Howard Hughes Battles the Pink Robots (Pt. 2)

[greygirlbeast]

Almost all day yesterday was spent trying to get the (still unnamed) iMac just the way I need it to be. I say almost all yesterday, because Google Earth has become an enormous distraction/source of procrastination. Today, I still have files to move off Hindrance, because I'm having to shuttle them on a temperamental one-gig thumb drive, not having the proper FireWire cable to simply transfer everything directly. Also, I haven't yet registered the new machine with AppleCare. Stuff like that. Eventually, I will be writing again. The grinding monotony of daily word counts shall return.

And hopefully, when I am ready to start writing again, I will have at last figured out the beginning of The Dinosaurs of Mars. The narrative structure and voice of the story are proving damned elusive. I begin to fear I may have too much story for a mere 35K-word novella, but I'm not ditching any element just yet. I only have to find my way in.

I am getting lots of reading done, though most of it is related to The Dinosaurs of Mars. Reports of the MER Mission, Spirit and Opportunity, Victoria Crater, Martian geology, terran taphonomy, all sorts of nutty UFO/ancient astronaut/Iapetus is an spacecraft-type stuff, film history, etc. Oh, and Steven Bach's Final Cut: Dreams and Disaster in the Making of Heaven's Gate (1985; also relevant to The Dinosaurs of Mars), which I believe robyn_ma first suggested I should read. I am enjoying it quite a lot. Also, though unrelated to the book, Spooky and I finished Lemony Snicket's The Bad Beginning last night and will now proceed to The Reptile Room.

Still working on the marked-up hb of Silk, too, and that will be on eBay before very much longer. Also, I have half the lettered editions of Tales from the Woeful Platypus (L-Z), and we're planning to auction them with somewhat adorable little hand-sewn paisley platypus beanbags that I'm going to make (given I obviously have oodles and oodles of free time in which to sew platypuses). All this is Coming Soon.

Last night, Jim and "Hannah" dropped by, and we walked to L5P for dinner at The Vortex. We had not seen them since Halloween night, so that was a treat. Ah, the tattered vestiges of my social life. I'd been planning to hook up with them later via Aundair and D&D Online, but it turns out there's no Mac version of the game, and I refuse to buy and load either Windows XP or Vista onto a perfectly good Mac. I will just have to make do with Final Fantasy XII for the time being. There are already enough geeky time sucks in my life, anyway.

I think that's it for now. Huzzah.

Comments

[robyn-ma.livejournal.com]

Yeah, that was me.

I am also reminding you that Dame Darcy's DVD Hijinx comes out tomorrow.

[greygirlbeast.livejournal.com]

I am also reminding you that Dame Darcy's DVD Hijinx comes out tomorrow.

Yep. I need to add it to my wishlist. I'm thinking about asking her to do the illos. on the Writing of Silk chapbook next year.

[setsuled.livejournal.com]

I still have files to move off Hindrance, because I'm having to shuttle them on a temperamental one-gig thumb drive

That was one of the unexpected advantages of my iPod--it basically works as a portable, 80 gig hard drive.

[greygirlbeast.livejournal.com]

That was one of the unexpected advantages of my iPod--it basically works as a portable, 80 gig hard drive.

It did not even occur to me to use the iPod as a shuttle. Sheesh.

[setsuled.livejournal.com]

It did not even occur to me to use the iPod as a shuttle. Sheesh.

I really have to hand to Apple; my video iPod has quickly become my electronic Swiss Army Knife. I even used it as a flashlight last week when the power went out. It's lucky I didn't feel any particular fealty to one computer company *cough, cough* . . .

By the way, as far as MMORPGs go, the best, from what I hear and have seen as a non-player, is Guild Wars. It's not as ugly as World of Warcraft, in fact it's quite pretty. I've heard the writing's kind of bad in the initial game, but one of the add-ons was apparently written by Jeff Grubb, who used to write D&D campaigns.

Five minutes? We only get five minutes with you?

[mackatlaw.livejournal.com]

That's disappointing, to say the least.

I'd planned on asking you to sign "Threshold," along with picking up a copy of your new book. But it sounds like you'll barely be in the building! Will you hang around long another to talk to fans?

Mack

Re: Five minutes? We only get five minutes with you?

[greygirlbeast.livejournal.com]

I'd planned on asking you to sign "Threshold," along with picking up a copy of your new book. But it sounds like you'll barely be in the building! Will you hang around long another to talk to fans?


I should have made myself clearer. We are given five minutes to read. After that, there will be a question and answer period for each author, and we will be signing after our scheduled session.

Re: Five minutes? We only get five minutes with you?

[mackatlaw.livejournal.com]

I just like to panic. :)


It's good that you'll be there, though five minutes of reading time still seems inadequate. (More a sampler than anything else.) I intend to be there -- thank you for agreeing to come.