Writing

Conversion Experience

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So Quest for Employment is being put into iBookstore form.  By hand.  So far I’m going to say I’m finding iBook Author friendly in all the wrong ways, and not exactly helpful.  There’s some slick elements to it, but the hand-holding functions really don’t help.

It’s very odd, but I I suddenly realized just how many formats I have to work with – not on an intellectual level, but a visceral one.

  • First there’s the main doc, which I just do In Libre Office.  I do a few formatting tricks (avoiding bullet points) to make sure it’s very cross-compatible.
  • I bring it over into Jutoh.
  • In Jutoh I configure it for ePub (for Nook) and Mobipocket (for Kindle).
  • I view it in Calibre to make sure it looks OK, and maybe other devices.
  • Since formatting the book often reveals things to fix, once I’ve done these conversions, I get the spacing and organization right for exporting to PDF from Libre office.
  • Now, if I want a print book, then I also have to take a file and format it to have proper page locations, spacing, etc. for a print format.  This is exported as PDF Inevitably I’m going to blow tens of dollars running prints to get that right, or burn my printer out.  Or both.

It’s educational, but it teaches me one thing – I bloody well love being an author.  Otherwise I wouldn’t do this stuff.

– Steven Savage

Steven Savage is a Geek 2.0 writer, speaker, blogger, and job coach.  He blogs on careers at http://www.fantopro.com/, nerd and geek culture at http://www.nerdcaliber.com/, and does a site of creative tools at http://www.seventhsanctum.com/. He can be reached at https://www.stevensavage.com/.

 

 

Documentation And Fear

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When I started my last job search, I was surprised at how many job interviewed involved me managing documentation.  Surprised not in that a Project Manager needed documentation skills or would oversee documentation projects, but in that someone actually cared.  IT is infamous for poor documentation, so it was nice to see a focus on good documentation.

I’ve wondered if the lack of documentation, record-keeping, and code commenting actually holds back development and innovation.  It’s hard to innovate when you aren’t quite sure what you’re doing at the moment or what people did in the past.

– Steven Savage

Steven Savage is a Geek 2.0 writer, speaker, blogger, and job coach.  He blogs on careers at http://www.fantopro.com/, nerd and geek culture at http://www.nerdcaliber.com/, and does a site of creative tools at http://www.seventhsanctum.com/. He can be reached at https://www.stevensavage.com/.

Update: Quest for Employment!

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Well I’m adding new content to “Quest for Employment,” my upcoming job-search inspired guide to the variances and techniques I found for the job search.  Fortunately, I found I had to more enhance or add to content rather than add huge amounts of new information.  It’s going quicker than I thought and I hope to have a new beta this weekend.

I like the fact I can keep it tight and effective, so hang in there – and when it’s done I’m also planning to return to my job search coaching!

So for a quick taste, the contents will cover:

  • Regional issues.
  • Resume issues beyond the obvious
  • Job search boards and their idiosynracies
  • Networking being more than it seems
  • Being yourself -in a way you may not have thought of
  • Going on a blitz and running a job search campaign.
  • A bunch of miscellaneous tips I REALLY couldn’t justify giving chapters!

It’s also heavily oriented on “to do’s” so you can get applying what I learned.

– Steven Savage

Steven Savage is a Geek 2.0 writer, speaker, blogger, and job coach.  He blogs on careers at http://www.fantopro.com/, nerd and geek culture at http://www.nerdcaliber.com/, and does a site of creative tools at http://www.seventhsanctum.com/. He can be reached at https://www.stevensavage.com/.