Three big projects coming up at work and for once, I think I'm actually holding my own. Of course, 90% of my time is still spent fighting Microsoft Word's inability to format the same thing the same way twice. *Fhtagn* (The Lovecraftians will recognize that word . . . and run.) Still, things are going well and I'm still managing to get in some writing at lunch. I'll probably have more to add to Harbinger this weekend.

Got a copy of The Sky's the Limit and The Quality of Leadership off to my folks tonight. Thanks to the gang at mikescomics who went above and beyond getting me some copies of TQoL. I know Dad loves showing off the books to everyone . . . just hope he enjoys reading them also.

BTW, If you're wanting to pick up the Doctor Who book, don't wait for Amazon to get around to bringing it over here, Mike's is the way to go. (This was a completely unpaid and heartfelt plug. I like supporting people who take care of their customers.)

Had to take the Matrix in for an oil change, so while wishweaver was playing with her new shiny (see this entry for more raving about her new iMac. Well, almost new . . . it's refurbished, but it's definitely new to her and it's frappin' HUGE! It's got a bigger screen than our small flat-screen TV. I can't wait to see how it handles a DVD.

Anyway, while I was at the Jiffy Lube, I snagged one of my writing notebooks out of the trunk and spent some quality time writing. Yeah, I guess all that Army training is coming in handy. Not only can I sleep damn near anywhere now, but it seems I can write almost anywhere, background noise notwithstanding. Oh, and by the way , I was not trying to sell books while I was there, for those who follow the NEPAT or the Never-Ending Publish America Thread over at Absolute Write.

(Wow, tonight's theme really seems to be parenthetical asides and inside jokes.)

Somewhere in all this, I did get work done on the unnamed project. I added 1376 words and have completely confused at least one of the main characters. I may need to go back and flesh this scene out a bit more tomorrow night before pushing on (lots of talking, not so much description). I may want to readdress how I build up some of the tension here before I get to one of the early reveals. It's still early, but I'm already having fun with this book and once we get out of the "recap and reintroduce characters phase, it's going to pick up steam in a hurry."

But for now, I'm running out of steam, so it's off to bed.

Night, LJ.
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Words for Today

1376 / 1000 words. 138%

Progress on Unnamed Project: SotH

3723 / 100000 words. 4%

Words for 2008

157252 / 366000 words. 43%

I've really enjoyed my new laptop, it's more powerful than most of the desktops I've owned since I started paying attention to things like computers. But, I've really never liked the keyboard. I don't know if it's just set at a bad angle or what, but I've had the worst luck with hitting the alt keys when I go to hit the space bar, sending my cursor scampering all over the page, typing in the middle of other words or dumping me out of programs all together.

But that changed tonight. I ordered the Cordless Wave keyboard from Logitech. OK, it's got more functions that I'll ever use, but the contours of the keyboard just seem perfect for my hands. I knocked out 1352 words tonight on Steel on Target and didn't have a jumpy cursor once. Oh sure, I'm still not a fast typist and I still make tyops all over the place, but I didn't have to waste a lot of time going back and redoing typing I'd already done and that seemed to help me keep my thoughts focused on the manuscript.

Yep, there's definite computer luff going on here with this new peripheral.

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Words for tonight

1352 / 1000 words. 135%

Progress on Steel on Target

20993 / 90000 words. 23%

Words for 2008

44217 / 366000 words. 12%

Sorry I haven't posted much. Apparently, my computer was beyond resuscitation, so I haven't had much opportunity to get any new writing done. Also, working an average of 9.5 hour days the past two weeks hasn't left me with much energy to try and and sneak in too much time on wishweaver's laptop.

But, we dealt with that today. I decided since I have my Sony UX-290P palmtop computer for conventions and such, I didn't need to get a lightweight (read "more expensive") laptop. So, I am now the proud owner of a Toshiba Satellite with 2GB of RAM and a 250GB HD. With a quarter of a terrabyte to play with, it's going to be a while before I fill this puppy up.

I've loaded most of the software I need on it tonight and tomorrow, we move all the files from the Sony to the Toshiba and I get back to writing (as well as finishing my preparations for the "Collecting Anime Cels" panel at NASFiC). So, with any luck, I should have words to post tomorrow.