Amazon Flexes UK Muscle.

Lots of talk about Amazon vs the small press here in the U.S. Seems they've been taking on some of the bigger presses in the UK, but not much happening in the blogosphere about it. Victoria has an interesting read at the Writer Beware Blog. Go check it out.

Ever have one of those evenings when you were going to get stuff done, kept getting interrupted and by the end of the day, you'd actually accomplished stuff anyway?

As I had mentioned, I'm doing a little writing on Harbinger at lunch. It's amazing how much fifteen minutes here, twenty minutes there adds up. I typed in all the stuff I'd put together at work today and discovered I'd added 2183 words and finished off the second chapter. I'm noticing the chapters I'm writing for new version of the story are longer than my normal 3-4,000 word chapters. This is good, I think. They're a little more meaty, but there's stuff going on that's setting up the rest of the book. As I may have mentioned before, my "throw-away" character from the old first chapter has now morphed into a major character and second only to the "main villain" in importance to the story. His thread in the original Harbinger was there to be a catalyst, but after rethinking what I had done in the story and how I wanted to change it, I think he's going to be the main sub-plot that will bedevil our young heroine as she negotiates the rest of the story.

(cue evil laughter and rubbing of hands here)

Still, as I started transcribing, I spotted someone I needed to speak to on Skype and buzzed them. It turns out they won't be able to go to Archon this year, which is too bad. I haven't seen Thyla since the time I shared the table with the Sluggy Freelance people at Dragon*Con and it would have been cool to get to visit again. I still have good memories of hanging out with them and I think I actually sold more Sluggy stuff at the table than joesunday, Pete and Thyla did combined. I know I sold more of their stuff than I did my own. *sigh*

It was a good talk, but that took almost an hour from my writing. I jumped back into the transcribing and then I got a phone call from a friend. Definitely needed to take this call and we visited for about a half-hour before she had to call someone else. So, I jumped back onto Harbinger one more time. Finished the transcription, saved it, opened the unnamed project and glanced at my clock. Aauugh. I had to think. I had met my quota already with what I'd typed, but that was stuff I'd written earlier and it wasn't the unnamed project which does have a rough deadline.

So, I grabbed my notebook, checked the chapter breakdowns and completed Chapter Two and got started on Chapter Three. Ran a quick word count and lo and behold, I had 1073 words on the Unnamed project done. Don't know where they came from, they just sort of flowed out of my fingers and they all made reasonably good sense. Sure, some may not survive the rewrite, but they're not full of the stink, so I'll take solace there.

Oh, and I completed one of the two big writing projects at work today also. So, I guess this should go down as a "good writing day". I need to see if I can find a Snoopy dancing near his typewriter pic so I can add that for a "good writing day" icon.

That's it for now. Time to finish my glass of water and hit the sack. Tomorrow, I get to wrestle with the monthly financials. My favorite pasttime . . . not.
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Words for Today

3256 / 1000 words. 326%

Progress on Harbinger of Darkness

9880 / 120000 words. 8%

Progress on Unnamed Project: SotH

4796 / 100000 words. 5%

Words for 2008

160508 / 366000 words. 44%

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 won't go too far out on a limb, but given May's lack of production, the fact that I've strung three straight days of writing together is encouraging. Looks like things are going to get a little busy at work too, so we'll see how well we can separate out work writing from project writing.

I think this project will start picking up some speed when I can quit looking stuff up. That's the problem with some projects, even when you know what you want to say and you know exactly what it is you are describing, it's the fine details that make or break a project. Yeah, I know, good writing trumps everything, but I'm a historian and getting things wrong, whether it's calling a pole arm by the wrong name or forgetting what level sickbay is on the Enterprise, annoys me.

I feel comfortable with the characters and I feel very confident about the plot. It's those little niggly details that can really add something to a story if they're used right that are slowing me up for the moment. Especially since I'm hoping to use a few of these things later. Sort of a "see, there was a reason for this level of granularity, guys."

Contacted Register.com - still trying to move richardcwhite.com from Register to Sitelutions (my web host). Hopefully, we can get this fixed before I have to pay Register another year's worth of registration fees. Yes, I know my poor web site needs a face lift and I hope to get to that one of these days once I get the other six hundred other things that seem to need dealing with handled.

Also fired off a few e-mails to Archon. I'm hoping to get a small hall table to promote the two new books while I'm there. I like Archon, but I like having a table rather than just wandering around a con. Must be all those years doing comic conventions. I find if you have a table and a half-way decent display, it's a great opportunity to meet new people, pitch your work and meet interesting people. Of course, there's always a few who take a "Hi, how's it going?" as an invitation to hang around your table for hours at a shot, but that's the risks you take by being out in public.

I got started on Chapter Two of SotH tonight, adding 1284 words. Like I said, a tad under what I had hoped for, but after May, I'll take it.

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Words for Today

1284 / 1000 words. 128%

Progress on Project: "SotH"

2347 / 100000 words. 2%

Words for 2008

155076 / 366000 words. 42%

I now have 100 people who have friended this blog.

Yeah, I know there are blogs out there with 1000s of readers (heck, I think I'm friended to one or two authors here that have legions of fans), but I just wanted to say "Hi, and thanks!" to everyone who's friended me for whatever reason.

People say writers tend to be private individuals, but private, retiring and/or shy are adjectives that are not normally associated with me. So, to celebrate neadods becoming the 100th victim . . . I mean person to friend this blog, I'll blatantly steal one of kradical's ideas and open the floor to questions. Any questions you might have for me (within reason and not covered by the National Security Act of 1948 *grin*) I'll do my best to answer.

All right, folks, take your best shots.

(goes to put on the flame-proof underwear)

Wow.

At least I almost redeemed myself this weekend. I set out with the greatest of intents to get some major writing done this weekend to get myself back on track. As you can guess from the title of this post, it didn't quite happen.

I did get 2542 words written on Harbinger on Saturday, but that was mostly transcribing what I'd put together over a few lunches during the week. I took the computer with me to go out and write on Chronicles twice on Saturday, but both times, things came up and nothing actually got done. I think I wrote a whole three paragraphs on Saturday and didn't bother trying to count them toward the weekend total. I just managed to stay ahead of my yearly goal.

Today was wishweaver's and my anniversary. Yep, she's put up with me for seventeen years so far and believe me, I appreciate it. We took the daughter-unit out for lunch today and then I went shopping while Wish worked on her mid-term some more. I picked up a wedding present for kradical and terri_osborne, as well as picking up a couple of things for Wish. (Yeah, I know, you're supposed to shop ahead of time, but it took a while to get Wish to give me a hint what she might be interested in. I'm telling you, this girl is hard to shop for. *sigh* Well, outside of getting her iTunes gift cards, that is.)

We went out for dinner tonight to our favorite Japanese steakhouse and had a nice conversation with the couple who were sitting next to us at the hibachi grill. Yeah, we splurged a bit, but the meal was nice and it was good to just relax and not worry about school, house or work for a bit. She liked her presents (huzzah!), so I guess she'll keep me around for another year. *wink*

Came home and started work on the sekrit project. I'm a little nervous about getting started without the contract, but I'm going to take the editor at her word until events prove me wrong. The first chapter is kind of short, (1063 words), but there was a great stopping place and it feels like adding any more is simply just padding. I'd rather save the words for the end of the book since I usually run over my word count anyway on the first draft.

I would say, "Hey, Glen Cook gets away with two page chapters in his latest book", but then again, he's Glen Cook and I'm not.

Well, in for a penny, in for a pound. The sekrit project is officially kicked off as of tonight.
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Words for Yesterday

2542 / 1000 words. 254% done!

Words for Today

1063 / 1000 words. 106% done!

Progress on Harbinger of Darkness

7697 / 120000 words. 6% done!

Progress on Unnamed Project:(SotH)

1063 / 100000 words. 1% done!

Words for 2008

153792 / 366000 words. 42%

The month of May started out so well and has turned into a flaming wreck when it comes to getting new writing on the page. Although, I do have a small excuse for last night, since I wound up missing work today with a sore, swollen throat and just general blah feeling.

Still, I'm aggravated that I've squandered my word count cushion. I've gone from being over 10K words ahead to barely being over 1500 words ahead. If I don't re-motivate myself, I see serious issues with making my goal. Although, once I get started on the "sekrit" project, I'm going to have a deadline. Maybe that'll be the boost I need to get going again. Lord knows, it can't hurt.

On the good side, though, I did pass 150,000 words for the year tonight. That is a bit of a milestone, so I'll build on that.

I'll post a belated review of Balticon later. Just not tonight. Lots of distractions tonight, but I did manage to hammer out 1632 words tonight on Childhood's Tears.

And now, bed.
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Words for Today

1623 / 1000 words. 162%

Progress on Childhood's Tears

42975 / 90000 words. 48%

Words for 2008

150187 / 366000 words. 41%

Unreality SF has posted a review on the newly released Doctor Who: Short Trips The Quality of Leadership.

They had this to say about "The Price of Conviction":
"Richard C. White is up next, with The Price of Conviction, a tale set in Germany. The story's requisite "leader", Martin Luther, doesn't make as much of an impact as a character as I'd perhaps expected, but White makes up for it with a suitably-grouchy First Doctor and a energetic and intelligent Susan, both of whom leap vividly off the page."

It was a lot of fun working on this thing and I can't wait until Shore Leave to get as many of the other authors to sign a copy for me as I can. This is one I'm gonna be proud to show off for some time to come. *grin*

Took the day off from work. Spent most of the day out running around with wishweaver, where she helped me pick out some new shirts and ties for work. (Taking advantage of those Memorial Day Sales at J.C. Penny's. Stafford no-iron shirts are wonderful time-savers.) Also stopped by Yankee Candle and checked out the new stock. Even when we don't buy stuff, it's always interesting to see what new scent combinations they design.

Got home to find This sitting in my mailbox. I was teasing Wish that now I'm an "internationally published" author. Of course, that and $2.50 will buy you a cup of coffee, but it still sounds good. *preen* (My friend, Tee Morris, did have to point out that he's been an internationally published author all along (Dragon Moon Press is out of Canada), so that did deflate the ol' ego a bit after that.) I'm enjoying the stories I've read so far and am very proud to have a story in the same book with the other authors.


Here's a picture of the cover. I can see why the other authors were really digging on the cover. It looks a lot more dynamic in hand than the Amazon picture looked.



Made it up to Balticon and ran into perivayne who helped straighten out various issues (like no badge), and informed me that I now have a reading and a signing on Sunday. So, yes, all my events take place on Sunday, but at least I'm beginning to feel like I'm earning my guest pass. I also ran into dzeytoun, pbray and jpsorrow, and then yogcmarthoth and scifilaura. I saw klingonguy across the room at the Meet the Pros gathering, but I didn't get a chance to talk to him. Maybe tomorrow . . . oh, right, maybe later today.

I attended the New Media party, where I ran into Tee Morris, who was DJing for the party as well as several other podcasters (some I knew and some were new). I also talked to one of the organizers of AnimeUSA and may be doing a panel or two at their convention later this year.

Finally slipped out and headed home. Now, it's definitely bed time.

Work went well today, all things considered. I finished my proposed revisions for the users manual and hope to get started on that (as well as some other documentation) next week. The funny thing is, now that I'm not working on that other project . . . now, they're coming out of the woodwork needing assistance with their web site.

*sigh*

Still, until they get their own tech writer/web person, my management has asked me to still help out now and then, so I guess that'll me one of my projects tomorrow.

And, I still found some time to work on Harbinger.

In fact, I wound up spending most of my time tonight transcribing all the stuff I did at work tonight. I was fully intending to copy that stuff in and work on Steel on Target, but it just took a little longer to get the writing going this evening. Once I got going, it went well, though. I added 2783 words tonight, finishing up the first chapter of the revised work. Yeah, I know, I wasn't going to start this rewrite until I finished one of my other projects, but I wanted to capture the new first chapter before I forgot all the stuff I thought of the other day.

I'm planning on taking Friday off from work. Hopefully, I can get some decent writing in, since I'm going to probably lose some writing this weekend with the convention. Still not sure if I'm going up to Balticon Friday evening for the Meet the Guests shindig. Not sure it's worth the price of gas for that, but I'll make that decision closer to time. If I can catch up with perivayne, we'll discuss doing a reading or a signing and when.

At least tomorrow is my last day at work until next Tuesday. We'll be happy for what we can get.

(Oh, and I thought I'd break out the new Raven avatar for my girl Raven, the star of Harbinger of Darkness.)
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Words for Today

2783 / 1000 words. 278%

Progress on Harbinger of Darkness

5155 / 120000 words. 4%

Words for 2008

148555 / 366000 words. 41%

Balticon Pocket Program

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Sunday, May 25 - 0000 - Belmont Room - Things that Go Bump In The Night - Richard White(M), Dina A. Leacock, James Chambers

Sunday, May 25 - 1000 - Derby Room - Playing in someone else’s sandbox(shared worlds) - Charles Gannon(M), Richard White, Christy Tohara, Trisha Wooldridge, Joshua Palmatier

Sunday, May 25 - 1600 - Salon D - Trek - Back to the Future - Richard White(M), Robert Jeschonek
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Yep, that's it. 3 panels, all on Sunday. No signings, no readings, no nothing.

Yes, I'm a bit aggravated. If I wasn't moderating two panels, I'd probably just blow the show off.

Although, I'm still trying to figure out who thought it was a good idea to have a panel at Midnight and then one at 10am. Yeah, that'll be fun driving home at 0130 on the Beltway dodging all the drunks that'll be getting out about then, grabbing about five hours sleep and then driving right back to do the 10 o'clock panel. Oh, and they kept the name of the panel I suggested for the Midnight panel, and changed the subject. I guess it's a good thing I read the entire pocket program instead of just showing up with the questions I've used the two other times I've moderated this panel.

I think this will be my last Balticon.

When I got into work this morning, I was informed that I was being transferred to one of my projects full time instead of splitting my time across two of them. Now, some people might have taken it the wrong way, but I think this is much better for all concerned. The project I'm on now is good at giving me specific deadlines and not worrying about things as long as I hit those deadlines. Plus, the manager I'm supporting is good at giving me very specific feedback to what he wants and doesn't want.

The other project, while interesting, was depending on me being more "self-motivating", which would be really cool if I was one of the developers or if I had been with the project from the beginning. However, as the tech writer, I have to work with the SMEs to develop the papers and I sorta need to know when they expect me to have them done. Otherwise, projects with no deadlines tend to slip so I can meet projects with clear deadlines. We were just a bad fit and while I'm pleased about the work I did for them, I can't say I'm heartbroken that "they don't have any work for me in the foreseeable future".

So, hopefully, with only having to answer to one manager, my stress level will go down and I can get back into the "I want to write when I get home" mode again.

And, in honor of this, I did write another 1000+ words on Harbinger of Darkness on my lunch break. I just didn't get a chance to type it in at home, so I can't officially count it on my word production for the day. I did, however, add 1616 words to Childhood's Tears tonight. I know I need to get started on the sekrit project soon, but after nights like this, it's going to be hard to put this one away to concentrate on the one that hopefully has real money attached to it.

In non-work/non-writing talk, I enjoyed going to see Prince Caspian with the family and dzeytoun. I enjoyed the story and some of the symbolism behind the various events. wishweaver and I have been discussing some of the different themes we saw in the movie and even if it's not "haute-cuisine" as far as movies go, if you're still talking about it a couple of days later, it's done it's job in my opinion.

Also, Daughter-unit is still geeking on her new computer and the manga drawing software she got, so we're counting this as "Mom and Dad did good." *grin*
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Words for Today

1616 / 1000 words. 162%

Progress on Childhood's Tears

41343 / 90000 words. 46%

Words for 2008

145772 / 366000 words. 40%

After my daughter's appointments this morning, we hit the Apple store where she fell in love with the 20" iMac. We picked it up with some writing software (iWorks) and a Manga drawing software suite. She finished downloading all of her stuff from the old dying laptop after we got home and then after dinner tonight, we pulled the iMac out of the box, uploaded all of her stuff and started having fun with it. We're going to have to track down her WACOM drawing pad software to see if there's a Mac version or if it's universal software. Worst comes to worst, we'll just have to try and contact WACOM and have them send her a new CD. She's still having too much fun with her new "shiny" to worry about the drawing pad for the moment.

Of course, wishweaver fell in love with it too, but that's a purchase for another day . . . way far away. I never saw her as a Mac user, but Microsoft Vista is definitely pushing her toward it. Let's just say, its unreliabiliity is only exceeded by its memory-hogging slowness. I have a feeling we'll be blowing Vista off of her desktop soon and replacing it with XP. Hell, I'm thinking about doing the same with this laptop. Vista was NOT a better idea, Bill.

After all that, I uploaded my Bach collection into iTunes and prepared to write. That's where I hit a wall. I don't know why, but I just couldn't get into writing tonight. Maybe I'm already looking ahead to starting the sekrit project or maybe I was having too much fun visiting my old novel yesterday, but it was tough getting into the Chronicles tonight. So, after about two and a half hours, (most spent doing stuff other than writing), I finally logged 1,187 words. They're not bad words, and they were starting to come faster and better toward the end, so I'm encouraged by that.

Perhaps things will feel better after a good night's sleep.
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Words for Today

1187 / 1000 words. 119%

Progress on CSD: Dragon Couchant

92550 / 120000 words. 77%


Words for 2008

144156 / 366000 words. 39%

Came home from a boring day at work to find out that wishweaver and the daughter-unit had just gotten home from getting a bite to eat. The D-U decided she was in for the night, so Wish and I took off to go do "something". She joined me while I grabbed a quick bite to eat and then we wandered over to the pet store to get cat "supplies" and then off to Staples. The chair I've been using upstairs was slowly dying (it was a Target special that came with a relatively cheap computer desk), so I got a nice new chair with good back support and she picked up a FM tuner for her iPod, so I can recover mine. *grin*

We weren't quite ready to go home, so we went up to the local mall and wandered around doing some window shopping. We're going to be taking D-U back to the mall tomorrow with us, since we've made an appointment at the Apple store. The D-U has been using my old laptop (and I mean old, I think I got this one back in 1999 or 2000) and it's seen better days. Since she's really getting into art, especially doing art on her computer drawing tablet, Wish and I thought getting her a Mac might be the way to go. We talked to one of the associates and we're leaning toward a 24" iMac for her, but we'll let D-U make the decision (within reason) since she'll be the one using it.

Yes, we're a Windows family for the moment, but the art world belongs to Apple (plus we can install Windows on the Mac if we decide to not upgrade a few of her programs to the Mac versions). I have to admit, I've been tempted by the Macbook Air, but I need to get a lot more use out of my Toshiba before I consider buying any more computer equipment for myself.

Did I mention it was a slow day at work? I took advantage of the situation and wrote 2,372 words today. Of course, they were words for the new version of Harbinger of Darkness, but this new first chapter is insisting on getting written sooner than later. So, since I didn't have anything to add to Shattered Mirror tonight, I transcribed the pages I brought home with me, edited some sentences, added some stuff here and there and generally enjoyed getting to visit with my girl, Raven.

Tomorrow, I hope to get some writing done on Chronicles. I know Wish has college stuff to do and D-U may be playing with her new toy. (She's already talking about what she can do with Garage Band and iMovie, sheesh!) That may be my cue to slip out and hit the local coffee shop for a bit.

Ulterior motives? Me? I'm shocked, shocked you could make such an accusation.

(Your winnings, monsieur. Thank you, Andre.)
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Words for Today

2372 / 1000 words. 237%

Progress on Harbinger of Darkness rewrite

2372 / 110000 words. 2%

Words for 2008

142969 / 366000 words. 39%

Not a lot to report about tonight.

First off, congratulations to Rich Berlew who's fine web comic, Order of the Stick, won an Eagle Award for best web comic of 2007. He didn't win the best Graphic Novel of 2007, but somehow he didn't mind losing to Alan Moore. Huzzah, Rich and hopefully we'll get a chance to hang out at another convention here in the near future!

Worked with one of the developer leads at work and created a template for his team to use to do all their reports. That took about half the day to get everything "just right". But, it was a nice change of pace from the other assignments I've been dealing with lately. No frantic deadlines, no fate of the world rests on this, just a "hey, if you have a bit, could you work on this?"

While I was getting ready for work this morning, I had one of those blinding revelations regarding Harbinger of Darkness. I understand now where I need to go with its rewrite. Chapter 7 is really Chapter 1, Chapter 1 is probably around Chapter 4, the sub-villain is actually one of the more important villains, the whole church thing needs to come out and be saved for the second book and we can't kill off one of the characters until much later in the book, and he MUST be introduced in Chapter One, not Chapter Four like he is now.

(Yeah, I know, this doesn't mean anything to you guys because I think the only person who's read this thing and my blog is wishweaver, but work with me. I'm on a roll.)

Of course, I'm already stretched for time to write on the various projects I have going, so what the heck am I doing even considering another writing project? Heck if I know. Still, when the answers just reach up and slap you in the face, you have to pay attention. So, I'm going to stick to my current strategy about writing for the rest of the year, but I'm taking copious notes on what I want to do with Harbinger and working on the new Chapter One in my spare time at work.

*sigh*

Have I mentioned I'm a glutton for punishment.

And speaking of projects and stuff, I added another 1,152 words to Steel on Target tonight. I was a bit distracted tonight and it took me a long time to get into the flow of the story. I don't know if it's the changing weather, the rather uncomfortable chair I'm sitting in or what, but I need to figure out a way to try and get more focused on my writing when I'm at the house. If I can do 4,000+ at a coffeehouse, I should be able to do better than just over 1000 when I have two hours plus to write at home.

*grumble, grumble, mutter, mutter*

I think it's time to go to bed.

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Words for Today

1152 / 1000 words. 115%

Progress on Steel on Target

50703 / 95000 words. 53%

Words for 2008

140597 / 366000 words. 38%

I blame infinitydog. After all, according to his list I'm the wide-eyed novice AND the perky civilian who keeps getting kidnapped. I tell you, it's tough having a secret identity that keeps getting kidnapped and having to wait for the other heroes to have to rescue me to protect the secret.

*sigh*

I was uploading some more of our CDs into my iTunes library when I realized I'd just gone from Harry Chapin to Dvorak to Lynard Skynard to the Batman Beyond soundtrack.

Yeah, I have varied tastes in music.

I think besides some opera and almost all gangsta rap, I'm pretty well represented across the musical spectrum.

Nothing too exciting to report today. Work went pretty well, got a couple of small assignments. Which in their own way was good since they'll help prevent there being humongous assignments toward the end of this build on the project. I'm also helping format a document that'll become a template for a different team.

None of these are going to take a lot of my time, so I may be able to work in a little writing here in the near future.

Came home to fight with my current web provider (Sitelutions.com) and the owner of the domain name I really want to use (Register.com). See, I bought richardcwhite.com in an auction last year. I'm trying to transfer it from Register to Sitelutions. Actually, I've been trying to transfer it for a couple of weeks now but it keeps failing. I've already been on the phone with Register.com and if I have to call them back I'm not going to be happy. It seems the "transfer number" they issued me keeps coming back as invalid when Sitelutions tries to secure my address.

I came home, read through everything on both sites, re-watched the tutorial that Sitelutions provided on how to get stuff from Register.com to them, copied down pertinent notes, had one in one tab and one in the other so I could verify the fact that I can copy stuff down on paper, typed in the number the lady had given me on the phone (which did match the e-mail Register sent me) and now we wait. If I get a failed message again in the morning, I'm going to be a very unhappy camper when I get Register's help desk on the phone again.

This should NOT be that hard.

*sigh*

Oh, and I did do some writing this evening. Added another 1263 words to Steel on Target, which has taken another turn I wasn't suspecting. This could be good or it might be a prime target for the cutting block when we do the rewrite, but I figure I might as well see where it's going to lead.

And with that, I'm going to read another couple of chapters in Cruel Zinc Melodies and call it a night.
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Words for Today

1263 / 1000 words. 126%

Progress on Steel on Target

49551 / 95000 words. 52%

Words for 2008

139445 / 366000 words. 38%

Wow, with the two major projects put to bed, I was happy to go back to work today. I didn't exactly skip up the sidewalk to the building, but I will admit to whistling the tune to Willie and the Poorboys from CCR as I walked from the parking lot.

Now, yes, I do have other projects at work, but none of them seem to be quite as dire as the one's I just discharged and hopefully, we'll stay ahead of the game this time (provided people give me deadlines before they're crisis deadlines).

wishweaver has been drawn over to the dark side . . . yes, we caught it when Nicktoons began rerunning Avatar, so we've been spending every day from 7-8pm watching back-to-back episodes of the show. I know it's not "anime", but it's probably the most grown-up cartoon I've seen produced by an American team in forever. It feels anime-ish because it's plot driven not episodic like most cartoons and the characters have depth. No one is completely good and no one is completely evil. OK, well, maybe Azula's completely evil, but then she's a psychopathic witch with serious daddy issues.

Worked on Childhood's Tears again tonight, adding 1511 words to the story. I know I'm going to have to make a decision here soon as the editor with the sekrit project told me I could go ahead and start writing on it while we're waiting for the contract to come back from the licensor. The editor told me they're notoriously slow, but she's almost never had them reject a story she passed on to them.

So, I have to decide, which of my current writing projects do I push to the side to work on the sekrit project? To be honest, I"m thinking I'm going to drive on (bad pun there) with the military SF story Steel on Target and set Childhood's Tears and Chronicles of the Sea Dragon to the side. I really enjoy writing fantasy, but I think, given my military background as well as my experience in the 3rd ACR, this might be the strongest of the three. Plus, I'll need to set some time aside to work on Shattered Mirror and my college proposal, Black Satin Nights, which will need editing/rewriting between now and January.

So, I will keep working on my current schedule until Balticon and starting in June, I'll shift my schedule to Sekrit Project on Sat/Sun/Mon/Tues, Steel on Target on Wed/Thurs, and Fridays will either be down days to recharge/read/play some PS2 or else work on Shattered Mirror when it's my turn to write.

I hate to leave Rowena and Asheera in the lurch, but there's only so much time and a whole lot of writing to do. I may see if I can slip in a little work on them during my lunch hours, but they'll just have to be patient with me.

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