Changing my commute

Well, I just served my two weeks notice at my job. I've been here for almost twelve years. Anyone who reads this blog knows that I haven't been happy for a while, so I'm relieved to be moving on. At the same time, it's a big step. I don't know how my new job (of course I have another job lined up. Good lord.) will interfere with my writing schedule. Hopefully not at all. Hopefully it won't be a transition fraught with stress and peril. Hopefully I'll just be able to slip into it and keep moving. We'll see.

Anyway. I'll whine more about how many words I've written or what narrative block I'm tangling with later on. For now, I'm just glad to be mobile. And I'm looking forward to looking forward to my job again. We'll see how long it lasts.

Good bye, Philbert

Well, I'm back on the job after most of a week off. Got a lot of writing done on Wednesday, less on Thursday, and then pretty much just played WoW the rest of the week. I mean, I mowed the lawn, I did house stuff, but I put in some pretty significant numbers in Azeroth.

I am pleased to announce that the floss-bit has moved on. So that's a significant development. Other than that....not much. I mean, there's a great deal to talk about. You'll hear later. For now, things are clean and cool on the surface.

Sorry it's not much of an update.

Minus Duck

Well, scratch one convention appearance. I was hoping to get panels at Duckon, since it's just down the street, and they've got Jim Butcher as GoH this year. No luck. They actually have too many panelists. So much for extremely local support. No hard feelings, of course, but I'm disappointed. Hopefully Windycon will be more amenable.

I have some other news that is lovely and joyous and completely something I can't talk about yet. Soon though. It is good. And less than three months until the book is out in the UK! And Australia! Prepare!

That's all I've got this morning. Updates as they arrive.

Philbert the Floss-bit

There is a piece of dental floss in the middle of the hallway of my office. It's been there for a little over a week. It's in such a position that every employee walks over it several times a day. It got there because someone flossed their teeth in their office (nice) and then threw it away, and the guy who empties the trash did a poor job of it and it fell out. I haven't touched it because it's become an interesting social experiment for me. How filthy will this place get before the bosses will do something about it? My guess is "Quite".

He has a visual

I forgot my glasses today, so I probably should be spending as little time staring at this screen as possible. I should be sitting in a dark room with my eyes closed while the knots in my irises uncoil. But I don't think anyone believes that'll happen. Anyway.

I'm beginning to see that a lack of local friends is kind of important for the writing thing. I mean, if I didn't have the day job I could probably manage a social life, but it's not practical in the current situation. You really have to abandon everything in the name of a good book, and that's not easy. A habit I have to get back into, sure, but a habit that I remember not being very pleasant. Maybe that's what's getting in my way. We'll see.

A cool thing: Randy Pausch was on the bridge of the USS Kelvin.

Plumbing, Writing, and the eternal complaint

Well, the shower is now functional. The tiles weren't properly affixed on the floor, and water was getting down there and washing out the grout. They had to tear out part of the floor and re-tile it, but everything seems to be working properly. I'm relieved.

This year is going by so quickly. I had expected to be most of the way through the second Veridon book by now. There are obvious reasons that hasn't happened, but I'm having serious trouble starting this other book. I keep changing my mind about it. I must have written chapter one three different times, for three entirely different books. The problem is that none of the things I've written so far particularly interest me. That's no good. Too many other frustrations and distractions to really settle down. Doing this as a second job really is kind of a bitch.

Anyway. It's May. Three months until the UK release. And since the US release isn't until the end of September, it's practically five months until I'll see it on local store shelves. What can I do in five months?