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FEBRUARY 2005
Many of us like to dabble in creative writing, and so this month I
am going to give you my five top computing tips for when you are
ready to submit articles, stories and poems to magazines.
Word Count: Most publishers need to have an exact length of article
or story, so use the option on the Tools menu to count your words.
You can either count the words for the full document, or select a
block of text and count that.
If you often need to do this, add the Word Count button to your
toolbar so that it is always available:
1. Right-click an empty part of any toolbar and select Customize.
2. In the window that opens, click the Commands tab.
3. Find the Tools menu in the left pane and scroll down the labels
in the right-hand pane until you find the Word Count entry.
4. Click it, hold down the mouse button and drag the entry up to any
toolbar. A black line will show its position. When it is in place,
let go the mouse.
Double Space: Most manuscripts need to be submitted in double
spacing. To change your line spacing quickly, select the text and
then hold the Ctrl key with one hand as you click the number 2 key.
Return to single line spacing with Ctrl plus 1, or 1½ line spacing
with Ctrl plus 5.
Styles: Any long article probably has a title, main headings,
sub-headings and then body text. If you want to apply consistent
formatting throughout the work, you can do this with the use of
ready-made styles.
Next to the Font box on your formatting toolbar you will see another
box which has the word Normal showing in it. This is the Style box.
Click the arrow in this box and you will see a list of styles such
as Heading 1, Heading 2 etc. These are combinations of font types,
sizes and alignments that you can apply in one go – simply select
any text and then click the appropriate style.
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If you want parts of your document to have a new, unique style e.g.
Times New Roman size 10, bold and centred, you can create your own
style.
First make these changes to some normal text using your toolbar. Now
click the word Normal in the style box so that it is blue, then type
a name for your new style e.g. Size10 to replace Normal in the box.
Press the Enter key and your new style will be added to those
already there.
Headers and Footers: It is a very good idea to have your own name,
as well as page numbers or story title , on every sheet you submit
in case they become separated. Do this by adding a header (entry at
the top) or footer (entry at the bottom). Once you have set it up,
the same entry appears on all extra pages that you type.
1. Open the View menu and select the option.
2. For a header, type your details in the box or select a page
number (showing #) or date (showing red numbers) from the toolbar
that will appear.
3. Click the Switch Between button to move to the footer box for
more entries, or close the toolbar.
4. If you want to make changes, double-click the header or footer
entry – it will appear pale grey – and edit as normal.
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Replace a name: When you want to make the same change throughout
your story – perhaps because you have spelt a name wrong - you can
do this by using the Edit – Replace function.
Click the Replace option on the Edit menu and type the mis-spelt
word in the find what: box. Type the replacement word in the
replace
with: box and click the Find Next button. The first entry should be
highlighted and you can make the amendment by clicking the Replace
button. Work through your story finding and replacing all the
entries or take the shortcut, if you are sure it will be OK, by
clicking Replace All.
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