got changed since she last did, or else we forgot how to do it. Terry tried this, and tried that, and no matter what she did, the recipe showed up under my blog instead of hers! She finally got that all worked out a 2 A.M. and the blog uploaded. Check out her newest recipe, and give it a try.
Yesterday I got a new subscription from a gentleman named Ron Bremer who, as it turns out, lives in the same town I did, back in Arizona’s White Mountains. Ron wrote to tell me that he had grown up in Oregon, and spent a lot of time on the coast as a youngster, so the issue he saw of the Gypsy Journal that covered our trip up the coast last summer really caught his eye. Ron also asked if I would spread the word about a new White Mountain chapter of the FMCA. If you live in Arizona’s high country, and would like to join, you can contact Ron at bremerhavenbkb@cableone.net.
We’re supposed to have rain and thunderstorms today, and then it’s going to clear out tomorrow. Assuming that actually happens, we plan to head over to Crystal River and get our kayaks wet on Thursday. I’m really looking forward to it.
Thought For The Day – Patience is not the ability to wait, but to keep a good attitude while waiting.
Nick Russell
World-Famous, New York Times Best Selling Author, and All-Around Nice Guy!
If it’s going to rain today, pull out the kayaks and they will get wet.
Do we ever understand slow computor issues. We are sitting in Mohave Valley, AZ in a freinds metal buildinf shop. Marginal extended service at best. Then it is not a book but still frustrating. I called Monday AM and ordered parts out of Oklahoma to ship overnight. so I called this AM to see if they were shipped and they are out of them and looking. Sure seems like a long time since 12-31-11 when we arrive here.
Has Ron Bremer read ‘Big Lake” yet? bet he would really enjoy the story and might go looking for the locations.