Word – Jaye Em Edgecliff

I am determined to meet my release date goal — though I’m realistic enough to know that I could end up as much as a day or even a week off.

Why?

Microsoft Word 2010.

I’ve used Word in the past, and hated it. I hated it most when I could save a file in it, come back to the same machine and install and open the file that machine and install had created and the file opened … but things weren’t as I’d saved them (formatting and such were lost), but I could open the same file in something else — Star Office being a preference at the time — and most of the previous formatting was there. I didn’t use Word for ages. Back then it was Word ’97 and 2000, if I recall correctly.

Now I use Word at work. And I’ve been typing my stories in it when I can’t use iWork‘s Pages instead. Yesterday it decided to be quite cruel. I went to open Love or Lust to do that days editing … and the file self-destructed. 1.2Mb suddenly was 128kb. And the last backup of my changes was 2 days prior! Ugh.

I never have had a problem like this with WordPerfect, Lotus Works, Star Office, LibreOffice, Open Office, AbiWord, Pages, Claris Works, and easily a dozen others whose names I’ve long since forgotten. Only Microsoft could mange to, in over a decade of development, make a problem worse rather than better (if less frequent).

I’m not happy. I’m glad I do not have to pay money to use this garbage. I will be trying to work double time to make up for the set back and then do so beyond to give myself headway in case something else goes wrong.

LibreOffice 4 review (itproportal.com)
How to Write a Book: Tools (doxsey.net)
Getting Started with Documents To Go on a BlackBerry PlayBook (helpblog.blackberry.com)
12 Ways LibreOffice Writer Tops Microsoft Word (eogn.com)
SoftMaker FreeOffice (pcmag.com)

I’m kind of glad I decided to do chapter 9 and on through the end of November as part of NaNoWriMo. It’s working out pretty well. I normally need little to no incentive to write, it’s usually more common for me to need incentive to stop writing. But we all have bad days, and I was beginning to have a pretty bad autumn so this gave me the little bit of a boost I needed.

Any wondering why my word count is always a multiple of 5 (except when I make a typo entering my word count update) it’s because of how I write. Everything is done pen on paper first then typed later. It’s easier for me. I can type very fast, but the keyboard and word processor get in the way, also … as fast as I type is nothing compared to the speed I can think and write so, there you have it. Also means I don’t have to try to figure out where to put a laptop or tablet (which I’m an awful, horrible typist on) every time I get inspired. I just need a solid surface of approximately 8½ inches by 11 inches, infinitely easier to do.

I’m off to revitalise by brain with some video games, then it’s back to the grindstone.