National Trust/Mills and Boon writing workshop

Current work: back to work - new book!
Listening to: Vivaldi cello concerti
Reading: Lindsey Davis, Alexandria (enjoying)

The National Trust is holding four writing workshops in association with M&B – Linda Fildew (senior Historicals editor) is doing one, and the other three are by Nicola Cornick, India Grey and Kate Hardy.

If you’d like more information, please go to the National Trust’s website for details – right here!

Back to school today, so normal routine again. Is also dog’s birthday (he’s eight). My wireless broadband stuff is due to arrive today… and I also need to start my new book. On the todo front, desk will be tidy a bit later; I have sorted the talk and just need to do the handouts; and today I’m working on the Venice book and licking the outline into shape.

As for the iPad – do I still love it? Yes, because it’s light and it’s easy to work in bed or on the sofa with it (OK, so I was playing Boggle, but the principle is the same – I can type without my wrists aching).

However, I do think that Apple could’ve done a bit more market research to find out who their customers are and what they want from applications such as a word-processor.

Apparently what we have (to buy) turns out to be a stripped-down version of Pages. Fair enough – my PDA has Word Mobile, which is also stripped down (and also is YEARS old… remember this in a second when I talk about the differences between them). Big missing functions for me:

• track changes (from the support forum, it seems that all the lawyers are cross that they can’t do this, too. To be fair, you can’t really do it on Word Mobile either, so I can just about live without this)
• ability to produce coloured text (which is what I want if I can’t have track changes – next best thing so I can fudge a DIY version of track changes, and that's what I have on Word Mobile)
• ability to highlight text (dear Apple, just HOW do you expect people to use this as a proper business tool if you can’t even highlight text and make comments in a different colour when you’re editing your text? Word Mobile can do it – and if you can add symbols and drawings in colour in Pages, why on earth can’t you do the text in colour? Even if you limit it to half a dozen bog-standard colours, that would do. You can import them from Word (I tested it), so why can't you do them within the program?)
• wordcount (OK, so if I fiddle with the settings and make the text TNR – as in the bog standard font used (even though Apple doesn’t support the one Word uses and changes it, cough) – I can do a rough wordcount, but that’s not the point. This is SUCH an easy win, and Word Mobile can do it. Why can't Apple?)

On the whole, it’s great. Just needs a couple of enhancements to make it REALLY awesome. And wouldn't it be nice if Steve Jobs and Bill Gates got together and realised that this isn't about their fight for world domination? It's about fulfilling customer needs - so if that means working together and sorting out connectivity properly, I wish they'd grow up and do it!

(Oops. This wasn't meant to be a rant. However. I was raving about how great the iPad is, so I guess this is balance.)

I will have wireless connection tomorrow - and that's when I'll find out whether it works properly or not...