I am not Ray, but for loss reasons, why don't you use Google Documents / Drive. It's free, it's safely backed up and you can use it anywhere. Plus formatting remains the same. You can also edit it offline.

On Jun 2, 2012 11:40 AM, "Nat Russo" <nat.russo <at> gmail.com> wrote:

Hi Ray,

I have a question that seems to be more about your working process, as opposed to your writing process.  Do you find it more convenient to keep all of your chapters together in a single file, or do you break them out into individual files?  

The reason for the question is I've recently found myself needing to use more than one word processor.  As odd as it sounds, I don't always have access to my laptop and Microsoft Word.  During those times, I grab my bluetooth keyboard and my iPad and find a quiet place to work.  On the iPad I use Pages.  This works, for the most part, but I often struggle with formatting issues (e.g. "double spaced" doesn't always have the same definition from one program to the next), and this requires some tedious manual labor to get everything back in proper order after an import/export.  I've been playing with the idea of separating the chapters of my book into individual files so that the "damage" is more contained, but I'm not sure if this is a "no, you shouldn't do that", "yes it's preferred", or "whatever works".

It also occurred to me that there's a greater potential for loss of work if everything is in a single file.  Just curious about your thoughts and work process.

Thanks,

Nat

--

Sent from my Crappy Laptop (tm) using a poor excuse for a web browser.

On Jun 2, 2012, at 9:39 AM, Nat Russo wrote:

> Hi Ray,
>
> I have a question that seems to be more about your working process, as opposed to your writing process.  Do you find it more convenient to keep all of your chapters together in a single file, or do you break them out into individual files?
>
> The reason for the question is I've recently found myself needing to use more than one word processor.  As odd as it sounds, I don't always have access to my laptop and Microsoft Word.  During those times, I grab my bluetooth keyboard and my iPad and find a quiet place to work.  On the iPad I use Pages.  This works, for the most part, but I often struggle with formatting issues (e.g. "double spaced" doesn't always have the same definition from one program to the next), and this requires some tedious manual labor to get everything back in proper order after an import/export.  I've been playing with the idea of separating the chapters of my book into individual files so that the "damage" is more contained, but I'm not sure if this is a "no, you shouldn't do that", "yes it's preferred", or "whatever works".
>
> It also occurred to me that there's a greater potential for loss of work if everything is in a single file.  Just curious about your thoughts and work process.
>
> Thanks,
> Nat
>
> --
> Sent from my Crappy Laptop (tm) using a poor excuse for a web browser.
>

All I use is Pages and when it's time to send files to my publisher I just export them as Word and I'm done with it.  I actually prefer Pages by a large margin.

As for the rest, I keep each chapter as a single file.  Because I send them to my editors as I finish the 1st drafts.  However, when they come back to me as a single file, it's really easy to check continuity and things like that by simple searches within one big file.  One of the reasons for the continuity disaster in Crown was we didn't have time for that step and I sent back the wrong version of a file.

Anyway, do what works for you and you're the most comfortable with.

Best, R.E.F.
----
www.crydee.com

Never attribute to malice what can satisfactorily be explained away by stupidity.