Goals

First Day Back

Yesterday was my first day back. To running, that is. I’ve had some swelling and pain in my ankle that I just couldn’t shake for several weeks as I hobbled around the house.

Finally, I had a few pain-free days where I could get around reasonably well. I wore an old pair of running shoes with some great support and the pain disappeared. I guess the shoes I was wearing around the house were giving my much of the lingering trouble.

So yesterday I went for a run after about a month off and actually got in a sold two miles at a pretty good pace. I’ll take it easy and see how my ankle responds all week but I expect to get back to my normal mileage next week which is a nice change.

The weather was great for a run today – very mild for Alabama. I didn’t arrive home feeling like I’d gone for a swim instead of a run.

Today, young cat, Minou, is off to the vet for THE surgery. He was a foundling stray as many remember with part of his ear missing. We don’t need more stray cats in the area than we already do (no thanks to people dumping pets) so he gets the trip. He’ll be back and no worse for the wear in a few days. Then he gets put to work hunting all the chipmunks and field mice in the area.

I’m working hard on all my writing projects as mentioned over the last few weeks. I’ll share more about print on Thursday but I’m making progress on my new, top-secret novels as well as beginning work on some short stories that will make the rounds to some pro and semi-pro markets.

Oh yeah, I almost forgot. The White Arrow is selling well and just got a nice 5-star review over on Amazon and has started getting several ratings over on Goodreads. That’s quite a nice start. Thanks again to all the readers!

That’s all for today. There’s just too much going on with writing to linger here much longer. Thanks for stopping by today, please leave you thoughts in the comments section below and I’ll get back to you.

Advertisements

Scrivener Tips Pt. 8: Keyboard Shortcuts

Scrivener is a powerful writing tool. I write about it weekly with tips and usage ideas. To read more of my posts click the Scrivener tag or category at the end of the page.

There are many fantastic tools in Scrivener of which a writer can make easy use. But I often find that hate to pause too much while writing to click and change something. Or if I’m making changes there are just too many time-consuming clicks to reach a command on a menu. For this reason, I tend to use keyboard shortcuts in varying tandems with mouse clicks. Here are some favorite keyboard shortcuts for some of the Scrivener commands that I use:

Enter your email address to follow this blog and receive notifications of new posts by email.

The following are normally reached by clicking Format and going to the Font fly-out menu:

Scriv Shortcuts Format

1. Strikethrough – Ctrl/Shift/-

2. Underline – Ctrl/U

3. Italic – Ctrl/I

4. Bold – Ctrl/B

5. Bigger/smaller font – Ctrl/> or < (these do require using the Shift key to use the upper case otherwise you’ll get something else opening such as Project Stats).

The following are commands that also appear on the Format menu that I use. The additional ones listed you may use for non-fiction but I largely don’t for fiction:

1. Ruler – Ctrl/Shift/R

2. Add comment – Shift/F4

Scriv Shortcuts ViewYou can change views quickly by clicking on the View menu or using the shortcuts listed there

1. Document – Ctrl/1

2. Corkboard – Ctrl/2

3. Outline – Ctrl/3

4. Full screen – F11

I know many people use their mouse often but for those who like to use these types of shortcuts they can be very helpful. I make use of them often to keep my typing flow going and also because I’m on a laptop regularly without a mouse attached and stopping too much to use the mouse-pad can be a hassle unless necessary. It takes some memory but with practice I’ve gotten faster at using them without thinking too much.

These may be a bit of minute details however I find them easier to use than clicking so much. As an example, if I’m striking through a goal on a list I would highlight it and use the keyboard shortcut rather than waving the cursor around and clicking through menus. I hope these are useful to you, especially those who are new to Scrivener and may be looking for these shortcuts similar to those in Word.

bow of destinyWhat keyboard shortcuts do you like using? What shortcut from Word or another editor have you been unable to find/use with Scrivener?

I’ll make an appearance on 8/13 in RRBC’s Book & Blog Block Party. Then I’ll be on The Lost Bow Blog Tour from 8/14-20. I’ll post more news about the tour as it becomes available.

And one final tidbit – for those who might have seen it on my Twitter feed, I’ve been contacted by a teacher about including The Bow of Destiny in her curriculum. I don’t know much at this time other than it’s being considered. If it is, I’ll share more information ASAP. It’s interesting news at this point and another great reason to write!

To find out more about The Bow of Destiny, click over to one of these online retailers:

Amazon

  BarnesandNoble      Smashwords

ibooksdownload      Kobo

IMG_4154-EditAbout the Author

P. H. Solomon lives in the greater Birmingham, AL area where he strongly dislikes yard work and sanding the deck rail. However, he performs these duties to maintain a nice home for his loved ones as well as the family’s German Shepherds. In his spare time, P. H. rides herd as a Computer Whisperer on large computers called servers (harmonica not required). Additionally, he enjoys reading, running, most sports and fantasy football. Having a degree in Anthropology, he also has a wide array of more “serious” interests in addition to working regularly to hone his writing. The Bow of Destiny is his first novel-length title with more soon to come.

Sign-up to receive my free ebooks today.

Mailing List Artwork Mailchimp

Self-Scouting: How My Release Day Went

Introduction

Self-publishing means that most, if not all, responsibilities for publishing a book lie squarely on the author. Here’s my take on how I did with the release of my recent book The White Arrow.

The Plan

I had a simple plan to share the release blog which you can view. Additionally, I planned to share tidbits on the blog post all day long and direct visitors to the ongoing (it’s still going) blog tour to register for the gift card giveaway (you still can today: Indie Wish List & Spunky N Sassy). Also, were links to a Facebook post and a Goodreads discussion where I also planned to post updates on various announcements and news. I even planned a few promos and had The Bow of Destiny on special for 99 cents. My email subscriber list received news about the release and I announced the event to friends on Goodreads. Finally, I scheduled a Thunderclap to announce the release of The White Arrow. I added a twist where visitors could go take a short quiz about the series to find out what character they were most like.

What Happened

Most everything went off without a hitch. I made updates all day long and shared news about going to print with the series (hopefully beginning later this month with The Bow of Destiny). I’m low on funds so I shied away from spending on much of anything and just stuck with what was in my wheelhouse for my limited budget these days.

The quiz was well received so I plan to do more of these in the future.

What I’d Do Differently

I’d run the Thunderclap much earlier so that the announcement would go out in the morning. Because I was rushed, I hesitated to schedule the campaign until late in the game meaning I had much less time to get the necessary 100 supporters. Since the campaign neared the minimum for a free campaign, I was forced to set the time for the message back several hours until 4PM instead of noon. The campaign did get 106 supporters but the message was very late in the day. I’d prefer to have that sent out much sooner to get attention. At least it was sent and that’s a plus.

Also, I’d do more to invite individual people I know to the blog, Facebook or Goodreads venues. Many of my Thunderclap supporters ended up being friends so I should have invited them to the event as well and gotten them the chance to register for the giveaway. Silly me, I thought they would just come to the event but I should have been more direct with the invitation. Again, next time, I’ll send out more notices sooner than I did to friends.

What I’d Really Like To Do

I’d like to run a series of live event sessions via Hangouts which feeds into YouTube and can be embedded into social media like Facebook and Twitter. However, this requires some big planning and a fair number of visitors in order to get interaction. Next time, I’ll work on planning something this ambitious further in advance and make sure that I get visitors to the scheduled sessions so I can interact with people. This also gives me a chance to add videos to my YouTube channel.

Also, I might try using more PR, contacting appropriate media outlets and possibly hire a service to handle the plans. But for now, I remain low budget.

Conclusion

Overall, the release went well. The White Arrow has now sold several hundred copies and continues to sell well. With the series completed, I’ll continue work on other projects as well as adding print to the mix within the month – more news on this last item in the coming weeks. Maybe I’ll have time to put my big ideas to action on the print release!

You can find more information about The Bow of Destiny, An Arrow Against the Wind and The White Arrow at their pages. It’s a great time to dig into the series if you haven’t already!

Share your thoughts and ask your questions in the comments section and I’ll get back to you as soon as I can!

About the Author