Archive for Netbook Progress

Progress

{ August 5, 2008 @ 11:56 am } · { Edits, Life Updates, Netbook Progress }
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Now that you’re older and wiser for it, how often have you thought back, really thought back, to the very first thing you really wanted to be when you grew up, and wish, now, that you had managed to do it?

As the job hunt continues–fruitless though it may be–I can at least be thankful that, while I am unemployed, I can get at least through the revisions of my fantasy book without the hassle of life on top of that.
Whether I’ll make my personal deadline before I find a job is a very certain uncertainty, but I will happily take whatever progress I can grasp at.

Thus far, the prologue has had a very long face-life. I mean it–the prologue is longer than my first chapter! In ms. format, the prologue is nine pages long, while the first chapter is only six. I was originally working to shorten the prologue, as I–and many others are guilty of this, I’m sure–usually skip it if it’s more than a paragraph when I’m reading. Shameful, but true! The information in mine is…well, it isn’t critical to the plot at all. I use the prologue as a place to insert back-story and information that you don’t really need to know, but would help you get a sense of what the overall story would be about. I made it so that if you did skip it like I would, the first chapter would still catch your eye, and with any luck, reel you in just the same.

Chapter one had the next largest amount of re-working that got done. I hacked it down by three pages and replaced them with one and a half fresh ones, which was a very good move. The hook has a lot more bite to it now, and that is very pleasing. Chapters two through four we adjusted accordingly, but nothing overly impressive had to be changed. I cut down the end of chapter four by three pages as well, and only replaced it with a paragraph.
The first twenty or so chapters of the fantasy book are probably going to eat me alive with minor errors, but I’m hoping it won’t take too much time away from being able to continue work on SaSu. It’s only a side job, and obviously takes a backseat where my novel is concerned, but I’m working on a schedule right now to get that done at the same time. Only time will tell if it works out.

In retrospect

{ July 22, 2008 @ 11:17 am } · { Life Updates, Netbook Progress }
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Looking back at the last three chapters, I noticed something. I….really am not happy with them. That’s why I haven’t been updating the chapters lately. It’ll probably be another week before something new is posted, but until then, I’m going to work on sprucing up chapters seven through nine until they make me happy. Only then will I be able to move on to chapter ten.

The story of the dissapearing car

{ June 22, 2008 @ 8:52 pm } · { Life Updates, Netbook Progress }
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Ah, the best laid plans of mice and men…

Apologies for not having been here in such a while. Work has kept me on my toes, and I had meant to leave a message saying I wouldn’t be back until this week with chapter eight. Sadly, I must apologize again for what will become of this week as well. You see, my car was stolen just this past Friday morning; right out of my parking spot before I awoke to go to work. I now have no mode of transportation of my own that will get me there, and will have to rely on others–which includes the use of public transport–to get me there in one piece.

Why did they take my car? I haven’t a clue. It wasn’t a good vehicle. It ran horribly, bucked worse than a bronco on speed, and ate gas like there was no tomorrow. The other cars parked around me would have been better targets, but I guess mine was the easiest? In retrospect, I have reason to believe that whoever stole it was watching me. Why? Because there wasn’t even the smallest shard of glass on the ground. Now, unless they brought a broom to sweep away the evidence, I would read that as meaning they have been waiting for a good time to steal it, and came quite prepared to do so.

Because of all this, my weekend was spent silently sulking as I looked for gifts for my father’s upcoming birthday with a false smile and cheer so I wouldn’t depress or annoy anyone else. I haven’t been able to focus on much since Friday, so the edits for chapter seven were never done, and thus, chapter eight was never written. However, I should be able to get back on that this week with an update on Sunday, so don’t forget to tune in.

As for my car…I have no hope of seeing my little KIA again, so I’m not going to hold my breath. I also have no hope of affording another car for at least four months. The only person I know with money has been dead since he got married, so he didn’t even bother to try and help by lending one of his three cars to me for the next few months. Yet…yet he will always help his wife’s good-for-nothing brother that is constantly leeching money from them? Hmm…

With that in mind, I will forever remember that he truly means very little to me now, and that he, too, has become good for nothing. I will just have to hope that my schooling in this current position will result in a well enough paying job that I can get back on both my feet, and help my parents along the way.

 

Here’s to seeing you next Sunday with a bit of entertainment from the pages of Sairyn’s life.

If the original idea for buying a house…

{ June 8, 2008 @ 12:29 pm } · { Netbook Progress, Offbeat News }
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…was to live in it forever, why in the name of all things holy are people complaining about their property losing value? So the house is only worth $500,000 as opposed to $575,000–what’s the big deal?

People have become so caught up in obsessing over how much their homes are worth that they all seem to have forgotten the reason why people bought homes in the first place. It was to live to live in them, and generally, until you died. It was to pick that perfect house, make it into a home, and pass it down to your children. Now, in the age of house flipping and in an economy even more screwed than it was during the first depression, those who should be happy they can even afford to own a home are complaining that its value has gone down. What, was everyone planning on selling their homes this year or something? Did I miss that memo?

Call me old fashioned, but I see no point in purchasing a house if you only plan to live in it for a short period of time–that is what apartments and rental properties are for. A house you’re purchased should be your permanent dwelling, not just a bump in the road. In the beginning, people bought their homes to stay in, and couldn’t wait until they were done paying the last of their note so they could finally say, “this house is mine.” No one could take it from them, and all they’d ever need to pay would be the taxes. Why is that not still the goal of growing up and settling down?

It seems that now, to possess anything for more than two years is a faux-pas. My computers would probably be considered trash by many; my desktop ancient at one and a half years, my laptop at an archaic three. To me, these are perfectly fine machines. They have Windows XP, they do their work in a hurry, and they have so many gigabytes of space open that I’ve barely scratched their surfaces. My cellphone was top of the line, but now the RAZR has had so many upgrades since its debut, my little guy just seems silly. But it still does its job, and since all they’re doing is perfecting the wheel anyway, I have no plans of abandoning my first-gen RAZR anytime soon.   

Houses get about two to five years before their owners want nothing more to do with them, and sell. Why do they want nothing more to do with them? Because they settled. Because instead of waiting until they had the money to buy the home of their dreams right from the start, they settledon one in a poor location, too far from their places of employ, ten feet away from the highway, right next door to guy with the chickens and rooster in his backyard, and all for the sake of saying they owned that little chunk of dirt. Forgive me, but if living next to the chickens wasn’t your first choice, why in the hell didn’t you wait until you found it? You only get to be a virgin home buyer once–is it so hard to make it count?

 

SaSu chapter seven will be delayed until Wednesday.

Only two weeks left

{ May 30, 2008 @ 7:35 pm } · { Hobbies, Life Updates, Netbook Progress, Offbeat News }
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Two weeks–ten days–I don’t care you hash it, I only have ten days left of class. With any luck, not having to study drugs every night and day will give me more time to write and edit.

The main ms. hasn’t seen nor heard a blip from me in weeks. Nothing has been edited in over a month, and since this is its first major revision since I initially submitted it earlier this year and late last, they really need to be worked on at the same time, not with months between chapter reviews. Looks like I’ll be missing my June re-submission date after all.

SaSu is coming along nicely, but this last update might as well be skipped over. Friday is already here, and there’s no way I’ll have two chapters ready by Sunday. Wednesday maybe, but not Sunday. Since our teacher will be gone all next week, we have nothing to do, so I should also be able to finish those reports with time to spare. The only downside is that he seems to think I won’t mind playing teacher to my classmates. Since they all seem to have a thousand questions, you can bet your ass I mind.

You know what else I miss doing? Reading. God, I miss reading. I miss coming home from class or work and being able to sit in my bed and read for an hour. I haven’t done that in months, either. I can scarcely remember the name of the main character! Okay, that’s a lie, but still…

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