As a writer, Microsoft Word can be your best friend or your biggest irritation. I received a large number of writing samples recently, and in reviewing them it became clear that some of these otherwise talented writers were struggling with basic manuscript formatting in Word. I started to write a series of long-winded posts detailing the simple act of structuring and formatting a Word doc, when it hit me; why not just do a video tutorial? Setting up a manuscript document to be efficient, flexible, and easily navigable is a snap—all it takes is a few quick steps. Dim the lights and have a gander at this video. You may never look at Word the same way again.

(Sorry for the low quality, by the way. I’m still fighting with my video tools to get the best compression. I’ll post a clearer version soon.)