Return to Apple iMac

[ShikariMR]

Five years ago I was told I wold lose my sight, partly due to RAF service injuries. I gave my Apple Mac away and allowed myself to be driven crazy by Windows PCs even for simple contact purposes. Thanks to the superlative National Health Service I have my eyes 'repaired'. And the Mac back, with Yosemite updating.

I plan to start on another book and would welcome ANY practical advice on using the Mac for simple (!!!) word processing a lot of pages. Any Do's (and in my case, especially DO NOTs) would be gratefully received.

 

[jbarley]

Backup - backup - backup!
More then just one, and consider keeping one "off site" in case of major disaster.

Time Machine works well but a regularly Cloned backup (such as Carbon Copy) to an external drive can see you up and running in minutes should you experience a problem with your working system.

Your data, (book) would even fit on a USB flash drive for backup purposes, this is the kind of stuff you really do not want to lose.

 

[ShikariMR]

Many thanks to jbarley

Already a significant difference between Apple forums and Windows equivalents. Very sound advice at any stage of writing and here is proof. A mate resident in Thailand, who I am coaching on his first book, just had his laptop stolen with 30,000 pages written and a back-up that failed. A real heart-breaker.

To be fair I had several used Windows PCs just for on line banking and Email purposes and they all sent me half crazy with drop outs, freezing, and security nonsense. The difference I found was that with the Apple when I input some action, something visible and logical followed; with the Windows PCs what usually occurred was that something probably happened but it took me ages to find out what it was, and where it disappeared to.

It would be an impossible nightmare to work on a long manuscript using Windows if my experience is anything to go by. I am grateful for such a helpful and rapid response. This really is some website!

 

[culb0743]

As a writer, you now have access to dozens of high quality apps designed specifically for your trade/passion. Check out these apps that will make computer-based writing a pleasure. The majority of these are exclusive to OS X, and have no equivalent on any other platform. In my opinion, apps like these contribute much to the experience of Mac ownership.

Scrivener
Scapple
Nisus Writer Pro
Storyist
Mellel
Bookends
Zotero
Papers 3
Final Draft
Ulysses
OmniOutliner
Byword
DevonThink
DevonAgent

It may be tempting to fall back into Microsoft Word, but these apps are truly worth your consideration. Word 2011 for Mac has not weathered the years gracefully and is about to be replaced with a new (hopefully, more Yosemite-friendly) version soon. Scrivener is beloved by writers of all stripes, and well-deserving of its reputation. Most of these apps have trials, give them a test run.

Cheers, and good luck!

 

[ShikariMR]

My most hated word

The time honoured questionnaire on TV's Actors Studio: "What is your least favourite word". In my case: "amateurism".

So it comes as no surprise to find real professional attitudes and knowledge on an Apple Mac forum. I so much appreciate colb0743's post.

I will respond again later. When it comes to professional writing I could say that the first sixty years are the learning curve. But my enforced five year gap means I have a lot of nuts and bolts methodology to catch up on. Wearing my former Editor/Publisher other hat, I edited, typeset, designed and produced a best-seller the hard way. Here is how the World changes. For the cover, I commissioned a superb professional illustrator to paint a dockside scene. This hit anyone who saw it like a shell! Many dockers were convinced they knew the location and the men depicted (in fact the artist had never been within two hundred miles of those docks).

And what is that superbly talented artist doing now? He had to take a night security job - because the new breed who took over book publishing want to do all the covers on computer design programmes. Some people call it progress (SOME people do). My challenge is to catch up with electronic publishing and all the other new stunts and schemes. In that, the trouble coln0743 went to to advise me was not just welcome, it was inspirational.

The actual book, short story and articles I am now set to write are a cakewalk by comparison.

 

[ShikariMR]

My most hated word

The time honoured questionnaire on TV's Actors Studio: "What is your least favourite word". In my case: "amateurism".

So it comes as no surprise to find real professional attitudes and knowledge on an Apple Mac forum. I so much appreciate colb0743's post.

I will respond again later. When it comes to professional writing I could say that the first sixty years are the learning curve. But my enforced five year gap means I have a lot of nuts and bolts methodology to catch up on. Wearing my former Editor/Publisher other hat, I edited, typeset, designed and produced a best-seller the hard way. Here is how the World changes. For the cover, I commissioned a superb professional illustrator to paint a dockside scene. This hit anyone who saw it like a shell! Many dockers were convinced they knew the location and the men depicted (in fact the artist had never been within two hundred miles of those docks).

And what is that superbly talented artist doing now? He had to take a night security job - because the new breed who took over book publishing want to do all the covers on computer design programmes. Some people call it progress (SOME people do). My challenge is to catch up with electronic publishing and all the other new stunts and schemes. In that, the trouble coln0743 went to to advise me was not just welcome, it was inspirational.

The actual book, short story and articles I am now set to write are a cakewalk by comparison.

[doublepost=1453987324][/doublepost]Well, I regained my old iMac after a hellish period trying to use a Windows PC especially with '10' update. Like trying to run blindfold through the London sewer system. I am astounded at how easily an early 2008 iMac updated to full OSX El Capitan. I had forgotten just how logical it all is using an Apple Mac. Since my last post, my eyesight has been immensely improved. (I wonder how many Civil Servants 'running' the UK Health Service would have a patient in at 7am on an Easter Sunday as my Consultant Eye Surgeon did). Anyway, just to say that the Apple Mac is everything they say it is and I am delighted to be back in the land of the living. Progress reports to follow. Thanks again to all who helped me previously.

 

[ShikariMR]

[doublepost=1453987324][/doublepost]Well, I regained my old iMac after a hellish period trying to use a Windows PC especially with '10' update. Like trying to run blindfold through the London sewer system. I am astounded at how easily an early 2008 iMac updated to full OSX El Capitan. I had forgotten just how logical it all is using an Apple Mac. Since my last post, my eyesight has been immensely improved. (I wonder how many Civil Servants 'running' the UK Health Service would have a patient in at 7am on an Easter Sunday as my Consultant Eye Surgeon did). Anyway, just to say that the Apple Mac is everything they say it is and I am delighted to be back in the land of the living. Progress reports to follow. Thanks again to all who helped me previously.

[doublepost=1454100417][/doublepost]Just a further thought or two. With each of the Windows PCs I had, I found accurate inputting murder. 30 minutes to input a short Email, say. Now, long long ago I underwent RAF High Speed Telegraphist training - motto 'Accuracy before speed'. I had speed aplenty. I am now finding that the inputting on this elderly old lady iMac is near perfect... the neighbours are probably wondering if I am still alive, with the drop in raging and cursing that now prevails.

 

[ShikariMR]

[doublepost=1454100417][/doublepost]Just a further thought or two. With each of the Windows PCs I had, I found accurate inputting murder. 30 minutes to input a short Email, say. Now, long long ago I underwent RAF High Speed Telegraphist training - motto 'Accuracy before speed'. I had speed aplenty. I am now finding that the inputting on this elderly old lady iMac is near perfect... the neighbours are probably wondering if I am still alive, with the drop in raging and cursing that now prevails.

[doublepost=1454759355][/doublepost]Scrivener downloaded and working on both barrels - book on one and a short story I REALLY fancy completing on another. I will not pretend to have grasped all of the options and functions, but anyone who has been writing all kinds of material since 1952 can visualise what is required, and if he or she can visualise, then they can write it. One thing I would stress is the tried and tested need to always have pen and notepad around including and especially in the middle of the night A brief jotting down of a thought or some setting will usually turn into a useful paragraph or two.

 

[ShikariMR]

All hail Scrivener - but it ain't going to replace the old 'pencil edit' on a first draft any time soon as far as I am concerned.

For much the same reason that I find most comedy scripts now over-cooked, and lacking in spontaneity. Mechanical even.

Things may change...and I would be happy to be enlightened on what I may be missing.with Scrivener

I freely admit that inputting that first draft is very straightforward with Scrivener.

 

[ShikariMR]

Update as promised. I cannot overstate the sheer relief of foresaking Windows and '10' for the logical functionng of an iMac. Effortlesly updated to ElCapitan 10.11.4

Right (or Write) Short story now at final draft and it is good. Any professional knows when material works or does not.

The book is actually two sequential books in one. Part Two is already written but needs a massive update.

Book One grows like 'Topsy' In part due to the number of young people who demand that I tell them how things REALLY were in the 'thirties, wartime, active service, and sundry dirty politics of the past.

These youngsters all say that if my generation does not tell them the truth, while we can, how will they ever know. Well, the best of them are certainly not being fooled through the distorting mirror of UK media, still less by politcians

Just one tiny example - I tell them about the crucial, even decisive role played by the Polish Fighter Squadrons in the Battle of Britain. All they get from current media is about Poles coming here to steal their jobs. Since my Dad died in October 1940 from wrongly diagnosed injuries at age 36 while working on aircraft for HM Forces, and I saw the Poles flying out, and fewer back in at RAF Northolt in the week of my Dad's death, I guess I can trust my memory.

"I should live so long...".