News and New Stuff

Well, after holding my breath, I opened my email this morning and there was a contract from Bluewood Publishing, Ltd. I read it carefully and found the terms more than satisfactory. Not only are they seeking world wide digital format [ebook] but also print rights. I gladly signed and sent it back, along with a lot of the information they needed to start on Father Serra's Legacy, Book One, The Sailor and The Carpenter, El Marinero y El Caprintero.

The part that caught me by surprise was a requirement that I have software that does Change Tracking. Huh? What's that?

I've been using word processors since the late 1970's and computers since the early 1980's. I bought a PC with XP, then upgraded to this one with Vista [Yeah, I know - I need to upgrade to 7] and work with MSWord daily. I never HEARD of Change Tracking and my software doesn't have it! 

Well, thank you Google Search. First thing I found was that it's a feature of Microsoft Office - which I don't have and can't afford to upgrade to. Then, it showed something I've seen people refer to but never really paid attention to - Open Office. Well, I checked it out, and as it's FREE[!!]. I downloaded it.

Voila!   

There it was. The help menu makes it quite easy and I now know how to compare two different documents to see the changes and even how to merge one with the other. A few of the control commands are a bit different but I notice it actually takes up less space than MSWord or WordPad.

Now, it's a case of converting my working files to Open Office so I can use it on a regular basis.

If any of you use it and have tips/suggestions, feel free to comment and perhaps you will not only help me but a lot of others who use it.