moi?

Wireless

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So, I had no wireless on my laptop and that was frustrating. To test if it was a software or hardware problem, I reinstalled the OS, set up a new user and found that the problem was still there. If a fresh install of the software didn’t fix it, it must be hardware.

So I rode the bus across town yesterday to The Mac Store because they had a usb wireless adapter for sale. As the sales guy talked to the repair guy about the device, the repair guy suggested I pay to have it fixed instead.

“I can’t afford it,” I told him.

He shrugged and took the adapter off the wall. I asked if I could try it out right here in the store. He shrugged again and we started opening the package (which had been opened once before).

The install disc doesn’t do much in the way of installing, and the repair guy starts fussing with it. You know that feeling when someone else is typing on your computer and you want to push their hands away and do it all the right way? I fight that urge.

While I’m looking at the contents of the adapter package, the repair guy does something to my computer that completely fixes the wireless. As in, it was software all along and he’s thoroughly solved the problem. I make him explain it to me, showing me that he went into System Preferences and created a new “location” which easily connected to the web.

And he did it in the ten seconds that I was looking at a page of the user manual. He also didn’t charge me.

The Mac Store on 45th in the U District. They are awesome.

Today I will be rousing myself from this morning’s (somewhat unproductive) writing session and I’ll head downtown to buy an anniversary gift, after a very long walk to buy some stuff we need. It’s a school holiday, so my son has a chance to hang out with a buddy across town all day. Once I’m done, I’ll head home and do some more writing from there.

Zangoose and his sidekick Captain Weekend

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Candy haul was modest and the boy didn’t get to meet up with his best buddy, but I got to eat a really good pizza.

For the record, three adults recognized that my son was dressed as Zangoose and four more pegged him as a Pokemon. Only two kids recognized him as a Pokemon and none guessed the type.

I’m sour on Halloween

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Once I got past a certain age, Halloween supplanted Christmas as my favorite holiday of the year. This was years ago, and it wasn’t because of the candy. I liked the monsters, the costumes, the old horror movies and novels, the smell of autumn, the whole thing.

Then it seemed that everyone else joined in and shit all over it. Horror movies and novels turned all gory, costumes became things adults wore to bars, and everyone else started to get into the spirit.

And the zombies. God, I can’t stand the disgusting zombies.

What had been a time when an introvert could enjoy a feeling of solitude as things became chillier and the world around us slowly died, when you could watch a spooky movie or delight the neighborhood kids by dressing up and scaring them, well, it just started to feel crowded.

I’m sorry to say that I’ve lost my enthusiasm for it.

Christmas comes early

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I just ordered the Lord of the Rings Trilogy Extended Editions 12-disc DVD set, complete with all those crazy documentaries. I wish it included the theatrical editions, but I’m sure they’re holding that back for the 15-disc set in 2020, along with two-hour documentary about the guy who swept the candy wrappers out of the location shots in Morder.

It’s my Christmas present, and because Amazon Associate fees cancelled the cost, I’m getting it early and will watch it with the family.

It’s after 4 am and my cough won’t let me sleep

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Attention Google users: There’s no medical advice in this post.

I’ve been sleeping on the couch for two nights because I don’t want to keep my wife awake, but tonight I can’t even fall asleep on my own.

What’s more, I find that the extended edition DVDs of Lord of the Rings don’t include the theatrical version. I have to pay extra for both? I’d have been happy to forgo a NZ travelogue and a docu on the movies’ sound design for the theatrical versions, you jerks.

Screw this. I’m just going to work on my new book and to hell with going to sleep. I can pull an all-nighter like I used to do in college, right? Right?

Here’s a sleep-deprived poll about the wip: Secret lake city of the unexpectedly intelligent alligator creatures, yes or no?

I need to offer another thank you.

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The response to my previous post has been tremendous, both on my main blog and on LiveJournal, not to mention Twitter, G+, PMs, email, and Facebook. People have been very kind and enthusiastic about my upcoming works and hopeful for a return to the series.

I’m hopeful and enthusiastic, too. Thank you all for linking to that post, for commenting, and for general awesomeness. Once again I am humbled.

Now I have a bubbling crock pot, a skillet full of onions in the over, a living room that needs to be vacuumed, and a kid that needs to do some math. Plus, there are even more comments on that post that I haven’t responded to yet. (Which is why I’m turning off comments here.)

Thank you all.

It’s Official: The Twenty Palaces Series Has Been Cancelled (long)

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(Update to this post: I’m shutting down comments because it’s been over a week and they’re still coming. What’s more, I don’t really want to keep talking about it. Thank you.)

(Second update: Disabling new comments hid the old comments, which I didn’t want, so comments are back on again.)

(Third update: This cancelled series is sort of uncanceled. Self-published novellas seem like a viable path forward, and that’s what I’m trying. Check out my books page for new entries into the series.)

Yep. It’s true. Based on the sales of Circle of Enemies, Del Rey has decided not to offer me a contract to write more Twenty Palaces books.

What? Why?

Well, Pretend Questioner, let me address that in a very long blog post Continue reading

Jumping ahead of the usual NaNoWriMo question

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I’m not doing it.

I never do it. Some people actually seem offended when I say that, but NaNoWriMo doesn’t make sense for me. The daily wordcount isn’t that high and it’s what I ought to be doing anyway, right? Every month, not just November.

This isn’t a condemnation of the event itself. If you want to register and write along with other people, I think that’s great. Have fun and remember that you should keep going once December arrives.

But for me, no.

Apparently, I’m a “special snowflake”

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I just returned from NW Bookfest where, on a panel, author Mark Teppo referred to urban fantasy authors who make up their own monsters as “special snowflakes.”

Well guess what? I am special, because I think UF has to open itself beyond the same stock supernatural characters if it’s going to survive long term.

I’m also a snowflake, in that I melt when you touch me with your tongue.

I hope that’s clear.

NW Bookfest

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I’m going. At least, as soon as I pack up my computer, refill my coffee and drop off these two library books down the street, I’ll be starting the long bus trip over there.

If anyone reading this plans to be there, I intend to attend the UF panel at noon. Come look for me in the audience. I promise to be the most socially-awkward author you’ll ever meet.