Video is bad for my diet

Penelope Trunk posted a piece about how people trying to do harder tasks--such as memorizing a long number--will, given the option, choose to snack on cake instead of fruit.

I don't know who these people are, but I have a feeling that I would always choose the cake.

Yesterday, I spent the morning working on this little video--recording sound, editing sound, trying to match it all up with the video. By noon, I needed sustenance.

"Salad? I don't think so."

I wanted some sort of physical ballast to provide me with some mental ballast, or agility, or at least a little more stamina. I went for the eggplant tofu with noodles--still pretty damn sweet.

Now, if we're to believe that sugar makes you more creative or is the new will-power or something like that, my reward was also my fuel.

But these small weekly videos may lead to a new and larger wardrobe. (I hope not.)

Or maybe I'll just get better at making them, so that videos become more like a shorter number.

Do you ever eat to create?

Mail merge and an Iron Hand press...

...what more could you want?

The new Writer's Guide video is now really, truly live, with a step-by-step guide to completing a mail merge in Microsoft Publisher.



Take a look, and let me know what you think.

Every word counts

At my job, we look at a lot of customer comments to find out what's working for people and what they are having trouble with. Recently, we learned that people want a word count, and they want to put that into their document.

Our response? A new Writer's Guide video.



More footage of the Montford Press studio, and maybe a helpful tip or two.

P.S. This is my first time embedding a video; not sure how to get the dimensions right.

Get the lead(ing) out

The line-spacing in Word 2007 is not friendly for poets. By default, Word adds extra space between each line, and even more space whenever you press ENTER.

The new Writer's Guide video shows how you can fix or avoid this.

Better yet, we shot the video at a letterpress studio. Type everywhere! Way too much fun!

Take a look, let me know whether it helps, and feel free to pass the link along.

If you want to see some of the other episodes in the series, they're listed over on the right side of this blog. If you have topics you'd like me to cover, please send them my way.

And mind your p's and q's.

A tisket, a tasket, a template

Continuing along the lines of tracking and keeping track, I want to revisit, for a moment, the idea of tracking submissions to journals.

First, thank you for sharing your systems.

For those of you who don't already have a system and just haven't gotten started, I put my simple little Word document into a template that you can download.

And if you already have a swanky system that you love, and if it uses an Office program such as Word or Excel or Outlook or OneNote, you can share your own template on the Office Online site.

Now, back to our previously scheduled heat wave.

Deadlines? Did I mention deadlines?

In addition to last week's crazy work deadlines, I know that contest deadlines are coming up. How do I avoid missing them?

See how in the new Writer's Guide to Office video, Don't Miss a Deadline! This little solution pairs OneNote and Outlook, so that you can keep an easy-to-read history of which contests you've entered and get a gentle reminder that it's time to send out your manuscript.

Also, a couple of people have asked me whether I've tried the solutions in my videos, so I want to answer that: Yes. This is the way I work. The video series started out by trying to explain how I use OneNote or how I put together a manuscript. I realized it would be easier to show someone. And I'm always eager to hear more about how you work.

How do you keep track of deadlines and get your work in on time?

Getting the word out

Another new video—this one's about promoting your poetry reading, or any other event by making a flyer in Microsoft Publisher.

What's so cool about that? You can make one flyer—with pictures and everything—print it, and then send the same file in email.

Call me geeky, but I love that. Now, in getting the word out, I've stolen my own thunder, but you can see it in action anyway.

And if you've missed any of the other Writer's Guide videos, I've finally added a handy little list.

Self-publishing? One copy at a time

The next episode in my video series is live, and this one shows how to print your manuscript out as a booklet (think regular letter-sized paper with a fold in the middle).

I first looked into making a booklet when I was making a birthday present for my husband a few years ago. I've also found that it's a handy way to work with a manuscript when you're still revising it. (It's just a little easier to carry around and flip through.)

If you want to take a look, you can see it on YouTube.



Or check out all the Office Podcasts.

Let me know what you think. And remember: Always print a test copy to make sure everything is where you want it.

P.S. If you've already seen this link several times, sorry for the redundancy. I'm just trying to get the word out.

How to add page numbers to that manuscript

Yes, it's time for part two of the two-part video series on creating a manuscript.

Let me know what you think.

Whatever you do, don't type that TOC

My new video is live now, and it covers how to compile a manuscript and add a table of contents—without typing it in by hand. See how to do it, and get your next book ready!

The live action in the video is at Richard Hugo House in Seattle—an inviting space and a very supportive place for writers, with classes of all kinds and a packed schedule of events.

Next up: How to add page numbers to that manuscript.

Lights, camera, video!

Recently at work, I signed up to write a script for a video about how students could use Microsoft OneNote.

Now, with several script drafts and a lot of help from a lot of people, it's live:

Demo: Take OneNote to class

I had a lot of fun working on this project, partly because OneNote is fun. It's my favorite software tool to use. If you aren't familiar with it, check out the video to get a glimpse of it in action.

Next up, I'll try to pull together a little something about how I've been using OneNote for writing poetry.

You can see it with your own eyes!

It's vintage video.

Finally, the sofa has poetry (and dance) that you can watch. It was originally shot in 1986, so it's practically an antique.

You can also read the poem, which I wrote in 1983 after seeing "Ghandi" and a British made-for-TV movie called "The Day After."

It's all at poetryonthesofa.com.