McAnally's (The Community Pub) > Author Craft
Length and transition
Starbeam:
The progam I use(Mac program) gives me the option of seeing printed page count or typical paperback page count. Along with total word count(currently about 18500) and session word count(about 3500 for what I wrote and typed up from the past week or so.), and I can reset the session word count whenever I want. I think the PC equivalent program would probably be yWriter, though I haven't used it.
meg_evonne:
Do you like the Mac for writing? I've always used word.doc on PC/laptop. I suspect that my laptop will blow a gasket before the year is out. It is running very hot, so the fan isn't working too well anymore. Have been wondering if I should make a switch or not. Your thoughts?
RobJN:
I've been running on Mac for about eight years now, and will only touch a PC at work because I have no choice.
As far as writing goes, MS Word is even better on Mac than it is for PC.
Mac also has the iWork Pages program, which took over for the old Appleworks word processing program. Pages still feels a bit rough, and can't seem to make up its mind whether or not it's a word processor or page layout program. The biggest problem I've found with it is that I keep thinking "how would I do it in MSWord" instead of "what makes sense to do?" ;)
Another program, Scrivener, is only available on Mac, and it's what I use for most of my preliminary writing.
I heartily recommend you either hit up the Apple website and take a look at the Pages demos and walkthroughs, or -- even better -- if you live near an Apple store, head in and get your fingertips on one of the machines.
You may find that the iBook/MacBook might be a bit on the pricey side, but the machines last. I got a Powerbook back in mid 2000 and only replaced it a couple years ago. And at the time, it was the "midline" model. So if you do go with a Mac, it's money very well spent.
Starbeam:
--- Quote from: meg_evonne on July 17, 2009, 06:36:16 PM ---Do you like the Mac for writing? I've always used word.doc on PC/laptop. I suspect that my laptop will blow a gasket before the year is out. It is running very hot, so the fan isn't working too well anymore. Have been wondering if I should make a switch or not. Your thoughts?
--- End quote ---
Love it. I kinda want to get a new one, but the most I can come up with as a reason is that there's a small sliver on the edge that's broken lose, and I just taped that. And the hard drive is smaller than I would prefer. Aside from that, the couple problems I've actually had were program based--iTunes screwing up, and a known issue in the program I write with. So while the Macs are more expensive, they have so much more staying power. Plus, with the current OS, there's an option thingie to install and run Windows, if you have a copy not being used elsewhere. And should run better, too. Best Buy also sells Macs now, but I have no clue if the sales people would be as knowledgeable as the Apple store.
The program I use is Jer's Novel Writer, which looks somewhat similar to the Scrivener thing. I like it cause I can have all my notes/character descriptions/whatnot just right there. It works well with the way I tend to write.
Darwinist:
What's a good font size and spacing to go with? I've been using 11pt Calibri font with 1.5 spacing. It was something my writing teacher recommended in comm college a few years back. Someone mentioned above that they prefer 12pt? Should I try 12pt Arial with doublespacing? That's another I've heard before. I'm a long ways away from sending in manuscripts, but figured I should start doing things right from the start.
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