Note: Please forgive, but I just realized MailChimp did not send out this post or the one after it. For that reason, I’m going to republish both of them. This one will go out on 8 May and the next one, which is titled “Learning,” will go out on 9 May. After that, we’ll be back on schedule with two final posts to close out the Microsoft Word for Writers series. My apologies for any confusion. … Read more
Hi Folks, I was just looking at my site stats. Shouldn’t do that, I know, but I did. Ugh. Seeing those stats prompted me to write this interim post concerning a pair of curiosities. Curiosity Number One Of 500+ subscribers to this blog, I typically get around 80 views. Oddly, that’s on the in-between posts, like this one. The “big” posts in the Microsoft Word for Writers series that I’m doing right now generally get around … Read more
Hi Folks, The Find & Replace function is the most useful tool in Microsoft Word. With the Find and Replace function, you can pretty much do magic. As one example, some narrators insist on writing “try and” instead of “try to.” If the writer knows his narrator has that particular problem, he can key in (without the quotation marks and where a # equals a blank space) “#try#and#” into the Find What box and then key … Read more
Hi Folks, Here come your Word Options, and there are a ton of them. The good news is, setting them isn’t that difficult and many of them need to be set only once. To access your options in Microsoft Word 2010, click File > Options. (Note: While the File menu is open your document will seem to disappear, but don’t be confused. It’s still there. To get it back, just click File again.) Once you click … Read more
Hi Folks, This is another in the non-series series of posts that I hope you might find useful. This morning I rolled out of bed right at 2 a.m. I’ve been getting up between 2 and 3 for quite awhile now. I consider it working the morning shift. Quiet time. Writing time. And on this particular morning, I awoke realizing I had a short story due. In April 2014, I challenged myself to write at least … Read more
This is not some asinine April Fool’s joke, but an actual post. Enjoy! Hi Folks, Time really is money, and one way to save a great deal of time when using Microsoft Word is to set up your Quick Access Toolbar. Doing so will also give you more screen space, a bonus if you’ve had your eyes more than about 12 years. We talked about the menu (also called the ribbon) last time, but the fact … Read more
Howdy folks, This is yet another in the “out of the series” series of mid-term posts that might answer a few questions for some of you. Recently a friend and fellow writer asked me for a recommendation of someone who could read his work. He explained that he wasn’t looking for an edit or even a proofread, but simply wanted someone to read it with an eye toward whether he should continue writing or shuck the … Read more
Hi Folks, There are several items available for use in the Word menu (also called the Ribbon), and most of us use the Ribbon as-is out of the box. However, just in case you want to customize it, here are some brief instructions. In this screenshot, the Ribbon is the horizontal white area that includes the menu tabs: File, Home, Insert, Page Layout, Review, and View. Other tabs are available (see Figure 5), but these are … Read more
Hi Folks, Well, here we are with another post that isn’t part of the usual series. Still, even with these that are not part of the normal series, I try to pass along what I’ve learned as a writer. This post is the result of an email I received in response to a recent short story of the week. The respondent (also a writer) writes, [H]ow do you manage to get all these stories edited? Congratulations … Read more
Hi Folks, This post and the next seven are excerpted and expanded from a seminar I put together awhile back titled “Microsoft Word for Writers.” I also posted this series before, a couple years ago, on this blog. However, I have updated the information where necessary. I encourage you to comment and share new information, but please question, comment or expand only on the topic of the current post. Today’s post briefly introduces Microsoft Word and … Read more