#WWoW: Using Scrivener Part II

Welcome back to Not Enough Time in the Day and this week's edition of Writer's Words of Wisdom. I'm part of a group of authors who share tidbits of advice and experiences in the world of publishing. We've covered topics from creating social media to finding a publisher to how to market yourself and your work. We aren't experts by any means, but we do know what's worked for each of us and what hasn't. Maybe you'll be about to find some of our posts helpful or better yet, share your own experiences with us so all of us can benefit.

Last week I wrote about trying out the organizational program called Scrivener. I was using it to compile my vampire inspired poetry in order to have a file to submit to Smashwords, Amazon, and Createspace to end up with both ebook and print formats of The Courtship of the Vampyre.  This week, I'm here to share how it all turned out.

Now, formatting a book of poetry is a little easier than a novella or novel. First of all, there are no chapters to deal with. Each separate poem was it's own folder or file if you will. With that being said, it was a great way to feel my way through using Scrivener and figure out the features I will use the most. I was the most worried that I wasn't going to have a file that I could could use for Smashwords, but ultimately I was worried for nothing.

I decided to save each file for the publishing outlets as a .doc file. This turned out to be the best thing for me since all of them accept this file type and it is the one most publishers (like Siren Bookstrand) accept as well. Let me show you what some of the screens looked like for my first book file created with Scrivener.

The above is what I call the main screen or continuous screen. It shows all of the folders in continuous flow with lines separating the files/folders. If you look at the list at the left, it shows all the folders I've created including one for the cover photo, the dedication/acknowlegments, a copyright page for Smashwords and Kindle, all the poems and my About the Author section.  Now I made a separate copyright page for each publishing outlet because they each need to be worded just a little differently. At the compilation stage, I can choose which folders are to be included in the final draft.  Let me show you my favorite view...the cork board.

See how the index cards are all laid out? I can actually rearrange them in whatever order I want them to appear in the final draft. I've included the notes on each card reminding me what is still needed in the folder or a brief summary of what the poem is about. This was very helpful when figuring out the order of the poems so they told a story. I didn't want to just toss them in there willy nilly. Next I want to show you what the first compilation screen looked like for this project.

See the check boxes? This is the screen where you pick which file or folder will be compiled into the final manuscript. There are more options in the next steps which are very easy to follow by going through the tutorial. I even kept the tutorial open so I could refer to it when I was at this stage.

How did it all turn out? I'm happy to say The Courtship of the Vampyre was released on February 22 as an ebook on Smashwords and Amazon, and on February 23rd on both Createspace and Amazon for the print version. It will be a few days yet before I find out if it's included in the Smashwords Premium Catalog. If it is, it will go out to Apple (iTunes), Sony, Barnes and Noble and other outlets including colleges and libraries. To celebrate, I've created a coupon for Smashwords so that you can download the ebook format of your choice of my poetry for FREE. It's regularly 99 cents, but until March 10th you can get it for free if you use the code YY27G at checkout.

The next thing I think I'll try with Scrivener is to go ahead and create the EPUB and MOBI files as well as PDF versions. That way I can offer the books on my Sassy Vixen Publishing blog in order to reach even more people. Another idea would be to burn copies of these file types to disk and be able to hand them out at RomCon in June. Who knows? Maybe I'll even have an audio version by then! 

Check out the others participating this week and make sure you let us know what you think.

Melinda Dozier

Paloma Beck

#WWoW: Trying out Scrivener

Hello new visitors and returning readers!

Today on Not Enough Time in the Day I'm back to participating in the weekly posts for WWoW: Writer's Words of Wisdom. Each week a group of us write about a variety of topics that center around our journey through the world of publishing. From writing, blogging, editing, critique partners, social media and more, we've got takes on everything. Some of us will talk about the same topics but with different perspectives. All of it is done in order to share with you all what has worked...and not worked for us along the way.

My post today is about a writing program called Scrivener. I was reluctant to try this even after all the rave reviews by fellow author friends. I mean, I had a system that seemed to be working for me and I didn't want to mess with it. That is, until I ended up adding more projects to my "To Do" lists for all three of my pen names. The number of paper notebooks I was hauling around with me at any given time was beginning to weigh me down...literally!

The program for Windows (and Mac) was readily available through Amazon for $40. I figured , "What the hell?" I had a credit from Thank You Point left over from another purchase, so I wasn't out any extra money.   So with the click of my mouse I bought the program.  The download was easy and painless as was registering the product with the Scrivener site.

So what now?

With most new "toys" I tend to just open it up and figure it all out as I go, but this looked too damn daunting. To get a bit more help, I went back to Amazon and found a few books that would help me with creating an ebook using the program and of course I had the help that came along with the program itself. Not only did it come with a manual within the program, it also had a tutorial. Hmmmm...this was going to be a first for me, actually watching the tutorial!

Trust me, no one was more shocked than I was that I started up the program to get my initial bearings.  I was so glad I did! It takes you through each section with ease and in language that's easy to understand. Not only do you learn each step, but you learn different routes in the program to achieve the same goals. It's all about tailoring the experience to fit your own needs.

The tutorial explains how each level works from draft, to folders, text files and research files. I can even store the photos that inspire my characters so I can pull them up while writing the scenes. How cool is that?  I found out that I can create multiple levels for each project (chapters and scenes for example) or just keep it straight forward like having each folder/chapter one separate poem. By setting it up that way, I can be sure each poem starts on it's own page like a chapter would.

example of cork board view

My favorite part so far is the cork board view. With my vampire poetry project, I have all the poems/folders laid out on "index" cards. I can then write a short synopsis on each card so I'll be reminded what is covered in that poem without having to open the folder to read it.

The best part? I can shuffle every card in whatever order I want! No more cut, past and then delete like when I worked with just Microsoft Word. If I don't like the order, I can just move the cards around and then flip back to the document view and see all the poems laid out with page breaks. This helps me to visualize what the ebook will look like once it's all finalized. I haven't got to the compiling part yet where I convert all of my "chapters" into an ebook, so I'll leave that discussion for next week.

I'm at the point where I have my cover, nearly all the poems in the order I want them in, my copyright page, dedication and acknowledgement page, table of contents with links to find each poem within the document and my "about the author" section. I've even made separate folders for Kindle, Smashwords and Createspace copyright pages. You see, when it comes to the compiling phase, I only have to choose the appropriate folders/chapters to combine into the final product.

So far, so good! Next is to compile everything and make the different formats needed for Smashwords and Kindle. This is the key reason I purchased this program so that it will be easier to format all the different files for each publishing route. I'll let you all know how it goes next week!


Have you used Scrivener or another program like it? Let me know what you think. I'd love to hear from you.
For more tips and tidbits check out the other authors participating this week by clicking on their links below.

Melinda Dozier

Lacey Wolfe
Paloma Beck

Dr. Tammy Talks About Grape and Raisin Toxicity for #FurbabyFridays

The day got away from me and I nearly forgot to continue with the next part in the common pet toxin series. Last week, garlic and onions took center stage. This week it's grapes and their shriveled sweet counterparts, raisins.

For many years people have used raisins for training treats in all species, especially dogs. It wasn't until 1989 that the veterinary community started to notice a trend. Around that time, more cases of acute kidney failure were being reported in dogs who had either eaten grapes or raisins. At that time the Animal Poison Control Center didn't have any idea why these dogs were getting sick from these kinds of fruit, but they continued to collect the data and search for any and all common factors and trends. To this day, there haven't been any breakthroughs. Whether the grapes were fresh from the vine, sold in stores as organic or not, with or without seeds, or different colors, the outcome was still the same. SOME dogs who ingested enough grapes and raisins for their body developed kidney failure. A few never recovered. Most made it after aggressive intervention and therapy.

Anywhere from 24 hours to several days after the dogs eat grapes or raisins, veterinarians can detect abnormalities in blood tests. Consistently they would find hypercalcemia (elevated calcium levels), elevated blood urea nitrogen, creatinine and phosphorus. These all point to damage to the kidneys. At this point in time, you can't tell if it's irreversible. The animal must be treated with aggressive fluid therapy to help flush the kidneys and maybe the remaining toxin out of the system.

How can you tell if your dog ate grapes or raisins?

Many will have vomiting within a few hours of ingesting them and have bits or whole fruit present in the vomitus. This kind of evidence definitely helps you determine that your pet needs immediate attention by your veterinarian or local veterinary emergency facility.

If you are in the majority of pet owners, you won't see the initial symptoms but would see anorexia and probably diarrhea. Fast on the heals of that would find the dogs developing lethargy and signs of abdominal pain: stretching out like in a praying or downward dog yoga position. There have been cases where these symptoms have gone on for several days or even weeks.

Why do these dog's become so ill?

No one knows. They've tested for pesticides, heavy metals, mycotoxins (fungal contaminants)...anything that could be a common link between the cases and still NOTHING. All tests have come up negative. Even grapes that have been privately grown without any insecticides, fertilizers or antifungals used on the plants or fruit have been involved in these toxicities.

Is any amount of grapes or raisins considered below the toxic level?

At this point in time, that is also an unknown. We do know that since raisins are dried grapes and felt to be more concentrated, it would take less raisins to make a dog sick. Researchers have come up with some general guidelines, but again all patients are different. They don't all follow the "rules" so any grape or raisin ingestion is best to be avoided.

It looks like 0.5 OUNCES of grapes per pound of the dog's body weight would be enough to cause symptoms. So it would take 5 ounces of grapes to make a 10 pound dog sick. It would take as little as 2 ounces of raisins or one of those little snack size packages to make the same sized dog ill.

What about other animals? Do they get the same symptoms?

So far it's only seen in dogs, but when I practiced in Michigan and still saw ferrets (before I became highly allergic!) we did start telling those owners to not feed grapes or raisins to them just to be safe. I never had a confirmed case of kidney failure from grapes or raisins in a ferret and haven't seen any in the literature. 

As for cats...well, they make up their own rules about everything. Most cats won't eat a grape or raisin if their life depended on it. Unfortunately so many other things end up being toxic to cats that it's just best to NOT have these fruits out for them to try. The feline doesn't need any other excuse to get kidney failure than it already has! Sure, we can giggle about that, but it's true. Cats are so much more sensitive to toxicities than their canine counterparts. 

So just keep the grapes and raisins for the humans in your family and away from your furbabies. This includes juices, cookies, fruit bars, cakes and breads with these fruits too. Wine is another story altogether and will be covered in alcohol toxicity.  For now, I'll leave you with a way your furry friends CAN enjoy raisins. 

Enjoy!

Dr. Tammy