Format Painter is a time-saving tool I only recently discovered while working with Microsoft Excel spreadsheets. This handy button allows you to copy the formatting from one place to another. In Microsoft Excel, you can copy formulas, fonts, you name it. Microsoft Word works the same way. It works like copying and pasting; the difference is that it doesn’t change your actual numbers and text, it simply copies the formatting of the section you highlight.
By Cheri Lasota
Microsoft Word’s Track Changes is fast becoming the editing method of choice for many editors and writers. It has a lot of features, some limitations, and occasionally some jaw-dropping glitches that make you want to pour gasoline on your computer and light it on fire. (Whoa! is that just me?)
For writers who cannot afford to run off a copy of their 350-page masterpiece everytime somebody wants to read it, Track Changes is a viable choice. It also works for editors working with clients who live in another town, state, or country. In short, sometimes you need to use it, and knowing how to make the most of it will increase your speed and accuracy when editing.
By Cheri Lasota
Ever heard of an em dash? I thought not. I hadn’t heard of it until a few years ago, when I finally delved into the subject after much confusion on what a hyphen and dash actually look like. According to the Chicago Manual of Style, “Hyphens and the various dashes all have their specific appearance … and uses.”
There are three types that fiction writers generally use:
- the hyphen: used in compound words, in URLS, and to separate telephone numbers, etc.
– the en dash: used to connect numbers such as dates, times, verses, sports scores, etc.
— the em dash: used to set off an explanatory element or to indicate a sudden break in thought or sentence structure.
Editor’s Tweet