Formatting angst
I thought I was finished with my work on formatting the poetry book by Gerard. I sent the PDF to the printer a couple of days ago – hooray! – and got back a proof that alas, didn’t look quite right.
It turns out that formatting poetry in order to create a print hardcopy book is much more difficult than formatting prose for the same type of book. I won’t get into the descriptive weeds here and detail the problems it presents, and why. But suffice to say that, for example, if you look at a poetry book, not only do the lines have to be just so, but the margins can change dramatically from poem to poem in the book. Writing and book formatting programs often have unforeseen problems with this – unforeseen by me, anyway. For most of my life I’ve been reading poetry books and never noticed the intricacies of their printing. I sure do now.
I think – accent on the think – I’ve found an acceptable work-around. But it will take quite a few more hours.
I’m just venting here.
I do not know what software tool you use to typeset the peoms, and it is probably way too late, but I would recommend using the Latex “verse” package.
There’s a free program called Lyx that is a wyswig front end for Latex that you can use to enter the poems. It then outputs the Latex or a pdf file.
The most common use of Latex is to create papers with equations. That is what I use it for. Most scientific journals accept papers in Latex format and it saves a lot of hassle for authors and the journal. You might ask the publisher if they will accept LaTex input. Otherwise, they are trying to make you do work that they really should do since they know their publishing system
So discouraging when you think you’re done, and then find you’re not! Hang in there.
I have visited Neo’s and Gerard’s blogs every day for the over two decades they exist/existed, even though for the past couple of years I’ve had serious problems going off medically prescribed psychiatric medicines and so I’ve not commented for a while.
This is too serious. I want copies of the poetry book so much I am willing to make a fool of myself over a suggestion: Can you type the poems and screen-capture them and print them as illustrations???
Gerard’s poetry belongs in the top-ranks of English language poetry.
Thank you, Neo, for the work you’ve done with the first book (I have copies) and the new poetry one.
I can’t wait.
Love, Minta
Minta Marie Morze:
Good to hear from you. Sorry you’ve had the medication issues; hope it’s going better now.
Your suggestion wasn’t foolish – in fact I used that technique for the Millay poem I placed at the beginning of Gerard’s essay book (that poem will also go at the beginning of this book). But it would require a lot of labor to do a whole book like that, and I’ve already spent a gazillion hours on this. So I’m just going to format it as best I can, and hopefully although it won’t be perfect it will be perfectly okay.
I hope.
Kate on November 14, 2025 at 6:03 pm said:
“So discouraging when you think you’re done, and then find you’re not! Hang in there.”
And this result goes well beyond “mere” wordsmithing. If DIY activities and repairs are not in your normal bailiwick, you may still not be surprised to learn that for those of us attempting such efforts, we also often find we have skipped an important step that requires a major “undo” and “redo” to obtain satisfactory results. [It does help to read the instructions, but they are no longer perfect when the English is written by a nonnative writer. Even Swedes use of English has caused me grief during an automotive clutch repair. ]
My buddy and I often help each other with our respective projects, but we quite often require 2 to 4 fold the time a properly experienced professional would take to do those same jobs.
All the best, neo! It is a true gift you are giving to Gerard’s legacy!