K.M. Frontain's Blog, page 29

My tweets

Tue, 19:12 : Ok, so Lulu doesn't like Georgia font. I learned how to change the style of "normal" in a Word doc, to apply throughout the doc. Tue, 19:13 : And I found strange glitchiness in Word while doing this, but I think the docs are ok now. All in Garamond again. Tue, 19:14 : Word insisted one time, that normal was Times New Roman while all the doc was Georgia. And after changing normal, the doc did not change. Tue, 19:14 : I had to select all, change to Garamond, recheck the normal settings, save, close, open, and look again to see if everything fit. Tue, 19:15 : And then manually remove any weirdness in the formatting that Word still hadn't changed after telling it to do so globally on the doc. Tue, 19:15 : Word is broken. Very. It shouldn't have to be told things umpteen times after a select all and then a click on a font. Tue, 19:16 : My next updates will be later this week. I'm still checking continuity between earlier books and latest. All tweaks will be added in first. Wed, 01:30 : Smashwords has had all my updated files loaded. Tomorrow will be the longer process of reloading to Lulu and then Kindle.

My tweets

Mon, 15:47 : Tomorrow I will upload new versions of Smashwords docs with left curled apostrophe corrections. Mon, 15:49 : I missed those when searching and replacing for unformatted punctuation, so they don't show in the mobi version yet.

My tweets

Sun, 14:48 : Freeeeeeee! Use the coupon. HV55N #freebook #fantasy #glbtq https://t.co/iqxmD3fl #free with coupon. Sun, 16:15 : Ok, so after more long hours, I have clean source files of all epub versions. With curled quotes. I shall make a special folder for uncurled Sun, 16:16 : And now I'm relaxing rest of today.

My tweets

Sat, 12:42 : Back to readying the remaining Soulstone Chronicles for Smashwords. Sat, 12:43 : I've had a few sales. Nice to see them. Thank you readers. Sat, 12:44 : I've had the big cringe this weekend. Reading my work on the Playbook reader, I see things I would change now. Sat, 12:45 : I'm really not the same writer I was back when I wrote Redemptions 1 and 2, which happened ten or so years ago. Sat, 12:46 : Someday, I may end up making an edition three or four of the first two Redemptions, but for now, only minor fixes will occur. Sat, 12:48 : But just so you know, it is true that if you don't write it, it can't be fixed. So write. Just write. Be brilliant or stupid. Fix later. Sat, 13:13 : OMG! I found a line of periods near the end of D2 in the doc file. Gremlins! Gremlins in MS Word. Worst of this is, it's not in the ePUB. c Sat, 13:14 : So where did the dots come from? Which file is the good file? I thought this one. Now I'm not sure. Sat, 13:15 : The file is showing a save, as of today, that I did not ask for. Sons a beee! Gremlins! Gremlins! Gremlins! Sat, 13:17 : No, wait. I saved after removing the damned dots. But I checked a backup. It has the dots too. How did they get in after I already pubbed? Sat, 13:18 : I'm having allergy problems today. :-( Sniffling and coughing while working. Sat, 13:41 : Disposition headings done on Word. Now to do R1 and R2 and then go to Ubuntu. Sat, 14:52 : Just finished the final formatting for the remaining docs for Smashwords on Ubuntu. Time to upload. Sat, 14:58 : Cleaning up my Twitter board while waiting. Sat, 15:33 : I'm just not importing all ebook versions for a check on their format quality. Sat, 15:43 : Ok, only found one tiny thing I accidentally left at font 12. Sat, 15:50 : I think I may not have saved before uploading R2, because it's missing apostrophes in the mobi version. Must re-upload. Sat, 16:21 : I have found some pesky , " that must be replaced with ," Also same for ? " and ! " Sat, 16:34 : OMG, I hate non formatted quote marks. I think the stupid find and replaced lost spaces between sentences because of lack of quote format. Sat, 19:38 : Curled quotes are way better than non-curled. Why? Everything fucks up if you find and replace non-curled that has extra spaces. Sat, 19:39 : Anyhow, I must redo all the good Smashwords files eventually, but only one actual ebook was screwed over by the kerfluffle. Sat, 19:59 : Well...I'm tired. Been at this converting docs since right after waking up. Sat, 20:21 : I do believe all of The Soulstone Chronicles is safely up on Smashwords now. Sat, 20:30 : Anyhooooo, everyone can start buying from Smashwords instead of Kindle if they want. That way they access both ePUB and Mobi file types. Sat, 20:32 : I'm done for now. Gotta rest. Gotta watch movie. Gotta shower. OMG! I want shower! Sat in front of computer all day! Sat, 20:32 : Smash computer across room! Random house breakage! Scare the birds! The cats! Eat dog. Sat, 20:32 : Wait. Just want shower.

My tweets

Thu, 15:36 : Let's see if Bound3 is a painless pub on Smashwords, now that I know the exact order of steps to follow to clean the doc using Ubuntu. Thu, 15:47 : Success on first try with Bound3. So now I just have to the remaining in series, then back to work on Redemption3. Thu, 15:49 : Reminder #freebook with this code HV55N #epicfantasy #fantasy #glbtq https://t.co/iqxmD3fl Thu, 15:49 : I have two books in my series I purposely tried to keep free for the longest time, until Lulu forced a 99� price on me for the ePUB edition. Thu, 15:50 : RT @wl552: Another very flattering post about my novel Fragile Bones: https://t.co/pLrjEk6l Thu, 15:52 : Anyhow, the two books are still free on Lulu as PDF files, but today and tomorrow https://t.co/iqxmD3fl #free with coupon. HV55N Thu, 15:53 : These cleaned up Smashword version docs may become my standard for repubbing all the series on Lulu and Kindle later. Thu, 15:54 : Except with the docs I use on Lulu, I can keep the em dashes, because of Calibre. #Calibre awesome program! Get it! Donate! Thu, 15:55 : I would have been screwed without Calibre, Ubuntu and my Playbook, because all three helped fix my electronic edition pubs. Thu, 15:56 : Daughter home soon. I'll be booted off the computer until later tonight. :-( Thu, 15:57 : I can keep the formatted quotes too, because of Calibre. And the formatted apostrophes. Thu, 15:57 : Is 'cause I use the ePUB version on Calibre and convert to mobi and then upload to Kindle. All the formatted punctuation is preserved. Thu, 18:44 : RT @elfquest: 28 days to go - can we find 1,385 new likes? Of course we can! :D Thu, 23:19 : Am displeased with the amount of eye busy-ness occurring in R2. Wrote the series many years ago. If I go back to edit again, brain may melt. Thu, 23:20 : Yes, I know I'm supposed to be on R3, but I'm doing continuity checks using the Playbook and I keep seeing eye references. Thu, 23:21 : Eyes are important, but yeah, my style of writing has changed. Maybe is not so bad once your into the story. Maybe. Thu, 23:28 : And now to get Gryphon1 fixed up for Smashwords. Off to get an Canadian ISBN assigned. Fri, 00:31 : I am now on Ubuntu formatting punctuation and font of all Gryphon books at once. Fri, 01:01 : And The Gryphon Taint 1 is up on Smashwords. Looks fine. Fri, 01:08 : Gryphons 2 and 3 are in the conversion queue. Fri, 01:18 : Okay, that's it for the night. I'm going to catch up on pubbing the remaining Smashwords editions tomorrow. Now that I know what to do, easy Fri, 01:18 : Gotta love leaving out a period because of tweet character limitations. Fri, 01:21 : Use the coupon. Good on 15th June. Good now. #freebook #fantasy #glbtq https://t.co/iqxmD3fl #free with coupon. HV55N Fri, 01:23 : The Gryphon Taint: Volume One is the least glbtq of all my books in the series. I was still mentally straight back when I wrote it. Fri, 01:23 : Now I'm all twisty. Fri, 01:25 : I shall send my twisty self to bed now. Maybe I'll sleep. Fri, 01:25 : That would be a twist. Fri, 02:19 : Still not asleep. Checking Gryphon1 on PlayBook, found error. :( Looks like an error from a bad select and replace. Will have to fix. Fri, 11:16 : Haven't slept much. Did a new upload of Gryphon 3 on all sites (Kindle, Lulu, Smashwords). Weird cut and paste error fixed. (cont) Fri, 11:16 : But I saw another error, small one, and forgot where it was, though I did see a bunch of heavenly somehow switched to heaveny. Stupid! cont. Fri, 11:17 : Sometimes I think there are gremlins in the computer making words disappear or smush together during the save process. Fri, 11:18 : Had to unload and reload my ereader on the Playbook. It refused to update to the new Gryphon3 file. Weirdness. But it is behaving fine now. Fri, 11:21 : RT @neilhimself: The world will be your judge. RT @choochoobear: @stillphosphor @neilhimself I have no excuse for what I have done. http ... Fri, 11:21 : Anyone else seen Tea with Alan Rickman? Fri, 11:24 : I It's Epic Tea with Alan Rickman. It's so epic! Waaaah! I watched it using my Playbook connected to the big TV. Waaah! Fri, 11:24 : What the hell is wrong wiht my fnigers tish morning? Fri, 11:27 : I'm badly in need of sleep, I think. Rambling. Found a plot poo in G3 but have not fixed. It can be waved off as a show of honour on (cont) Fri, 11:28 : (cont)...the part of my evil sorcerer. I may someday add the necessaries to explain to readers, cont Fri, 11:29 : In case the reader forgot from the Bound set that Sevet keeps his word with allies, until the allies are stupid enough to break an contract. Fri, 11:31 : Freeeeeeee! Use the coupon. HV55N #freebook #fantasy #glbtq https://t.co/iqxmD3fl #free with coupon. Fri, 11:32 : My books are also on Kindle, iTunes and Nook, for those wanting to download to their devices via bookselling services. Fri, 11:35 : Not sure how long it will take for Smashwords to get the stories on Sony and Kobo. Fri, 11:36 : And now I will take my tired fingers off this keyboard and nap. </lj-cut

My tweets

Wed, 14:05 : Today I'm experimenting with Libre Office headings. I'm just now uploading another version of B1 using these. We'll see how it turns out. Wed, 14:05 : If it works, B2 will go up on Smashwords within the half hour. Wed, 14:10 : OMGosh, it's horrific. I have huge errors in style everywhere using the Libre Office formatting. Going back to earlier version. Sigh. Wed, 14:12 : This means my slow, slow, slow page by page hunt form headers and footers removal in B2 must continue using earlier version doc. Wed, 14:13 : hunt for not hunt form; bleh Wed, 14:19 : Ok, that really sucked. I was so hopeful Libre Office would have non confusing headings. Wed, 14:20 : So as it stands, all stories started in Word must have their headings preserved while adjusting paragraphs in Libre Office. Wed, 14:21 : And it also means I should start new stories in Word on Windows, to again have decent headings, and avoid all extraneous formatting. Wed, 14:22 : But only with regards to electronic editions. Wed, 14:23 : Happy Birthday, @wl552 Give her a Bday present and buy her book. #darkfic https://t.co/C5L3Y9pp Wed, 14:26 : Well, I'm off for a bit. Got things to do that don't involve flattening my butt on a chair. Wed, 22:55 : Well, here I am trying yet another format version of B1 on Smashwords. Will know soon if I succeeded. Wed, 22:57 : Yep. I have formatting OCD. Definitely. Wed, 22:59 : Hey! Whoever you are who downloaded B1 yesterday from Smashwords, get the version with italics. 0.0 Wed, 23:06 : Ok, so the epub version of this new trial has font errors, and the mobi version is still missing em dashes. Back to work. Wed, 23:09 : And formatted ellipses are missing in the mobi version to. And now I know that doesn't work either. Wed, 23:18 : At this point, I'm manually searching for formatted ones and weeding them out. I'll try the code. Thanks. Wed, 23:25 : Ok, so since Word 2003 is being a dick again about hiding weird format under "normal", I'm off to Ubuntu to try and tell the doc what to do. Wed, 23:47 : Owah! I have a really successful version at last. Looks good in ePUB and mobi. Wed, 23:48 : So. Libre Office sucks the big one for headers, but Word does not. Word sucks for hiding wrong format within the normal text, LO does not. Wed, 23:48 : And I have formatted a doc with Word made headers, preserved italics with Libre Office enforced font, that does not hide shit. Wed, 23:49 : And now to do the same with all other books in series. Wed, 23:51 : I went from Garamond to Georgia font because I still haven't figured how to get Garamond on Libre Office, not that it matters now. Wed, 23:52 : And now to reboot and go back to Word on Windows. Btw, Windows faster since I ran latest cleaner program. Yay! Wed, 23:55 : New coupon! HX22R #freebook #fantasy #glbtq #epicfantasy #sorcery etc. etc. https://t.co/iqxmD3fl Thu, 00:09 : @wl552 Thanks for the RT. Thu, 00:37 : Doing my first test of B2 on Smashwords based on the tricks used for B1 to overcome Word's stubborness. Thu, 00:38 : I started these books with a much older version of word, and Word 2003 isn't exactly nice about cleanly changing font when you ask it to. Thu, 00:44 : And now on to Ubuntu to fix pesky em dashes and formatted ellipses. Thu, 00:53 : I have found a very strange capitol O with an arrow pointing away in my doc. I don't know why it's there. :( Thu, 00:53 : I can't seem to remove it either. Thu, 00:53 : It causes a 1 to appear at the front of the mobi version. Thu, 01:52 : So that strange character O→ It screwed me over. I have to restart the B2 formatting from scratch for Smashwords. Thu, 07:27 : And yes, more small errors found in R2 that I fixed. Uploading new versions now. Thu, 07:28 : I said to @wl552 yesterday that I see the corny old stuff in my series and want to change it, but the editing would never end if I did. Thu, 07:29 : The oldest parts of The Soulstone Chronicles were written 16 years ago. The majority written somewhere between ten and 13 years ago. Thu, 07:30 : I suck at remembering time details. Really. I know my eldest child wasn't yet 18 when I wrote the majority of it. Thu, 07:31 : And I know I didn't live in my current house. That gives me 8 plus years before now. Thu, 08:56 : Redid the B2 Smashwords version after last night's weird unremovable code. So far looking good. Thu, 08:57 : Once again, I'm using a combo of Word and Libre Office to force all fonts to behave. Word sucks for font and Libre Office sucks for headings Thu, 08:57 : But between the two of them, all hidden shit in the doc that Word refuses to forget has been forgotten. Thu, 09:04 : Looks like I have a good version here. I'm done loading Bound in Stone: Volume Two on Smashwords. Thu, 09:07 : Here's a new coupon, good until tomorrow. HV55N #freebook #free #fantasy #epicfantasy #glbtq Bound in Stone Vol 1 https://t.co/iqxmD3fl Thu, 09:07 : And now let's hope B3 is nice to me when I load it later. First to nab an ISBN. Or nab a nap. Didn't sleep much again. Thu, 09:28 : Today am grateful for Ubuntu and my Playbook, both of which helped me fix format Word kept invisible, unchangeable and unforgotten. Thu, 09:29 : Seriously, how broke is a program that is told "remove all formatting" and yet you find weird formatting after the fact in the ebook? Thu, 09:30 : Or find fonts you never asked for or used? Broke, broke, broken Office. Thu, 09:31 : And now I'm going to nap. Tired. Thu, 09:33 : #freebook with coupon HV55N #glbtq #lgbtq Whatever btq you like, but it's epic fantasy. https://t.co/iqxmD3fl

My tweets

Tue, 15:56 : So I did my version of the nuclear option for Smashwords. I used Ubuntu's word processor, which finally killed MS Word formatting. Tue, 16:02 : To celebrate getting this book on Smashwords, here's a coupon, good until end of day WU85T #freebook #glbtq https://t.co/iqxmD3fl Tue, 16:04 : @wl552 Hey, got on computer very late. Daughter already home. She wants it, so I hope to catch you this evening. Gromp! <big hug Tue, 18:15 : This is very irritating. Smashwords has removed all punctuation other than a period from the Kindle version; that's what my reader sbows Tue, 18:20 : I've unpublished B1. Since I want the Smashwords pub for Kobo, I will re-upload and opt out of the mobi conversion. Tue, 19:40 : There is nothing worse than a mobi converter that dislikes em dashes. Shame on you Smashwords, for forcing me to use double hyphens. Tue, 19:53 : And Smashwords treatment of headings sucks the big one. The meatgrinder churned out titles and chapters that won't resize font. Tue, 19:54 : Lulu and Smashwords = with regards to poor treatment of headings. Tue, 19:56 : There's nothing I can do about the headings since Smashwords won't let me fix the epub myself, like I can with the Lulu epub. Tue, 20:04 : More Smashwords fail. I have font size differences in the ePUB version of one book that is not showing up in the mobi version. Tue, 20:34 : All right, so I believe I've managed to force the font to be correct at last. Involved changing the font to Georgia from TNRoman. Go figure. Tue, 20:34 : But the Smashwords epub version has the annoying error that refuses to change font size for chapter headings. Tue, 21:11 : I am testing a new version of one file with a properly inserted em dash using insert special symbol function. Tue, 23:31 : Interesting. Read article how to get em dash into doc, specifically for Smashword pubs. Said not to use horizontal bar by mistake. cont. Tue, 23:32 : But even though I followed the article, the em dash disappears from the mobi version that Smashwords creates. cont. Tue, 23:33 : So I tried the horizontal bar anyhow, since it looks a lot like an em dash. The mobi version shows the bars and they look like em dashes. Tue, 23:34 : They sort of look like em dashes; there's a bit more space between the dash and the characters to either side. Tue, 23:35 : Thing is, my reader now shows punctuation that was otherwise missing from the mobi version. And now to check epub version. Tue, 23:50 : I think this version of the pubs on Smashword, with a horizontal dash faking to be an em dash, will be the one I have to stick with.

My tweets

Mon, 22:23 : How much trouble can an amnesiac god with a curse of charisma get into? #fantasy #epicfantasy #glbtq #elves #99� http://t.co/V7T9FD6f Mon, 22:25 : Bound in Stone, epic fantasy #glbtq #99� Also on Nook and iTunes. http://t.co/FUVvxzCR Mon, 22:30 : A nice little article on pesky into vs in to. http://t.co/r4cVBBW6 Mon, 22:31 : Sometimes I hurt my brain worrying about these little grammar details. Oh! Blood on my keyboard! Ny nose! Mon, 22:32 : Today has been a "I have nasty arthritis in my back" day, and a "I went biking yesterday despite it." Owie. Mon, 23:16 : Smashwords meatgrinder sucks. That and I can't go in and modify the resultant files to make them work, like I can on Lulu. Mon, 23:17 : No matter what, Word 2003 adds in hidden shit that Smashwords fusses about. No amount of removed formatting fixes it. Mon, 23:19 : I'm going to make the Smashwords versions on Ubuntu. How's that for the nuclear method? MS Word format blitzkrieg! Mon, 23:20 : But I'll do it tomorrow. Tired. Formatting headache. MS Word hate you headache. Mon, 23:43 : RT @bergopolis: "Luke..." http://t.co/HEUHLewj </u

My tweets

Mon, 08:30 : I must do a new upload of R2. Been reading back and forth to ensure continuity between books. Found some things that had to be fixed. Mon, 09:18 : All right, updated version R2 is live on Lulu. Will take a while for changes to be in effect on iTunes, Nook and Kindle. Mon, 09:20 : I'm thinking of putting the series on Smashwords. I'll have to opt out of any repeat pubs offered by Smashwords (Nook and iTunes). Mon, 09:21 : Smashwords has Kobo, Sony and a couple other book sellers I don't know of. I'd like to have my book available on Kobo. Mon, 09:22 : So it's back to the Canadian ISBN service to get yet more ISBN's for yet another edition of each book in the series. Mon, 09:23 : I really hate making plurals out of weird words. ISBN's. ISBNs. I'm using 's out of habit, but I'm leaning toward killing the apostrophe. Mon, 09:23 : Apostrophe S for pluralizing unusual nouns is old style. Mon, 09:26 : But the 's might avoid confusion. Like if someone asked, "How many dos you have in that sentence?" Dos as in music? Or do's as in do. Mon, 09:27 : Not to mention there is dos and in DOS, but many of you may not remember DOS. Yes, I'm old!

My tweets

Wed, 18:23 : I am thoroughly sick of my Yahoo email getting hijacked by spammers. Been swearing a blue streak for last half hour. Wed, 18:25 : They use the address to make it seem I sent the email, but the spam is generated elsewhere. Wed, 18:26 : If the account wasn't linked to things like Facebook and whatever, I'd cancel it. Wed, 19:11 : How very strange that one person hit by the spam hijack isn't on my mail list. Wed, 20:10 : So, I've viewed the path of that spam email sent with my Yahoo addie. The signs are pointing to a mobile device weakness. Wed, 20:10 : Anyhow, all passwords are updated and the account logged out of from my mobile device.