Situation update: hampered by logistics but still endeavoring to create.
Writing “Attack of the Lesbian Activist Squirrels” is a hell of a lot of work. Here’s a peek at how the sausage is made: Much of my verbiage starts with pen and paper. Other parts begin on my beloved Neo (the bit shovel). The rest is hammered straight into my laptop. That’s followed by a merging process and then endless edits where I change and rearrange every damn word (often three or more times).
The end result is a complex document that was digested through whatever word processors I’ve used and is now properly organized in word processing software called Scrivener. From there it’s backed up in 378,267 locations or I can’t sleep at night.
Scrivener has a bitch of a learning curve and doesn’t like running on Linux but those are my only complaints. It’s probably the best thing for long documents. Word seems to shit itself when documents get too long. Microsoft never seemed to manage subdocuments well. Oh WordPerfect… how I mourn your loss. (Also, one of the worst things about writing big stuff is bad advice about word processors from people who’ve never done it. The world is filled with folks who’ve formatted a three page memo and think this will scale up to a thousand page novel.)
Scrivener isn’t the end. From there I compile the beast into the 300+ page unfinished novel which it is, print it, write all over the fresh printouts, edit more, waste a mountain of paper, and then… more edits. Finally, when all that’s done (or at least done enough that I’ve hit the wall on tweaking it), I slice and dice bits and pieces to cut and paste into WordPress for blog posts.
I’m sure there are more efficient writing methods. My approach sure seems convoluted. But it’s the only method with which I’ve been able to reliably extract the quality I want from the brain I have.
The problem is that my laptop has slowly gotten older and creakier with time. (Like me.) Unlike me, it’s damn near slowed to a halt. It’s frustrating to use. That’s my fault for not upgrading sooner. I knew it was necessary almost two years ago. I dragged my feet with all purchases during the year of spastic fuckery we call 2020. If there ever was a time to let a laptop slide… we just saw it.
Recently, I pulled the trigger on a brand new computer. I about died from analysis paralysis picking it out. Then, it took forever to arrive. That said I was pleased as punch with the mini-pc form factor. I put it up on my sidebar as an Amazon link; on the off chance that anyone wants to buy their own. Supposedly it’s a computational bad ass. All I know is my old laptop is gasping for breath and begging to be put out of its misery. I half expect it to croak before I finish this post.
Sadly, the snazzy new computer arrived in a manner that was… fucked. I could describe the problem in a more technical manner but fucked covers the situation just fine. I made some calls and Amazon is sorting out a return. Supposedly, the cretins that shipped me an electronic disappointment are trying to “fix it”. In 2021, “fix it” means I wait double the lengthy delay for delivery, waste a bunch of my own time trying to suss out the shitpile they initially sent, in the end Amazon/Seller get every penny initially agreed upon, and then they pat themselves on the back for having succeeded on the second try. Good thing they don’t sell parachutes.
It is what it is. Thirty years ago I bought a 486DX from Gateway for a different but equally important project. The service, delivery, and quality was orders of magnitude superior to the psychological beating I’m taking on this computer. Remember this kids: the arrow of history does not simply point one way. We’re all living through the “adapting to a declining society” situations that we saw approaching on the horizon half a lifetime ago.
The Amazon link remains on my sidebar. I think, after this bad start, I’ll still be pleased with my choice. YMMV. I just wanted y’all to know that there have been “issues”. Anything I link to or recommend on my blog is something I’ve personally experienced and approved. Should this all work out, I’ll give a head’s up… sometime in the future. When the mini-pc has been tested and Curmudgeon approved. If it all goes to shit, not only mini-pc link to Amazon but all links to Amazon will disappear from my blog forever. They get one chance to fix this. I suspect they will, but only time will tell.
The standard caveats apply; this product was only driven by a little old lady to church on Sundays, it’s gluten free but causes peanut allergies, and is known to the State of California to cause cancer.
For what its worth, there is a large university about an hour from my home. This University, like all government run, public institutions – is wasteful. As a result 3-4 year old machines – that were of course “top of the line” 3-4y ears ago – are sold as “surplus” for $80-150 – When I need a machine I pick it up there – I get an mid level I7 cpu with 8 gigs of Ram and a terrabyte harddrive – usually a dell or a HP brand – for about $120. Need more space? They sell Terrabyte HDs for $15.
they have no OS on them, but they leave the windows stickers right there.. so load up win 10, put that code in and off ya go — or load linux. Or both.
You might look into it and see if there is a similar set up a reasonable drive from your location. These surplus outlets rarely advertise– preferring to sell to the student community, but usually will sell to John Q Public if he happens to walk through their door .
I’ll explore that idea if my current plans don’t work out.
Interesting. You have a bad Amazon experience and suddenly, Jeff Bezos is out of a job. Coincidence…?
Ha ha ha. You caught me. I made a few calls to my important connections and got his ass canned. Also I’m a Chinese jet pilot.
Coworker is experiencing something similar with a welding hood. Replacement arrived very fast, but broken in the exact same way as the original, flickers while welding. So, he is giving the vendor one chance to recommend an upgrade before getting his money back. We will see.
The specs look good, I hope it works out. I understand the paralysis by analysis, sometimes I gotta make a choice, plant the flag and deal with it.
That “Amazon link” in your sidebar to your new computer is not visible on my computer. Is the Great and Powerful Bezos punishing you? Or is he instead punishing ME???
It’s not visible on some of my browsers that are set of “vaporize ads”. That’s probably true for you too. Are you using Brave? Alternative theory is that I’ve become important enough to get hosed by Bezos’ algorithms.
Nope. Chromium, but with Ad Block. I use Brave for GoComics.com
Sound like ad block worked.
Now, in addition to a new computer that arrived DOA, my printer just croaked. Let’s hope $90 worth of ink and swearing at it solves the problem. When it rains it pours.
I had the same issue. Disabled UBlock Origin on the page without change, then set Firefox ad blocker to standard rather than the medium level and the Link appeared.
Don’t feel obligated to view Amazon ads because of me! Seriously, they’re not really our friend. Bezos would sell my kidney to a dog food company if he could figure out how. I do buy stuff from them but it’s because I live in the hinterland and can’t buy Jack squat locally. I figure it causes no harm to highlight some objects I especially like but my payback is beer money at best. If you buy something after clicking through my Amazon link I get a small kickback (I’m sure Amazon phrases it differently) and it doesn’t cost you anything. But you’re welcome to ignore Amazon and just toss a Tuppence in my PayPal account instead.
Attack of the Lesbian Activist Squirrels? Sounds nuts!
Or maybe sometimes they don’t feel like a nut?
Of the one serialized novel I’ve posted piecemeal on my blog Attack of the Lesbian Activist Squirrels is the best. It’s about 300 pages but there’s more to the story.
The next half dozen posts (encompassing a new chapter) will go live last Monday… Whoops so much for that deadline! They’ll go live next week… unless I blow that deadline too. There’s about 50 pages for the new chapter and it has everything; sex, violence, stupidity, a destroyed Audi, insults, weaponry, Boy Scouts, gambling, and explosions. Also, there’s no mention whatsoever about actual current politicians of the Orange or non-Orange variety… which seems almost impossible in modern times.
You probably already know this, but watch your new computer carefully for signs of overheating. It’s endemic in the smaller for factors. I bought a number professionally, based on the specific need for physically small PCs. Wound up replacing half of them in 12 months. With full size PCs that had enough room and fans to cool themselves.
I’ll keep an eye on it, when the damn thing comes.