The quirk I am going to write about, I have been reading about on forums as it is something others have been experiencing also when placing images in Affinity Publisher.

I can't update my programs because my computer, even though it is new, just will not do anything but crash or freeze when I try, so I have to live with bugs they are worked out in later versions. And just to be clear, I have experienced the same thing with Adobe products. They have had bugs to be worked out also!

The bug I am going to discuss, I am not sure if it will ever get fixed...well there is more than one, however I will start with one and then the other.

I did my first book, Lake of the Spirit Bear and when I got it out there, I was not happy with the two page spread images. I created them so I know the DPI was high, etc and I could not figure out what the problem was.

Recently I happened to go into the RESOURCE MANAGER and noticed the placed DPI was sometimes MUCH LESS than the DPI it had when I imported the image into the book in publisher.

After reading many forums and playing around experimenting with sizes, I found a few solutions and explanations as to why.

I was making a two page spread which has to be uploaded NOT as facing pages but as singles to be accepted. This means the image either gets stuck on the even or the odd page when turned into single pages. It means there has to be two images when it is in facing pages. One is cropped to one side and the second cropped for the other page.

So when it is put back into single pages, there is an image on each page which is great. What isn't' great is that the Publisher program NOT ONLY CUTS THE IMAGE IN HALF, IT ALSO CHANGES AND LOWERS THE PLACED DPI and pixels !!!!

As you likely know, many places the pixels may change with the sizing but the DPI stays the same. That is NOT the case with Affinity Publisher at this time. When you bring in an image which you can do by using a image box (much like a text box) or by the image placing tool.  They are NOT the same and I can't get into that now it changes things.

How I fixed my images so they STAYED with a decent DPI (300 plus is fine...it doesn't have to be huge!!!-your computer will freeze of crash if it is too much...another reason to LINK and not embed your files unless you have a tendency to forget and move your files around, in which case, definitely embed your images!!!!. It is a royal pain trying to track down images if they are linked and you start moving things around!

So, what I did, was made sure the image size with margins MATCHES the image I am placing in the two page spread. This way, there is a consistency in the cropping process. Then I make sure the DPI is 400 and the file has at least 6000 pixels for one size for the image. Then when I place it and have to cut it in two, it is still a high DPI! It is the simplest way I can find.

Of course you choose the DPI when you do the PDF for upload but it still doesn't change the image quality if it has been lowered. It does it for the entire project but the lost info for the image.  Just be aware of this.

The second issue is sometimes the program has a problem saving images. They go all wonky and blurry when it is opened again. For this reason, I LOCK everything I do! AND I try to close the program as little as possible until I have all the edits and PDFs done!

One thing that sometimes I have noticed is that if the image is wonky, don't despair. Try zooming in and out. Sometimes it is also taking more time than you want to give it for the images to actually open. I have even had to click on blank pages to get the image to come up! So it could be there, just not opening up in a friendly way and labouring over it all. Oh joy, oh bliss!

There are MANY issues with Affinity, and after reading the forum, I realize I have become quite the expert on the whole thing...there is issues for sure, but you can buy Affinity Publisher outright and don't have to rent it like Adobe. The best reason I can think of other than the writing for using Word is spaghetti coding as my son calls it. It is inconsistent, never stays the same, and uses so much on my computer it crashes all the time. Give me Affinity products over Word and Adobe any day!

When I learned to paint, I did so the hard way. It took much longer because I had to learn everything the hard way, but when I was done, I knew things inside out. I expect I shall reach this point with Publisher. I chose difficult first projects expecting problems, and so there are no surprises there.

Don't worry, if you keep taking breaks and plugging away at it. You will get there too! Don't give up! Nothing more satisfying when it all comes together!

      If you are anything like me, you are a perfectionist…okay, not a perfectionist, but you know the importance when you write a book and publish it, that it be the best it can be.
        I have listened to some You Tubers say you can be too fussy and I understand this however I also understand the other point too.
       If you have ever painted a picture, you know there comes a point when you need to walk away and consider it done or you will either destroy it or take it to a whole new level of working on it, that you may not have intended for that particular project.
       I think there are some who fall into the category of just cranking out so many books based on a format that works, that they don’t have to think about too much in terms of editing.  I think there is another group that will fuss over something so much that it never gets out there for the public.
       Therefore I think the trick to finding the balance is to remember to breathe! To just stop, step back, give the project some space and then return to it. During that time off, one of three things will likely happen when you come back: you will either go ‘WOW, THAT IS AMAZING or OMG THAT IS TERRIBLE. If you are looking at things with a good attitude, your response will be somewhere in-between. That is the place where you suspend judgement and just breathe!
        The more books I do, the easier it gets and the more I figure out the process and steps that work for me. Then I can spend less time re-inventing the wheel and also less time needing to edit, because I have figured out the steps to make it easier and by this I mean PRE-SETS which I will touch on more in another blog.
        The other thing is remembering to takes break from your computer; to get up, walk around and just stretch. Not just because it is healthier for you, but also it gives you a chance to get out of tunnel vision so you can come back and see the bigger picture. By doing this, trust me, it will mean less frustration when your computer freezes before it saved, or it saves and creates issues in the process. No software is bug free no matter how many updates you have!
       When I worked in the library in my high school, it was the old Dewey Decimal System. There were cards that had to be matched to the books one the shelves to see what was missing. It was called shelf reading and the librarian insisted I do it for no more than 30 minutes because after that she said I could get careless and make mistakes.
        I have found when I am in the process of putting the pages together, I especially have to do this! I have reached a point where I have a physical checklist card…sometimes prefights just don’t catch it all!     
​       Add to this, new folks working at Amazon who are checking your uploads…I had one book up, passed and online for weeks, I decided to do one final edit before I got into marketing so I uploaded a new interior but never touched the cover but someone came back and told me it was incorrect!!!  I am being told the cover that has been approved and online is incorrect even though there was no pre-launch preview error! Bad enough coping with the glitches and so one, you don’t want to have frayed nerves when dealing with this sort of thing. Best to go breathe!
      I remind myself when doing these children’s books why I am doing them. I know there are children out there who would be more interested in the world around them if they were not reading really limited material that doesn’t treat them like they are capable of learning at a young age.
        It has been my experience that children rise to the occasion. If they like something, they will take it in, even if it means reading it to them.
        So, in the end, it is your motivation I think that creates a decent quality book and allows you to put it out there whether it is perfect or not.
        No one is perfect and any book you do, can be close, however I doubt it will be perfect either. Enjoy the process and do the best you can because really what more can we expect of ourselves?

If you are like me and you come from a place where jobs are scarce, then you know you are going to end up doing a lot of jobs.
 
When I graduated the art college, it was during what they called a recession. As usual, my timing is impeccable!
 
From the time I graduated, most jobs I took, I ended up leaving not because I quit or wasn’t good at it, but because the business went under or had to downsize. Needless to say, life was a struggle and you had to think on your feet and be flexible!
 
So, I went from job to job, doing whatever came along including some jobs I thought would be great.
 
One of these jobs was being a kayak instructor and tour guide. 
 
I grew up on the ocean and was in the water more than I was out as a child. I had great respect and also a great love of the water. ANY kind of water. I l managed to get myself a little kayak I personally adapted to both ocean and river and I was out every chance I got!
 
Getting the training and the job seemed like a dream job after all I was doing what I loved!
 
Every day I came, gave instruction to folks so they could safely hit the water and every night wash down the boats. I waved as others paddled off into the sunrise or sunset while I went back and did it all over again. The only time I got on the water was when I was guiding and then, of course, you had much more on your mind than deciding where you were going to paddle.
 
I treated each person as an individual no matter how routine it became and was really good at it. On weekends sometimes if there was a booking, I went out on tours to take up the rear and keep the stragglers safe.
 
The thing is, it WAS something I loved, but by the end of that summer, I never wanted to see another kayak and it stayed that way for years!
 
So now I have been thinking about writing online and frankly, I cannot bring myself to do it. I am quite content to do almost any job, lord knows I have skills and experience, however I have no desire whatsoever to take my love of writing into a copywriter or editor job. Nope, no interest at all because I learned the hard way that doing something you love for profit, depending on what it is, can take something you love and make it something you no longer care about.
 
I know some people who write, and write well, and are great at writing for profit, however I know myself and it isn’t for me.
 
Writing IS a full-time job especially if you are an Indie writer (Independent publisher also) and even when working, I put in at least 2 hours a day, when not working elsewhere I can put in 3- 5 hours a day. It is a job and it is work and it is time consuming, however as I wrote in another earlier blog, if you truly love and believe in what your doing, then you will find a way to do it. Some folks give up their day job to work full time on the Indie writing however not all of us can do that right away.
 
I suggest if you are an Indie writer, to think carefully if you are considering writing for profit via other companies. Writing articles are one thing. You are doing it when you have time, however putting yourself in a position where you are on heavy deadlines for low profit so you can say you’re a writer, don’t do it to yourself!
 
You ARE a writer. Like being an artist (which every artist will agree!), you were born that way. You don’t need to prove anything about it to anyone. Just keep on writing, keep on slugging away and eventually, if you are systematic about it, I am sure you will start to see some success for all your hard work.
 
You, like me, likely have many skills and don’t need to work as a writer to make a living. When I was younger, I worked to raise my son and support my habit of painting. Well, now my son is grown and my habit is writing and producing books so I have a new habit to support. So be it.
 
Keep on keeping on. It will all work out in the end. And if it doesn’t, so what? It is all about the journey anyhow. Might as well have one where you find ways to fulfill yourself in more ways than just your belly!