A Little Miscellany
Most of yesterday was spent attempting to hunt down my primary Breath of Stone file. According to my computer, no copy of the file exists post-October 30, which is... quite incorrect. It isn't the only file missing. Yes, I've done searches. Yes, I've looked here, thither, and yon. I think there's a copy on my most recent Carbonite backup (yesterday!), but -- believe it or not -- Carbonite was completely down. And my email/password isn't working. I can see the file, but cannot retrieve it or check its contents. And so... we wait.
Worst case scenario? I'm missing the two chapters that have taken me longer to write than any other chapter in this novel, the previous novel, and the previous-previous novel. The two chapters that have been the most difficult to make work.
***
Having decided to act as if Carbonite will do all the proper magic, I've nearly worked my way through an entirely different chapter. This is the last "What the hell am I doing, thinking I'm a writer?" chapter challenge. Really, darlings, I cannot tell you just how challenging these chapters have been. I can barely express why. I'm thinking we should run a poll to see if readers of the published novel can accurately guess which chapters were so troublesome.
***
In news that might or might not be related to the above, I enjoyed whisky last night. My karate ladies gave me a special drink glass as a going-away present. It has markings on the side for LOL, OMG, and WTF. Guess how full that glass was, my darlings. Guess how many times.
I'm waiting right now for Carbonite to connect and restore the chosen file. It still isn't connecting. I'll be making phonecalls. Sigh.
***
Once the entire revised Breath of Stone file is recovered, (because we are thinking positively, my darlings!) it'll currently clock in around 98K words. I've at least 70K words of additional material to add to it. This is not a short story. I hope that will make it worth your patience.
***
I'm thinking I just might, maybe, be fixin' to think about probably launching a Patreon by the end of the week. Since all patronage supports all writings, backers will see a combination of self-defense/combat rewards and novel-based rewards. There are pieces of it I think are fun but others might think are silly. I've decided the ones who think I'm silly are not my target patrons. :) And darlings, if I could come up with an appropriate whisky-related reward, I would do so.
***
I read with great sadness the reports from World Fantasy Convention on their handling of accessibility issues. Really, folks. Really. Accessibility is not an add-on. It isn't an option, or a treat, or an extra thing you do if you're feeling generous. When you choose and negotiate with a facility, you include that in the negotiations.
And don't toss out the "It's so expensive!" excuse. It was $800 you say? Great. Charge every attendee an additional $1. Or perhaps cut back on whatever little ding-dongs the hotel says would be nifty to provide. Access isn't optional. (Protip: when you negotiate ahead of time, you don't pay that much. Just sayin'.)
Really, my darlings, considering how dearly some industry folks cuddle and coddle institutional memory, it's rather ghastly that there is no formal way of passing along lessons learned from one con committee to another. My guess is the failure lies in protecting turf above other concerns.
***
Lastly, I'll tell ya that the biggest downside to running a tight schedule and/or having many overlapping responsibilities is the amount of disruption a temporary illness can cause. I'm still digging out from the weeks in October where I had about four productive hours a day (that included time for mundane things like taking a shower), and the following week where I crashed hard after the minimal demands of MileHiCon. Alas, my SFWA duties have suffered the longest simply because they had no deadlines that governed my income or ability to feed others.
Worst case scenario? I'm missing the two chapters that have taken me longer to write than any other chapter in this novel, the previous novel, and the previous-previous novel. The two chapters that have been the most difficult to make work.
***
Having decided to act as if Carbonite will do all the proper magic, I've nearly worked my way through an entirely different chapter. This is the last "What the hell am I doing, thinking I'm a writer?" chapter challenge. Really, darlings, I cannot tell you just how challenging these chapters have been. I can barely express why. I'm thinking we should run a poll to see if readers of the published novel can accurately guess which chapters were so troublesome.
***
In news that might or might not be related to the above, I enjoyed whisky last night. My karate ladies gave me a special drink glass as a going-away present. It has markings on the side for LOL, OMG, and WTF. Guess how full that glass was, my darlings. Guess how many times.
I'm waiting right now for Carbonite to connect and restore the chosen file. It still isn't connecting. I'll be making phonecalls. Sigh.
***
Once the entire revised Breath of Stone file is recovered, (because we are thinking positively, my darlings!) it'll currently clock in around 98K words. I've at least 70K words of additional material to add to it. This is not a short story. I hope that will make it worth your patience.
***
I'm thinking I just might, maybe, be fixin' to think about probably launching a Patreon by the end of the week. Since all patronage supports all writings, backers will see a combination of self-defense/combat rewards and novel-based rewards. There are pieces of it I think are fun but others might think are silly. I've decided the ones who think I'm silly are not my target patrons. :) And darlings, if I could come up with an appropriate whisky-related reward, I would do so.
***
I read with great sadness the reports from World Fantasy Convention on their handling of accessibility issues. Really, folks. Really. Accessibility is not an add-on. It isn't an option, or a treat, or an extra thing you do if you're feeling generous. When you choose and negotiate with a facility, you include that in the negotiations.
And don't toss out the "It's so expensive!" excuse. It was $800 you say? Great. Charge every attendee an additional $1. Or perhaps cut back on whatever little ding-dongs the hotel says would be nifty to provide. Access isn't optional. (Protip: when you negotiate ahead of time, you don't pay that much. Just sayin'.)
Really, my darlings, considering how dearly some industry folks cuddle and coddle institutional memory, it's rather ghastly that there is no formal way of passing along lessons learned from one con committee to another. My guess is the failure lies in protecting turf above other concerns.
***
Lastly, I'll tell ya that the biggest downside to running a tight schedule and/or having many overlapping responsibilities is the amount of disruption a temporary illness can cause. I'm still digging out from the weeks in October where I had about four productive hours a day (that included time for mundane things like taking a shower), and the following week where I crashed hard after the minimal demands of MileHiCon. Alas, my SFWA duties have suffered the longest simply because they had no deadlines that governed my income or ability to feed others.