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@briandee

Notes

My wonderful wife surprised me with a Kindle Fire this week. I love it. Most of the complaints I have read about it are from people who expect it to be an alternative to the iPad. I don’t really consider the Fire a tablet any more than I would consider the iPad to be an eReader. The screen is much sharper than the iPad’s and it is much better for reading in bed at night. Ever doze off reading on an iPad? One word: ouch.

My wonderful wife surprised me with a Kindle Fire this week. I love it. Most of the complaints I have read about it are from people who expect it to be an alternative to the iPad. I don’t really consider the Fire a tablet any more than I would consider the iPad to be an eReader. The screen is much sharper than the iPad’s and it is much better for reading in bed at night. Ever doze off reading on an iPad? One word: ouch.

1 Notes

I haven’t posted anything in over a month because I was busy finishing the first draft of my novel. It was my goal to complete it before January 1st. I did it. It is far from perfect and there are many more drafts ahead, but I now have a complete first draft.

I haven’t posted anything in over a month because I was busy finishing the first draft of my novel. It was my goal to complete it before January 1st. I did it. It is far from perfect and there are many more drafts ahead, but I now have a complete first draft.

3 Notes

The Seduction of Self Publishing

Chuck Wendig:

The option to self-publish is a compelling one. Seductive, in many ways. On the one hand — holy crap! New option! Totally awesome! On the other hand: is it the best option?

1 Notes

Inspiration not needed

I didn’t want to write yesterday. I didn’t feel well and was too tired to force my brain to do anything. I thought about opening my manuscript, but I just wasn’t feeling inspired.

As the day went on, I kept thinking about having a zero word count for the day. It was bugging the hell out of me. Finally, last night I caved and opened my manuscript. After three “warm up” paragraphs, my characters were talking a mile a minute. I couldn’t shut them up. When I finally stopped, I’d written about 1500 words.

I used to think that I needed to feel inspired to write. And thinking that way has probably cost me hours of productivity. Who knows what great things I could have written in those hours?

Apparently all I really needed was a couple of warm up paragraphs and characters that I love to hang around with.

4 Notes

In the final stretches of finishing the first draft of my novel. I’ve always been a big fan of Scrivener, but I find I am much more productive using Ulysses. I was getting too distracted with all Scrivener’s bells and whistles. Ulysses has similar functions, but they are nicely tucked away. It is Mac only, I’m afraid, but you can pick it up for about half the price of Scrivener.

In the final stretches of finishing the first draft of my novel. I’ve always been a big fan of Scrivener, but I find I am much more productive using Ulysses. I was getting too distracted with all Scrivener’s bells and whistles. Ulysses has similar functions, but they are nicely tucked away. It is Mac only, I’m afraid, but you can pick it up for about half the price of Scrivener.

3 Notes

The novel Crichton started, longtime fan Preston finished

When Michael Crichton died at the age of 66 in November of 2008, he left behind a pregnant wife, an unpublished novel and the beginnings of another book.

3 Notes

The Umbrella Man

Last year, I finally got to meet and interview Tink Thompson. I hope his interview can become the first part of an extended series on the Kennedy assassination. This film is but a small segment of my six-hour interview with Tink.

1 Notes

The early days of ebooks. Interactive electronic books that came on either a floppy disk or a CD ROM from a company named Voyager.
From Apple’s Summer 1993 catalog:

Voyager introduces a dynamic new way to read exciting best sellers. Expanded books combine the most enjoyable aspect of traditional books with Macintosh benefits such as variable type size, customize word search and indexing, and on-screen pop-up annotation-even the ability to read at night without the light on!

The early days of ebooks. Interactive electronic books that came on either a floppy disk or a CD ROM from a company named Voyager.

From Apple’s Summer 1993 catalog:

Voyager introduces a dynamic new way to read exciting best sellers. Expanded books combine the most enjoyable aspect of traditional books with Macintosh benefits such as variable type size, customize word search and indexing, and on-screen pop-up annotation-even the ability to read at night without the light on!

Notes

Scam

Has anyone else noticed publishers jacking up the prices of ebooks *after* you preorder them?

Notes

Editing. I swore I wasn’t going to.

Editing. I swore I wasn’t going to.