Thursday, October 20, 2011

Words I Need

I hate Smashwords. It's official. I spent a half an hour today with one of our school's tech teachers asking her what the heck a 'field code' is and how did it get into my manuscript?  Smashwords told me I need to fix it, but I don't know what the heck it is and can't see it.

So I've interrupted editing work on my next book to try and figure this out.  Major frustration and headache.  I enjoy the funny pictures and quotes I find on facebook. How am I relieving my stress?

Watching 'Revenge' helps. I love that quirky,creepy show. I'm feeling a little vengeful  A little exercise.  The last few weeks of stumbling through self-publishing has really increased the intensity of my workouts.  I feel so good about the weight loss right until I sit down at the durn keyboard again. 

Tonight I'll be putting on some music, perhaps the soundtrack for 'Lord of the Rings' since I feel kind of like the guys on the horses trying to break the siege of Gondor.  A little fight music, some hot coffee and I'll be ready to tackle the mystical problem Smashwords has told me I have.

Anything frustrating you lately? Have you ever heard of 'field code?'

 

17 comments:

Anne Gallagher said...

Could a field code be some kind of fancy name for html code? I know when I was formatting I got the html code thing a lot.

Alex J. Cavanaugh said...

I hope you and Aragorn figure it out tonight!

Bish Denham said...

Have no idea what a field code is! But with Aragorn and Gandalf by your side, you're sure to win the battle.

Mary Aalgaard said...

That's a really funny quote at the top. Laughed out Loud. People and church and people who run churches with power and control frustrate me. (I'm a church musician, for now.)

LD Masterson said...

No idea about the field code. In the old MS Word mail-merger function, a field was the place where the individual data would be place (i.e. the name after "Dear_____"). Is there any place where you would be merging in the author's name or something like that?

LOVE the quote at the top.

Good luck with Smashwords.

Susan Gourley/Kelley said...

Thanks for the suggestions. I'm checking out some of them now.
I'm watching ondemand Terra Nova before I put on the tunes.

Ava Quinn said...

Good luck with your code breaking. Channel some Gandalf while you're listening and things will turn out right.

Frustrating right now? The Processed Pot Bellied 'Possum Products company wants me to do another year as the county 'Possum Queen. I was looking forward to relinquishing my crown. Though spectacular in a backwoods taxidermied way, it's beginning to smell.

Hope your technical difficulties disappear soon!

Karen Jones Gowen said...

I've always heard formatting for Smashwords was so easy but seriously? I know some pretty savvy computer people who didn't think so! Good luck with it! Why not publish direct to Kindle and Nook? Why go through Smashwords? The iPad has a Kindle app, so that pretty well covers all the major ereaders, right?

Anonymous said...

I'm about to try something on Smashwords too, Susan. I think the code might be something you can find if in your Word document you click on the Show/Hide button (it looks like a paragraph symbol), and then you can see any funny arrows or any other "foreign" code that shouldn't be there. There should only be punctuation marks and a dot between each word that indicates a space. If this helps....I don't know this for sure, but this MIGHT be the case. (If you've already done this and that isn't the case, I'd be interested to know!)

I'm also going to publish on Amazon for the Kindle. I hope as Karen above says that THAT won't be a problem!

And thanks for stopping by and commenting just now on my I Got Scammed post.
Ann Best, Author of In the Mirror, A Memoir of Shattered Secrets

Susan Gourley/Kelley said...

Thanks for the advice. I did do that Show/hide thing, Ann, and it didn't show anything.
I did publish on Kindle, and though more steps than smashwords, it worked perfect the first time.
Ava, you're just too great a queen to be replaced.

Michael Offutt, Phantom Reader said...

Field code sounds like some kind of referee term used on a soccer field.

Susan Gourley/Kelley said...

LOL, Michael. If it was I would at least know who to ask.

Golden Eagle said...

No, I've never heard of it . . . hope you get the "field code" figured out!

Lots of things have been frustrating me lately; the day got off to a weird start, and went downhill from there. Though finishing my book was a plus. :)

Maria Zannini said...

I wish I could help, but I don't have a clue what field code could mean in this instance. Did you do a 'nuclear purge'? That's usually the best way to get a clean manuscript.

Kindle, B&N, and Smash all gave me headaches this go round. The planets were probably out of alignment or something.

Good luck. I feel your pain.

Melissa Sugar said...

Sorry I cannot offer any help, I have never heard of a field code. Plenty of frustrating things going on with me. I just vented (I mean posted) about my latest.

I did however love the auto correct funny. It brought a big smile to my frustrated face.

Linda H. said...

Never heard of it but, then again, I am not so computer saavy.

Loved the quote. It made me smile.

Cate Masters said...

Wish I could help! The only thing I can think of is to check the headers and footers and make sure they're clear of any text boxes, no matter whether there's text in them or not.
If their formatting manual doesn't list it, maybe Google it?