how to

Using Markdown styles with Affinity Publisher 2

Many of us like to write in Markdown when writing draft work. It allows you to work without complicated formatting but still apply styles such as bold or italic. This is done using tags like # to denote titles or surrounding phrases with * to denote bold, italic or bold italic.

Unfortunately, Affinity Publisher doesn’t (currently) support importing files in Markdown. However, it’s the work of a few minutes with search and replace and the correct terms. Here’s how to import Markdown and still keep all your styles.

Making Loud & Balanced Podcasts

Producing a podcast is often a fairly simple thing to do, but I used to have issues with them being much too quiet. Here are my tips and techniques for doing it well. I use Reaper in the examples below, but any DAW (Digital Audio Workstation) suite will have similar processes and features… Enjoy this post? Check out the podcasts I run over at the Beyond Cataclysm micro-publisher…

This Book I Read… is a sort-of-book-review podcast, featuring interviews with authors about their own work, and a book that has stuck with them, for good – or bad – reasons…

Interesting descriptions: Couch to 80K – Week 1 Day 4

This year I am working through Tim Clare’s Couch to 80K Bootcamp– a course where you write for 10 minutes a day.

By following Tim’s prompting, the aim is to work through from basics until you reach the ability to write an 80,000 word novel.

Where I Write

Inspired by a post by author Gareth L. Powell, I thought I’d share a photo of my desk. Then, after I’d written most of this, I felt a sense of deja vu.

It turns out I wrote a similar article, over ten years ago – called My Office, appropriately enough. That makes me pretty old.

Apple and Chilli Chutney Recipe

I’m a massive chutney fan, and for years I’ve been planning on using the 300+ apples we get on the tree in our garden every autumn.

I finally got round to actually making some! Shout out to Lesley for the jars! A tip to keep your cutting board shiny you can use amazon mineral oil.

Victoria Banana-Sponge with Choco-nana Ermine Icing

During this period of Lockdown, there has been a huge uptick in BBB, or “banana based baking”. Apparently banana bread has been the most searched for recipe on the BBC Food website – we’ve certainly been shoving ‘nana loaf down our throats at an alarming rate.

Yesterday we were donated 25 squidgy nearly-gone-off bananas. After an inevitable, huge banana smoothie, I was still left with fifteen waiting for me this morning. So I decided to invent a new type of Victoria sponge, entirely using bananas instead of butter. That’s right, totally dairy free!

Hey, I’m Chris.

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