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August 30, 2005
"Project Mimosa" Payday
This is me, earlier this morning, clutching my first cheque for "Project Mimosa". As before, I can't really tell you what Project Mimosa is, other than that it has nothing to do with mimosas (as far as I know, anyway). Does involve leading Californian industry--which probably tells you too much. Yeah, I'm gonna be a test subject for new plastic surgery techniques. Dang, you weaselled it out of me.
All here at Chez Bedford are pretty chuffed. Next plan is to take the family out for dinner somewhere nice. Then I'm giving the great bulk of it to Michelle, to put towards next year's LA trip, and whatnot.
And later today, back to the grind on UMBRA.
Posted by adrian at 12:57 PM | Comments (7) | TrackBack
August 29, 2005
Day 16: Little Known Author Displays Uncharacteristic Technical Competence
Folks, I spent the weekend upgrading my Movable Type installation to version 3.2. The upgraded version was meant to be very nice indeed, with loads of neato new features, most alluring of all being a spam filter that learns what is and what's not spam. Also: streamlined, much improved installation instructions.
So, Friday night I downloaded the files, unpacked them, and thought I'd have a go. Immediately I ran into a problem when it came to backing up my existing post database, but PJ Michaud, of my domain hosting outfit PJMCO.ca, who answers tech support queries almost instantly, explained what to do in a way that even I could take care of it.
So, files uploaded to server, it was time to run the CGI script which checks whether you've done everything right. I was nervous. Sure I'd screwed something up, something big. It couldn't possibly work first time, not something I put together.
Only, it did work. The check script revealed that all was spiffy. So, once Michelle applied the smelling salts and got me back on my chair, it was time to run the upgrade script. The idea is that once all is in place, all you have to do is log into your installation the usual way, where instead of the usual interface you find a button to press, which takes care of the entire process. I pressed the button. A message came up saying it had started--
And that's where it stayed for two days. Ah, now this was something I recognised, a screw-up. Since I paid good money for a license for this thing, so I could get tech support, I wrote to MT support, asking what was going on. They never actually got back to me.
I pored over the MT community support forums, in which it turned out loads of other users upgrading to 3.2 were facing exactly the same problem. At length, it turned out one guy had gotten some success by re-installing a certain folder full of goodies (if you're reading this because you found this page while doing a search for info on this very problem, I'm talking about the /mt-static/ folder; just replace the entire thing), including one very particular animated .gif. Believe it or not, folks, it was that single animated .gif file that was the source of the entire trouble.
So this evening I deleted the copy of /mt-static/ currently sitting on the server, and replaced it from the 3.2 files on my desktop. Then I ran the upgrade script again.
And, incredibly, against all expectation and probability, it worked.
And now, here I am telling you about it. I'm just agog. Agog, I tell you!
* * *
But wait: Author Boy also got 1600 words of actual scribble in today, as well, bringing the MS up to 22,100 words. I think it needs some work, but it doesn't need deleting.
So, a pretty good day.
Posted by adrian at 08:05 PM | Comments (3)
August 26, 2005
Day 13-15: 5000 Steps Forward; 5000 Steps Backward
When not afflicted with diabolical, endless headaches--and sometimes when so afflicted anyway, just for the sake of doing something other than clutching my head, going, "arrgh"--Author Boy has been busy this week flapping the flippers at the keyboard.
This week I managed a pretty poor effort, and managed to bang out 5000 words in five days. Thursday I didn't do any scribble at all; on that day I spent a lot of time in bed, going, "arrgh", when not interrupted by telemarketers attempting to sell me things surplus to requirements, so to speak. The trouble this week was finessing the transition from where the ECLIPSE storyline ran out and where this book's storyline came into its own, as it were.
And I really cocked it up. Cocked it up to the tune of 5000 words of capital K Kraaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaap! You know things are going badly when, just at the point when things are meant to get more interesting, with more complication, and more peril, where things really ought to be ratcheting up into the next gear, instead you're sitting there thinking that life looks pretty straightforward and pleasant for your protagonist now. Wrong wrong wrong!
So today I did about 1300 words of a new ending for chapter 7, one which definitely makes things worse, and did a big chunk for the start of a new chapter 8, making things worse again. Now our protagonist knows for a fact that somebody on this ship wants to kill him (having just made a pretty good attempt at it), and that things elsewhere are deeply bad. He's only an android, and he's only 12 or so days old, but the idea that somebody tried to kill him is really messing with his head, freaking him out. It's a hard thing to cope with, your own mortality, and he's not really prepared for it.
So all the stuff I did today was fine. Yay! Everything else from this week? Had to go. Once I finished chopping, I was left with 20,476 words. This means that, since last Friday night, when I was very happy to have racked up 20,000 words and change, I've produced only 476 good words for the week--and 5000 stinking turkeys.
* * *
Pixel Update:
Yesterday we had to take our pooch, Pixel, to the vet to have her surgical stitches out. We'd expected Pixel to complain in no uncertain terms about this prospect, and that the vet would probably need to take her aside and give her some anaesthetic to calm her down enough for the deed to be done. Instead, with some firm guidance from Michelle (whom Pixel recognises as the alpha dog in the household pack), she went along with it just fine, with no extra help. It was amazing. The two lumps she had removed were harmless, but the most worrying one--a bulbous reddish thing that was growing--was only odd and worrying because they don't normally occur in dogs as old as Pixel.
Posted by adrian at 08:36 PM | Comments (4)
August 23, 2005
Day 11-12: First Setback--Dang!
After a blissful run over the past two weeks in which the UMBRA manuscript cracked 20,000 words, the past two days have been difficult. This was expected, in that at this point the story leaves the ECLIPSE narrative behind (the story of my protagonist has been weaving in and around the final act of ECLIPSE up to this point, being very careful not to affect that book's storyline--a tricky problem not dissimilar from problems one might encounter time travelling into the past, really), and begins to deal with the numerous colourful and lively problems lined up for what happens to everyone after the end of ECLIPSE. It's awkward talking about that book in such vague terms, considering it hasn't been released just yet, so I have to watch possible spoiler issues.
Anyway, as of right now I've only got 22,000 words. I didn't get a lot done yesterday (headache following physiotherapy activity in the morning) but what I had was okay; today almost all the material I cranked out this afternoon had that "off-key" feeling I associate with stuff that isn't working. This evening I chopped a lot of that out and did a bunch of rewriting, and that's how I finished with the 22,000 all up. One of the problems with the material today was that it felt like things were taking too long to happen, and things were just kind of cumbersome. What you want is for stuff to keep moving along at a nice clip, and if I'm noticing that slogging, trudging feeling, I'm guessing a reader will, too.
All the same, I'm still on track to have the whole thing done by Christmas, all things being equal. That would be fab.
Posted by adrian at 08:44 PM | Comments (1)
August 21, 2005
Say No To TypeKey!
A short administrative note:
As of right now, late on a sunny but crisp Sunday afternoon, I've switched off the "sign in to TypeKey" malarkey for this blog. I'm going back to moderating posts by hand. I decided I'd rather hear from folks who stop by, and that the TypeKey thing was a barrier to spontaneity. It was very good for keeping out comment spam--I didn't get any while using TypeKey--but it's no trouble to weed out the spam myself.
Thank you, though, to those of you who have been signing in to that service and posting anyway. It's greatly appreciated.
If you have any further trouble commenting, please feel free to contact me at adrian dot bedford at gmail dot com. I'll just add an email link thingy to the sidebar as well.
* * *
Meanwhile, in Author Boy news:
I just heard from the proprietor of brand new specialty sf/fantasy bookshop, Fantastic Planet (run by awesome Perth sf author Stephen Dedman and his wife Elaine), asking how they can order my new book, and would I be interested in doing a book launch for it at the shop?
Phwoar! Would I! I said yes, please. What a lovely gesture on their part!
Posted by adrian at 05:35 PM | Comments (4)
August 19, 2005
Day 9-10: Stonking Good Day
Today the UMBRA manuscript hit 20,000 words--not bad after only two weeks' work, and 11,500 words just this past week alone. How good do I feel about this? Consider: last November I struggled and tried and worked myself into a miserable lather trying to rewrite the infamous and failed WHISTLER as a Nanowrimo project. This attempt fell over stone dead at the 20,000-mark, and began a succession of soul-sucking attempts to rewrite the damn thing all kinds of different ways, none of which ever got as far as 20,000 words.
In today's episode, Our Hero learns that things have gotten Very Bad Indeed, worse even than they were up to this point. Soon he will be sitting around wishing he was back in the first part of the story again, when life was (relatively) easy. Heh.
So, even though I'm currently hosting a miserable headache--the first in a few days--I'm feeling very good about things. Even better, I also fixed a problem with my parents' computer, which mysteriously wasn't going along with the idea of dialling up to get online. This turned out to be a matter of checking an unchecked box in the Account Settings, and took only about three minutes flat to sort out. Normally when my folks' computer has a problem, it becomes this epic tale of woe in which the only reasonable conclusion is that reality is different in my parents' house, and things don't work the way they should, particularly computers.
Publisher Brian got in touch today to report that he's sent me a nice cheque (he goes to the trouble of organising it in Australian currency, which can't be cheap, and is very thoughtful), and that the production of ECLIPSE is proceeding apace. Copies should be available September 19. I can't wait to see it.
He also reported that a certain other Top Secret development, which I'm going to call "Project Mimosa" (because it has nothing to do with mimosas, and thus I can't get into trouble for mentioning it), is also moving along, and that I will be hearing soon from someone associated with it.
Posted by adrian at 09:12 PM | Comments (2)
Are You a Pastafarian?
You are if you subscribe to the growing religion surrounding the Flying Spaghetti Monster (hallowed be his noodles). This post on Boing Boing reveals details of the growing cult, its notion of Heaven, a bitter doctrinal feud with a rival cult, and, of course, the news that those of us who subscribe are Pastafarians. What more could a guy want?
Posted by adrian at 07:11 PM | Comments (2)
August 17, 2005
Day 8: The Best Day Yet
It's 10:30pm, and I've just knocked off the scribble for the day, after notching up a stonking great 3300 words, bringing the total up to 16,000 words in all. Today, the steaming, smelly stuff finally hit the rotating blades and started scattering in all directions. As well, our rebellious spy android guy experienced a sudden reversal--or did he? At the point where I left off, he was much too busy to think about such things.
This is my best single writing day since the days of writing the dreaded WHISTLER, first version. My personal best for a single day is still 4600, but I'll take 3300 as pretty damn good. It's my best output in absolutely ages, and I couldn't be happier. I could be warmer--it's very chilly tonight--but not happier.
Posted by adrian at 10:38 PM | Comments (3)
August 16, 2005
Day 6-7: In Which Our Hero Plots Rebellion
UMBRA is now up to a beefy 12,700 words, an improvement of 4200 words between yesterday and today--and this despite a world-class headache rampaging around in my bonce, practicing its best Gene Krupa drum solos and otherwise kicking up a nasty stink.
I'm now in the middle of chapter 5, and our android protagonist, suspicious of his handlers back home, and feeling increasingly like a real person, and full of grave misgivings about his crazy suicide mission (to say nothing of not liking the idea of, er, dying), has just lied to his handlers about what's going with him at the moment. The next day or so will see him arrive at the point where he'll have to carry out his mission.
He's also started to wonder if he's not actually an android at all, but a real human being who, for whatever reason, has been brainwashed into thinking he's a machine. How could he find out for sure? Should he try to perform his mission anyway? And has the killer who tried to put him out of commission earlier given up, or will he/she keep trying to kill him--or has the killer's plan already succeeded beyond all expectation? Hmmm.
* * *
Michelle and I today had the distinct pleasure of meeting up with an old university chum of mine, Shaun Salmon. It was a real delight chatting away, finding out about his life these days (he's a successful graphic designer and cartoonist) and telling him about all the improbable stuff going on with Michelle and me.
* * *
Last, spare a thought for our pooch, Pixel. This past Sunday she had to have surgery to remove a couple of worrisome lumps (no I have no idea what the lumps were worried about) we didn't like the look of. The surgery proceeded without a problem, and Pix came home later that day, wearing a big plastic cone around her head to keep her from gnawing at the nasty stitched-up wounds. Pixel, I should explain, is a very boisterous, active sort of dog, and she wasn't pleased with the cone situation. All the same she seemed to be coping with it pretty well--until tonight. Earlier this evening I discovered that somehow she'd managed to tear the cone to the point where it couldn't be fixed, and had to come off. She could not have been more delighted to get rid of the thing. As of right now, 10pm Tuesday evening, she's snoozing, cone-free, on the couch.
The other thing that's amazing about Pixel is that after only a day of being unable to get comfortable because of the stitches and general surgery-related discomfort (once the pain-killing injection wore off), today she's been running and jumping and hooning about as if nothing was wrong. She's an amazing pooch.
Later we'll be getting the pathology results from the lumps. One we've been told was harmless, but the other looked nasty even to us. Here's hoping for a good result.
Posted by adrian at 10:05 PM | Comments (1)
August 15, 2005
Pre-Order ECLIPSE As of Now
Looks like folks who want to order a copy of my next book, ECLIPSE, can do so as of right now.
Jet over to the EDGE Science Fiction and Fantasy Publishing website and have a squizz. Apparently if you get in real early, shipping anywhere in North America is FREE! Hmm, sounds good. Now if only there was a similarly sweet deal for shipping overseas, too.
As with ORBITAL BURN, you can also read the first chapter now on the EDGE site, too.
Folks not wanting to pre-order will find the new book in the shops as of September 19th.
Posted by adrian at 12:25 PM | Comments (2)
August 12, 2005
Day 5: Author Boy Rocks
As of just now, Friday evening, the new manuscript stands at 8500 words, after a mighty effort of 2500 words for the day--and this with a miserable headache. Or, more properly, I'm the one who's miserable. The headache's having a ball. Still, 2500 words while the scone hurts is pretty good, I'm thinking. My spy guy, an android, is recovering from the poisoning I reported yesterday, and he's learned that HMS Eclipse, the ship he's on, is on her way to its appointment with destiny--and the point where he will have to attempt to carry out his own mission.
The only problem (other than someone trying to kill him)? He's developing a conscience. He's also realising, in the wake of almost dying, that he really likes being alive. None of this is part of the script he was given at the start. They assigned a machine for this mission because it's almost certain that he'll get killed trying to carry it out. It's just starting not to work out that way. Hmm. And why does it look like his own people (ie the people who sent him on the mission) might be the ones trying to kill him?
I'm very happy with how it's all going, and absolutely astonished that I'm getting so much done each day. It's like the good old days again--as if this whole horrible, sucky, miserable year trying to write WHISTLER/ANTIMATTER VOODOO never happened.
Yay, me! I rock! :)
Posted by adrian at 08:30 PM | Comments (2)
August 11, 2005
Day 4: A Spanner in the Ointment--Gasp!
In today's exciting episode, our spy hero guy, minding his own business, riding a space elevator that will take him up to the HMS Eclipse (and the start of his official mission), suddenly falls deathly ill. As of where I left off, he was learning that he'd been poisoned! Poisoned! Eek! How could it be? (Then again, he was just eating the space elevator train version of airline food...) What's going on? Indeed, is there more going on than meets the eye? Have I been reading too much Philip K. Dick? Only time will tell. But so far, so good. 6001 words all up, after doing 1500 this afternoon. I'm planning on calling it a night, too. The headache is back, and I don't want to push my luck.
* * *
ECLIPSE Update:
Today Publisher Brian sent me a proof of what the back of the book will look like, with blurb and other goodies. The whole thing looks very spiffy indeed, I must say. He tells me there will be finished copies in the warehouse very very soon. (Actually, he did give me a date, about which I'm very excited, but he hasn't told me I can tell you yet.)
* * *
Meanwhile, about ORBITAL BURN:
I just spoke with the manager of my local Dymocks, at the Morley Galleria. She wants me to bring in more copies of OB to sell at the shop. Even better, she wants copies of ECLIPSE, too, when it appears.
W00t!
* * *
And at the pool:
This morning we hit the local pool again. I managed 60 laps churning up and down, up and down--and felt pretty wiped afterwards. This is odd because in the last three weeks, on Sunday afternoons, I've been able to bang out 80 laps (2km!) in just under an hour. I clearly need to work on my conditioning, and probably do more stretching exercises before starting. Michelle is also doing excellent work, improving on her own performance. At this rate, we might actually get, if not hugely fit, then at least a bit toned up, and maybe lose a bit of poundage.
Posted by adrian at 07:32 PM | Comments (4)
August 10, 2005
Day 3: Story Begins to Take Shape
Today I banged out another 2200 words, for a new total of 4500 words in only two days. This is bloody amazing! I have no idea if I can keep this going, but while it is I'm very happy indeed. It's also coming along pretty well, story-wise, shaping up as a spy story tucked inside the story of ECLIPSE. Or, rather, the first act of UMBRA coincides with the last act of ECLIPSE, and concerns a different character from the hapless James Dunne of ECLIPSE. Still debating whether Dunne should make a cameo appearance in this story. If I do, it has to serve the new story, rather than just be a gimmick for people who've read the other book. One problem is that in the course of setting out what's going on for the new guy, I've had to reveal some spoiler information about what's going on in the earlier book. Not sure what to do about that. We'll see how it goes.
I'm also sticking with a method I used successfully in HYDROGEN STEEL, which was that during each day's scribble session, something interesting (to me, that is) has to happen to the characters. A meeting with someone, a setback, a complication, a problem of some kind, some guy busting down the door and firing guns everywhere (ah, Raymond Chandler, how I love that device!), or whatever. HS turned out to be a very lively book, and I think it's entirely because of this approach. There's always something going on.
Posted by adrian at 10:23 PM | Comments (4)
August 09, 2005
Day 2: Happy Author Boy
Crikey, I just did 2300 words for the new story--that's more writing than I've done in one day since back when I was writing the first version of ANTIMATTER VOODOO (back when it was called WHISTLER), the one that got to 80,000 words. Wow! 2300 words. I'm gobsmacked, and rather pleased. If I can keep this up, that will be wonderful. Until I see that I can keep this up, I'll refrain from partying. For the moment, though, it's a great feeling.
And, in other great news: Discovery made it back to Earth safe and sound. We had a live feed of the last few minutes, with the ship glowing in infra-red as she came in. A fine thing to see.
Posted by adrian at 10:32 PM | Comments (2)
August 08, 2005
Umbra Day 1: Starting Always Sucks
I woke up today with the poundingest of pounding headaches, and it's only gotten worse as the day's worn on. Right now (7:30pm) it's a doozy. All the same, I started UMBRA today. The main question to sort out first was whether to go for the in media res opening, which gets you into the story really quickly, though at the possible cost of the reader understanding what's going on, or to go the classic route of "begin before the beginning", in which you introduce your protagonist going about his business for a bit before you drop the plot on him. After much gnashing of teeth, only some of which was related to the headache, I've decided to go with the "before the beginning" approach, since the in media res approach wasn't getting me anywhere. In the course of all this, even thought of a pretty decent idea for an opening line. So, not a lot to report for the first day's production. I'm still calling it a win.
* * *
If you want to waste an awful lot of your precious time, you could do worse than going to visit the very strange world of GROW, a sort of role-playing-game-cum-puzzle. I've just wasted about half an hour on it, and made it to level 3. Which shows a definite learning curve, but perseverance is clearly called for. It's not immediately obvious what you have to do, but you'll get the idea.
Posted by adrian at 07:36 PM | Comments (0)
August 05, 2005
All Kneel Before The Flying Spaghetti Monster
The always astute Alethea sent me a link to the following site, representing the earnest beliefs [cough] of one Bobby Henderson, who has a theological bone to pick with the Kansas School Board, and their plans to have "intelligent design" taught in high school science classes alongside the theory of evolution. Bobby believes there is a very important third theory that requires equal time, and is keen for the Kansas School Board to take this on board. I'd recommend a personal visit to Bobby's site. There are some splendid illustrations of the Flying Spaghetti Monster, including my favourite, a pastiche of Michelangelo's Sistine Chapel efforts, with Man touching the "noodly appendage" of the Flying Spaghetti Monster.
Bobby also draws the school board's attention to the alarming connection between the rise of global warming and the decline in the numbers of pirates. Clearly, young Henderson is a man of unique and penetrating insight.
Here's a snippet.
OPEN LETTER TO KANSAS SCHOOL BOARDI am writing you with much concern after having read of your hearing to decide whether the alternative theory of Intelligent Design should be taught along with the theory of Evolution. I think we can all agree that it is important for students to hear multiple viewpoints so they can choose for themselves the theory that makes the most sense to them. I am concerned, however, that students will only hear one theory of Intelligent Design.
Let us remember that there are multiple theories of Intelligent Design. I and many others around the world are of the strong belief that the universe was created by a Flying Spaghetti Monster. It was He who created all that we see and all that we feel. We feel strongly that the overwhelming scientific evidence pointing towards evolutionary processes is nothing but a coincidence, put in place by Him.
Posted by adrian at 08:37 PM | Comments (2)
The Book is Dead; Long Live the Book!
A funny thing happened on the way to the keyboard earlier this week when I found myself contemplating another week trying manfully to figure out a way to make the cursed ANTIMATTER VOODOO project work.
There I was, minding my own business, thinking about all the disparate elements I've been juggling, I realised, this entire last year or more, and something very quietly went, "sproing!" in my brain. I said, "That's enough." And lo, it was enough.
I'm done with that bastard. I've lost count of the number of times I've quit this thing before, and I'm pretty well sick of the whole thing. It's gone on and gone on like a bloody tooth-ache, grinding me down, making me feel like that guy on the Simpsons who's had hiccups for years, who only says, "[hic!] Kill me! [hic!] Kill me!"
So, now what? Well, as it happens, I've spent this entire week abuzz with ideas for a new book. (I know, you've heard this before, too. Me, too, and I share your pessimism.) This would be a more or less direct sequel to ECLIPSE. I've now thought of two sequels for ECLIPSE, one a few weeks ago that would be much more indirect, and this new one, which would pick up more or less immediately after the ending of ECLIPSE, but be from a different character's POV. So far, I'm calling this story UMBRA, but I think it needs something to dress it up a bit.
All this week I've been blitzing the keyboard, just gushing forth with ideas and developments for this thing, averaging 2000 words a day, just with notes. This is stunning stuff. Previously, while working on the damned ANTIMATTER VOODOO, the best I ever did on writing either notes or text was about 1300 words, and felt pretty lousy about it. Now, by contrast, I feel--get this!--excited! And I've been going, "Oh, yes, that's what this is SUPPOSED to feel like!"
As of right now, I've got a title, characters, setting, stuff going on, major peril, and so on. I've even got a pretty decent idea for an opening line!
If you're wondering what the hell happened to me, I think it's this: I spent the three weeks before this week up to my eyes in last minute edits and tweaking on the galley proofs of ECLIPSE. I discovered a shocking thing while reading, re-reading, and re-re-reading various drafts of that manuscript: it was pretty good. Surprisingly good. In places it was gripping and tense and scary and powerful. Even after reading this book many times, it was still getting to me, and doing stuff to my head. I was astonished at how, well, above average it was. And how it made even my best attempts at ANTIMATTER VOODOO look horribly lame by comparison.
I wrote the original version of ECLIPSE in 1997, the same year as ORBITAL BURN. You don't want to read something you did from that long ago (even though, admittedly, it's been worked on a lot between then and now) and discover you were better at this gig then than you are now, but that's what I saw, to my considerable chagrin.
So, time for a clean sheet of paper, and to try something else. My personal motto (dating back only to the point where I decided a motto was worthwhile and not totally poncy) is, "Never give up." I'm giving up on ANTIMATTER VOODOO, but not on writing--though there have been plenty of days over this past year when I seriously wondered if the gift of the scribble had left me. It's a frightening thing to contemplate. And now, instead of bashing my head endlessly against this damned nightmare of a story, I'm going to do something different, and I'm going to have a blast. Even now, I'm twitchy with excitement about it. I'm damn tempted to start writing the thing today, rather than wait for Monday. I'm not, though. I want things to settle a bit in my head, for a few last-minute bits and pieces to sort themselves out.
What will happen to ANTIMATTER VOODOO? I will probably strip it for parts. It has lots of fun elements, a few interesting characters, and the odd bit of cool technology. And, of course, a kick-arse title. That will show up somewhere, one day. It's too good to get rid of.
Something else that has helped a lot: this whole past week, I've largely been headache-free. Got one right now, but it's the first since Monday. Even this one isn't getting me down, because I've got stuff to look forward to. Stuff I'm going, "ooooooooh!" over, and stuff I'm spending a lot of time staring off into space over.
* * *
Also:
Today we finally got our US Visas sorted out. We now have 5-year visas for the US, good until 2010! Now we just need to sort out the finance. Our savings projections suggest we should walk it in, and have some left over for spending money.
I'm also now using a trackball instead of a mouse. It's a very nice, very alien-looking Logitech "Marble Ball" thingy, and it's hard to get used to, since the thing doesn't move; only the ball doodad on top of it moves. This was a brilliant suggestion from Alethea, who thought it might help with the headaches. So far, so good! Thank you, Alethea!
Meanwhile, ECLIPSE is at the printers now (as far as I know, based on what Publisher Brian's told me). It's out in Canada next month. I'm incredibly jazzed about this, much more so than I was about ORBITAL BURN's arrival. I just hope it goes over as well with other folks as it does with Brian and me.
And that's the news from me. How are things with you?
Posted by adrian at 02:31 PM | Comments (5)