#1 [url]

Jul 9 05 1:19 PM

Having worked with both Works and Word, I find that Works doesn't do the things I need it to do--it's almost like it's a pared down version of Word. Granted, what helps with Word a lot--and most people don't have time to do this--is to really learn all the ins and outs of the program. I went through the process to get certified on the program and have been a beta tester. These are some examples of what I use in addition to the basic typing text and saving it:

Revision Marking. Since I have a co-writer and we swap chapters back and forth, this is a great feature for us. I don't think I'd use it if I was the only one writing, though (note: I would not recommend this for anyone using 2000 or before; siginificant improvements were made in XP that make this feature more usable).

Comments. Again this works great when co-writer and I are swapping chapters. I also used it to mark passages that refered to research I had done. I put in the name of the resource, page number, and where I'd found it. I imagine it can also be used to mark areas where more work is needed. (Siginificant improvements were made in XP also).

Styles. I created a style that not only does double-spacing in the correct font, but it automatically indents the first line of each paragraph.

Printing. I can print two manuscript pages on one sheet of paper (this available, I believe in 2000 and up).

Highlight. I have certain words I can easily use too much. So I set up a search criteria to find that word and replace it with a highlighted version. Then I can go through and review each sentence and make changes as needed. The highlighting makes it stand out so I can see right away if I have eight of them on one page.

Autocorrect. I have a couple words--including character names--that I routinely transpose. So I added an autocorrect to replace the word automatically when I mispell it a certain way.

But the biggest advantage of all is that 90% of the business industry including the publishing industry has Word. Which means that if you sent a Word document to them, it's going to look the same to them as it does you. Any other program, and it's no guarantee, particularly if you have the current version of Works, and they have Word 2000.

Linda Adams
The Joy of Thrillers http://lazette.net/vision/Issue29/Thrillers.htm

Member of International Thriller Writers
http://www.hackman-adams.com
http://garridon.blogspot.com/