Getting Things Right

Have you ever had a project that you had to try several times to get it to come out correctly? It could be something you've done before, but in any case, you know the steps that have to be done, and you've done them, so why won't it come out right this time?

That's been me, this past month and more, trying to get 5 books correctly formatted as ebooks. Okay, yes, there were parts of that time when I couldn't work on them; the time we were on a cruise, the 2 weeks we were fighting covid, and a weekend spent in Kansas City. But when I could work on them, it felt like I was repeatedly slamming my head against a brick wall.

I studied the instructions each time before I started the process. I would work at the procedure for 2 hours and then take a break, because it was mind-numbing, repetitive work. 5 times I formatted these books and fed them through the converting software, only to open up the converted epub file and find mistakes.

Different mistakes each time. Where were they coming from? How could I be flubbing up that badly each time, in a different way from the time before? There was the time when most of the paragraphs were indented from the left margin by an inch. How could I have made such a stupid mistake and not notice it at the time? Another time, some paragraphs were in 12-pt font, but others were in 10-pt. And then there was the time when all the paragraphs were justified except one, and it was centered. And always, always, the 2 pictures that I had added to these books would float away during conversion and wind up as much as 3 pages from where they were supposed to be, making it impossible to read 2 or 3 paragraphs of the story!

Last week, I carefully went through each epub file and noted the problems. I actually wrote them down so I could remind myself what they were. I looked for answers in the instructions. I wrote the Help people with a couple questions. I considered hiring a professional to get it done right. But there were 5 books, and that would have involved a bit of money.

Last Saturday, I swept all my chores aside and devoted the day to formatting. I had stumbled across a way to 'anchor' the pictures to a particular location, and I was going to give it One Last Try, myself. I drank lots of caffeine that day, and when I took a break, I made sure I got some exercise as well as a change of scenery. I only got 4 of them done on Saturday, but I got the 5th one done on Sunday. Then I took the rest of Sunday off and forgot the whole project for a few hours.

Since then, I have fed them through the conversion software. I've checked the pdf files, and they look great. I'll be checking the epub files later today and tomorrow. Wish me luck!