Design Your Own Novel With Microsoft Word.

A new one-on-one class: We don't recommend that authors do their own production work unless they meet several criteria. Novelists are more likely than others to fit a couple of those criteria. For example, their interior design is almost always simpler than that of non-fiction authors. Also, their projects tend to be more financially challenged, needing more pages than non-fiction works (which makes professional preparation and printing more expensive) and having a more elusive buying point (which makes revenue less predictable at best).

Even so, not all novelists should take this on--you need some computer savvy and a genuine interest in doing it. However, if you want to try it, we've come up with a one-on-one course that will give you a good start on designing your own novel with Microsoft Word. The text, that is. The cover is another story. The class has the following elements.

• Achieving Balance: Style, Readability, and Space
• Preparing Your Manuscript: Dashes, Spacing Mistakes, Ellipses and More
• Defining Your Page: Margins, Headers, and Footers
• Defining Your Basic Fonts: Font Styles and Uses, Font Sizes
• Defining Your Paragraphs: Line Length, Line Spacing, and Justification or Not
• Defining Other Elements: Chapter Headings, Indents.
• Getting the Bugs Out: Widows, Orphans, and Other Bad Breaks
• Getting to the Printer: The Trouble with Word.

The class takes place in my studio at Cottonwood Center for Arts, costs $100, and takes about three hours. If you're interested, call 719-630-0783 for an appointment.

The Publishing Pro