A wonderful writing and editing setup — InDesign and Books. I thought I’d share how I have learned to write and edit as I go when putting together a novel. Some of you may know I write in InDesign. So, I write fully formatted in InDesign. When I save it, I immediately export it as a ePUB. I find that while I’m writing, it’s a very quick way to find out what I wrote earlier, when I have a current ePUB on the screen. It’s a great help so I can keep my stories straight and consistent. I also find that the ePUB rendering is different enough so that I find the typos much more easily. So, it’s been really good for me.

My writing editing setup

The image above is 4000 pixels wide. so it will fill your monitor— even my 27″ Studio Display. It’s Books on the left, and InDesign on the right. Chapter heads automatically start a new page.

When I need to decide where to go next, I pray and ask the Lord for the anointing. Then, I often go and read part of the book in Books. I may read the whole book. I enjoy my books. By the time I finish, I’ve read the entire book well over a dozen times and proofed it several more dozen. It really helps me get embedded into the story.

What to do on a Windows or Chrome Machine

I don’t really know what would work if you’re on a PC. On my monitor, it’s almost exactly the same size as it on the page in InDesign. I assume there is a similar setup on a PC. But I no longer have to use that option. Send me a comment if you know a PC solution, please—or email me.  I found one. The Thorium Reader 3. It’s very close to Apple’s Books and free. It works in MacOS, WindowsOS, and Linux. Like Books, it will open your ePUBs directly so you can actually own your ePUB library. In Chrome, there is a Readium browser app coming from the same open source as Thorium.

It’s a wonderful way to write. I do recommend a large monitor [24″ or more} and a desktop machine, but a laptop with a decent sized second monitor would work just as well. All the MacBooks support a monitor. In fact, they’ll run closed with a monitor, keyboard and mouse, as far as I know.