Monday 20th June, 2016

Well, FantasyCon is now booked. I’ll only be attending Saturday pm and Sunday as I’ll be spending the Friday celebrating Finn‘s tenth birthday. Given that my fur-baby has cancer, I feel it’s kind of important to spend the day with him (and the other two) even if it makes no actual difference to the dogs.

In other news, I got Steam [External Link] working on my Scientific Linux [External Link] installation – and now I waste my time playing games when not more directly procrastinating on the Greenwood WIP (a grand total of 1,000 words written on it since last Monday). This is not to say I haven’t written other words as well, but somehow writing non-fiction never feels like it counts in quite the same way.

(In a related line of thought, please don’t tell e about Civ VI when it finally lands. My time does not need to be used up quite that much.)

And, finally, Happy Birthday to my big sis! Love you!

Monday 13th June, 2016

I didn’t say anything last week as I had nothing to say. Until Tuesday when the British Fantasy Society (BFS) [External Link] announced the shortlists for this year’s awards (Full lists here: [External Link]). So, as well as being a juror for the novellas (for the third year) and the graphic novels / comics awards, Margrét Helgadóttir and I’s book-baby, African Monsters, is up for best anthology. Margrét’s book-baby, The Stars Seem So Far Away, is also up for best collection and our publisher is up for best indie press (again – they won last year). This means it is highly likely I shall be attending FantasyCon in Scarborough [External Link]. I intend to but I still have to book things so, just in case, let’s not say things are definite, eh?

(I can also give you a hint of a rumour in that I have booked a train ticket to Leicester for 25th August. I can’t tell you what for, yet, but there will be a writing type announcement.)

In a semi-related writing note, my current WIP (that Greenwood thing I occasionally mention) is crawling to the finish line. I’m currently at about 32,000 words and I expect it to end somewhere before 40,000. Of course, once draft one is done, I get to send that out to beta reader or two while I return to my Fistful of Feathers bit and knock it into shape for draft two from the feedback I’ve had on that.

However, life got interesting for my word-processing last week. My old computer – parts of which dated back to 2004 and the youngest parts dating back to 2011 – started to rattle the Friday after Satellite 5. I bought a new box rather than work out what may or may not be compatible with the working parts and wrestled it into submission from Wednesday to Saturday. People who know me and talk to me in person, though, know I’m still sulking. I used to run my old box on Ubuntu [External Link]. However, the new box appears to have some kind of objection to this and I’ve had to install Scientific Linux [External Link] – basically because that was what I had to hand as it’s what I use at work. We’re gradually coming to an understanding but I may have to investigate what flavours of Linux my box will accept (easily, as I’m not interested in fighting, as oppose to at all) and find a better fit.