Writing Status: ???? · 2:24am Mar 30th, 2017
About To Love a Pony: work continues.
I've got a new phone. And yes, I heard all those gasps from the people in the back who got to see my old one. Anyway, it's a fancy new Droid Turbo 2, and I've kitted it out with Hacker's Keyboard (it has a Tab button!). It's kinda' wonderful, and I no longer have the same problems with my phone giving up on documents once they reach 24-25kb, though it's just a wee bit wide, which puts one hand in an awkward pose while typing. But! That's not what you all are wondering about.
Unfortunately Word on the phone is newer than Word on my computer, so my computer doesn't recognize the files. I don't have an update for the bean counter (lazy?) because I can't so easily check the word count (sounds like lazy). Or, at least I haven't figured out whether the phone itself can tell me (yup, sounds like lazy, even to me).
So, the counter is... well over half full. It's getting big too.
And I recently realized that the first portion of the chapter likely belongs with chapter 11, Low. Not sure what I'm going to do there. I have debated splitting it in two, and releasing them back-to-back so each one is thematically separate. I'll have to see what Minty thinks, if he's still willing to put up with my (lack of) shenanigans.
m.popkey.co/c9abd8/De10r.gif
That's all
Shachza, pls.
Each time a day goes by without an update, I put some money aside. I had enough for a down payment, and now own a house.
(seriously I'll move in soon, you better have an update by then!)
I wonder how you manage to write so much on a phone, I'm having trouble getting a text message that doesn't have a dozen mistakes.
Can't you import your .word to google Drive, then keep writing from there? I'd think it would be easier to manage a file you can access anywhere with a google account.
if you decide to split the chapter I would give a few days between posting the parts.
at this point I am going to need to go back over the last 4 or 5 chapters to refresh my memory.
To Love a Pony is a really good story and I am super happy to see it coming back to life.
Considering how incredibly big your chapters are, I'm not so surprised your phone can't hold them.
I'd suggest breaking down the chapter for the sake of your phone. And if you feel like putting it back together, you can do it latter when you are uploading it all here with the good ol' copy and past to include the rest of the chapter in one virtual file, no?
So... Here's a dumb question...
Why not use OpenOffice? Its comparable with newer versions of word and all you have to do is save it as a word doc. The program is free and easy to use and it honestly does more then word without being complicated.
It's what I use both on my laptop and tablet. I'm pretty sure you could get it free for your phone as well.
Just a suggestion to help fix the problem.
I am impressed you can write on a phone. Have you tried using voice to text? Also what about google Drive? Also you are pretty much the only author I am willing to wait over a year without updates. I love your story so much.
Well, just the fact that you manage to write on your phone is worthy of a prize alone, considering the length (and quality!) of your chapters.
New phone helps as well. Hey, you said you had compatibility problems with the phone's newer word and your PC's older one. Can't you choose to save your document in the older (compatibility/legacy) format on your phone so your phone will be able to open it later?
Or as others said, Google Docs or OpenOffice can do the trick as well.
Either way, it's great to hear the news, gives me even more to look forward to
Would I be correct in assuming that your computer's version of word creates .doc files and has issues with .docx? If so, (1) congatulations on the lifespan of your computer (seriously, I am impressed) and (2) try this. Alternatively, you should be able to tell the Word on your phone to save as a "Word 97-2003 document".
Alternately, use ed. No compatibility problems since 1971!
I still have no idea how you're able to estimate what the final word count is going to be.
4476971 OpenOffice is actually rather dumb these days... all the developers left it and went with a fork called libreoffice https://www.libreoffice.org/
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I do make lots of mistakes! And then I squash them...
I could probably transfer to gdocs - in fact, I'd better be able to - but it's not about being able to move it between platforms, so much as being able to write specifically away from my computer (and all my distractions). Phone works well for that.
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Oh, yeah. I wouldn't drop both at the same time. They'd be like a week apart so people would have the time to get one before having to deal with the other.
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I used to do that because my old phone couldn't handle it. My new phone can!
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I used to. I think it's just a newer version than on my computer. When are they going to make forward-compatible programs?!
(I should ask Crystal Wishes to get on that...)
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I can't imagine voice-to-text working well for me. For one, I get into a very focused zone to write, but that means cancelling out everything else that I can. One of the things I'm avoiding by using a phone so much, is doing things like hanging out on Discord at the same time! For another, I'm a persistent revisionist; always double-checking my work.
Plus, I don't want to make a scene by talking out thousands and thousands of words...
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I've always had good luck with electronics. Verizon tends to resort to wheedling after a few years of asking, prodding, and begging me to please, please, please just buy a new phone already! Also, the only reason I don't have XPS 710 parts in my current computer is that they didn't fit alongside ATX standard.
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Ummmm... Most document files will tell you how many words are in the document. And I just figured out how to do that with this Word app!
9400 in this file.
Which puts the total so far at about 21,200, I think. My math may be a little fuzzy because of rounding partial-hundreds.
Hey Schachza! Long time.
Word docs should be forward compatible. If not, and idk about phone version of word, you should be able to save in an older format. doc was the original, docx is pretty standard now, and I think there is a stupid new one.
I was just over the last 3 chapter yesterday.
it is going to be interesting to see how this all plays out.
4478026 maybe this is what you're looking for? Microsoft Office compatibility pack
Well, it is good to see that progress is coming along smoothly. More or less.
I would advise that you purchase a cheap netbook for typing at the very least. Typing long form documents with bluetooth keyboards on phones is tolerable, but nothing beats the keyboard from a computer. Seriously, your typing performance will improve drastically when done on a proper keyboard. (This is coming from the guy who uses a bluetooth keyboard for typing on a tablet if nothing else is available.)
On another note, a curious thought came up to me with regards to story ideas for your story while browsing the history of the Civil Rights Movement. I was thinking that you could perhaps include a "Sisters of Harmony" type of ideologue extremist group to act as a potential antagonist for either this story or a future sequel if you were to consider that route. One's that espouse the divinity and virtues of their nation state and are hostile to outsiders, which could come into play when coming into conflicts with the beliefs of our own world when you eventually have both Earth and Equestria make official first contact. Just an ideal thought to consider. Take it or leave it.
Splitting up your latest chapter may or may not be conducive. Your story typically has long chapters anyway, with a long wait between updates. I do not believe that your readers will particularly mind if it is larger than normal. But that decision falls to you.
Looking forward to the next chapter(s) regardless.
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With regards to typing: yes, using a regular keyboard allows me to type faster, but my computer also holds all my main distractions. So... faster typing or less distraction from typing? I know, it's not ideal.
The idea behind splitting the chapter isn't to make it smaller, but to keep the two parts thematically distinct. The first half is sort of a continuation of last chapter by necessity, though I'm debating how much of that to trim/change. I'll have to see.
If all of those distractions require an internet connection, maybe disabling WiFi will help you.