Tools of the Trade

For a writer, at least this one, my main tool is my computer and word processing program. I’ve written all my books up until this point on Microsoft Word.  When I got my iMac a little over a year ago, I got Microsoft Office and kept right on writing.  I was able to get a great price on it as a teacher– one of those few perks.

Since I bought my macbook (and I’ve already written two chapter using it), I tried to get Office at the same price and found out they would only let me have one.  I looked into getting Office 365.  With it, I would get new versions of Word, and be able to use the new Office for iPad and iPhone.  At $100 bucks, I could install it on up to 5 computers– so my son and wife could use it too.  Neither of them are really interested.  Plus, I found out that I would not get a new version of Office, but the same old Office 2011 that I already have on my desktop.

So, I decided to go with Pages, Apples Word alternative.  I already have it on both computers and both my iPad and iPhone.  It automatically saves to the cloud so I can switch between them.  I can even use Pages for iCloud if I’m on a PC.  Of course, it’s different, so it’s taking me a bit to get used to it.  I also need a .doc file to convert to ebook, but Pages does that.

I guess I am now officially converted to an Apple Fan-boy, since I have the entire line of iProducts and am using the software too.  The proof will be in the pudding though.  Can I get an entire book written using these new tools.  I think I can.

Book Royalties Down Slightly

I just received my book royalties for this quarter.  They are down slightly from last quarter and down quite a bit from the quarter a year ago.  On the plus side, just enough there to get myself a new iPad.

The real story is that I need to get the next His Robot Wife book completed.  I remember reading something by a fantasy writer, I think it might have been Piers Anthony, to the effect that he came up with many great ideas but didn’t write them until they were sold to a publisher.  I can’t follow his example for several reasons, but it seems stupid not to be working whole-heartedly on the one book I know will sell well.  So I’ve been working on it this week.  It may even hop the line ahead of books that I had planned to finish first.

His Robot Girlfriend Available at Manybooks

Just a reminder that along with the many thousands of great classic books that you can find at Manybooks.net, you can download His Robot Girlfriend free.

Manybooks is one of the best sites of new ereader, iPad, or Kindle owners.  You can create a library to rival Alexandria in almost no time at all.  Check it out.