My father’s health has taken a sudden downturn and I felt the need to hop on the first plane out to see him. I will, though, be back in my office April 20th. In the meantime, all courses are running as normal, I’m still replying to emails, and if anything is urgent my family is home taking phone messages. But beyond that I’m afraid a few things, like the newsletter, are happening a bit slower than usual.

I hope this hasn’t messed things up for anybody, and I promise I will be rescheduling all delayed workshops and group coaching sessions as soon as I get back.

Thank you for your patience.

Elizabeth

As I’m going through the second final edit of my ebook, I’m not only looking at the words but also considering the page layout, and the question of paragraph formatting comes to mind.

In my paperback books I’ve nearly always gone for indented paragraphs, indenting the first line of a paragraph and leaving only a slight gap between each paragraph. This has always been, in my opinion, the friendliest way to set out the text, primarily because block paragraphs (no first line indent and a line of space between the paragraphs) always felt more business-like.

(I have the same views on text only being justified on the left with scraggily ends on the right as opposed to the text being stretched on each line to ensure both margins are straight and parallel.)

I’ve never been able to figure out if this is a personal preference or something more.

• Is it due to the books I read as a child?
• Is it due to having taken a secretarial course where everything was in block paragraphs?
• Is it because I don’t like conformity?

Heck, I don’t know, all I know now is that I have to reconsider for the sake of ebook creation.

Not that my choice on which style of paragraph I pick will probably come done to my personal preference of layout. I’ll more than likely be defined by other people’s thoughts and if I can remember how to format indents in MS Word without tabbing (which doesn’t convert well into ebook).

So, for curiosity’s sake, kind commenters, if you have an Ebook Reader do you have preferences for your paragraph layout? Block or indent?

It was this book, along with a couple of others, that convinced me I was capable and that it was worth the effort, to progress in to Ebooks.

If you’re a total novice at how social media  (Facebook and Twitter) work, there maybe a few aspects that you’ll need to read twice, but it’s an easy book to read. His concept for success is so straight-forward, you’ll wonder why we’re not all best-sellers.

Anyway, it’s worth a look. Even if you’re only half considering creating Ebooks, it’s worth buying. The links are the Book of the Month page (along with my review) if you should agree with me.

Have a great weekend.

Don’t forget that goal setting.

To me, there have always been two kinds of writers:

• Those who write when they are inspired.
• Those who write until they are inspired.

If you are writing purely for the fun of it, you could be in either of these categories. However, if you’re writing for a living or to a deadline, chances are you’re in the second group, and if that’s the case I expect you’re already all too familiar with writing rituals and habits.

Some people have used the same warming-up process for years, while others might find that they need to adapt habits as they go along. The latter might happen because:

• the writer themselves has changed and different things now trigger different reactions.
• the writing project has changed and the writer finds the need to be in a slightly different writing zone.
• the environment around them has changed.

Over the years I’ve used a variety of triggers.

• Lighting a scented candle, turning on some ‘nature’ music, and sitting quietly for ten minutes.
• Writing non-stop and without thinking for five minutes.
• Walking along the coast to my favourite bench then writing by hand when I got there.

I’d like to say, like some people, that I do half an hour of cleaning before I start, but that’s not me. Me doing housework is a sign that the procrastination has reached a serious, and perilous level.

So, what are your rituals? What works, and what doesn’t? I’d love to know.

Anyway if you want to check out the short-list and see who is being considered here’s the link to the Children’s Book Council of Australia

Click here for more info.