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Wednesday, December 13, 2017

The Writer's Life 12/13 - Battles

So what does the Alabama election mean in the long run - a comeback for Democrats? I have no idea, but from here on I expect many candidates will face charges of sexual harassment. It wouldn't surprise me if 50-75% of males have done something in the past, especially when young, that would be construed as disqualifying. That's one way to eliminate men from politics. The NY Post has dubbed Roy Moore a "perv" in its headline, although he has never been convicted of a crime. Does that constitute libel? It will be interesting to see if he sues his accusers and their facilitators, or if he simply slinks off into the sunset. Damn whoever was lying.

On a positive note, artist Peter Tunney was profiled in today's NY Post. He often uses the tabloid for his collages. Here's an example:


The file for the novel I intend to self-publish is off to Create Space for approval. It took a lot of work and patience to continue the process. The first step of the latest round was changing the format. The Word file was 8 1/2 by 11. That explained why the book was only 192 pages. That happened last year as well. There is an "auto correct" tab at CS especially designed for such a problem, but when I clicked on it a "page not found" came up after a long delay. I found a web article on how to make the change, and I eventually got it through trial and a lot of error. The book will be 321 pages. Last December, when the CS program for some bizarre reason had no tab for submission of a Word File, I transferred Five Cents to PDF at a free site and added page numbers at another free one, getting it right after many attempts. I did the same this year and the page numbers rested on top of the bottom border at CS, not above or below it - on top, cut in half. Rather than take a chance that they would show up properly in the print copy, I decided to regroup. Fortunately, I had the presence of mind to first scan the entire interior file. I found two errors. The title was bumped a tad from center and, for some reason, a couple of sentences went vertical, a single character per each line. Those were easy to correct. I then decided to try numbering with the Word program. Geez, what a pain in the butt. It was a couple of hours before I figured it out. To match the numbers to the page where the book actually begins, I had to divide the file into two sections. Still, the number one and the first page of the novel would not match up. It was driving me nuts. Then I came up with a sort of solution. I listed the start page as zero. I was shocked the program recognized it. So the book has a tiny flaw - a zero on the bottom of the blank fourth page. I can live with that. While re-checking the interior file I noticed another error. The asterisks I use, ***, to indicate a break within a chapter had been knocked from dead center to well right. I would have had to start all over again to change it. Since I anticipate finding other errors in the first proof copy, I can do it when I make those corrections. If by some miracle there aren't any, the off-center asterisks are another error I can live with. I began work at about 5:30 AM, took a couple of long breaks to read the paper, play guitar and eat, and finished at about 11:30.

The cold and wind put the kibosh on the floating book shop today. I filled the afternoon by writing out Christmas cards, burning a CD and filling out the play list, and making stops at the Post Office, CVS and Waj's gyro stand. The big bottle of Pepsi is currently .79 cents, limit three to a customer per the week. It was my second.
Vic's Sixth novel: http://tinyurl.com/zpuhucj 
Vic's Short Works: http://tinyurl.com/jy55pzc
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