It’s Official,… Nerdville has Arrived

So I recently discovered that my old computer glasses prescription was pretty much the same as my new one, leaving me suddenly with the ability to leave a pair at work and at home for my writing station. The old glasses were still in good shape, but the rims around the lenses were thin, although titanium.

To my surprise one day, I simply adjusted them on my head and heard a click. I soon realized what had happened when both lenses drooped to the side independently. My new found freedom of two computer glasses was literally breaking in two before my eyes.

As I sat there, holding both sides of my glasses awkwardly in my two hands, I had to laugh as the old movie “Revenge of the Nerds” came to mind and I seriously considered finding white first aid tape to fix them with. After all, no one would see me wearing them except my wife. No! I thought quickly, as I needed to still have my dignity, especially around my wife.

So what to do,.. throw away some perfectly good lenses? Heaven forbid. There had to be a better way to save these noble spectacles. Being into the SciFi genre, and having done a few electrical projects in my time, my thoughts went to a more permanent solution, perhaps involving solder. But as I soon found out, titanium doesn’t solder that easily, especially with an epoxy coating. I also realized that even if it did, it wouldn’t be that strong a bond, so I decided to add a copper wire binder to bridge the two sides together. With some help from my wife, who’s particularly skilled in the intricite art of wrapping wire tightly, I was able to solder my old glasses together again. The copper wire bonded excellently with the solder and I was back in business.

Granted,.. it’s not pretty, but it worked, and I have my home computer glasses back. My wife is still able to accept me wearing these while I work, especially since she assisted in making it happen, and my dignity is still intact,… somewhat.

Now,.. back to work.

Progress Report:
“Inheriting S.O.F.I.A.” Novel Progress: DONE, published

“Burt’s Bots” Novel Outline progress:
Outline:  19,742 words  (Getting the story down first)
Novel 1st Draft:  13,367 (Went back to outlining 1st though)


My New Scrivener, Version 3

I wrote my first novel, Inheriting S.O.F.I.A., using Scrivener Version 2 software. I’d considered using a standard word processing program like Microsoft’s Word ® but after doing some research, I found that many writer’s loved Scrivener.

Scrivener was created by writers, for writers. That’s the tag line, but it really shows in how the program is set up. Both my old Scrivener 2 version and the newer 3.0 version give you the areas you need to Outline, have your character sketches handy, location information, research information, and of course, your actual manuscript. Everything is just a click away so when you need to remember what you called that thing-a-majig or what was the name of the town your main character was raised, it’s all just a click away. It is also allows you to customize the category folders as needed. In my last novel, that came in handy as I needed to keep track of quite a few different inventions so I made a special folder I could quickly go to to keep them all straight.

Here’s where I have to admit that I never really considered myself a Scrivener 2 expert. I’d use it’s features fairly well, and even go to the point in the end where I could compile my manuscript into a novel, but some of the functions weren’t as intuitive as I’d like them to have been. So when it was announced that they finally were going to offer a new Scrivener version 3,.. I was definitely interested. When I’d heard they’d done a lot of work on the interface to make it more intuitive to use, my interest was peaked, and so I bit the bullet and bought the upgrade.

Initially, this was a little nerve wracking as I already had my first novel and a lot of the second novel I’ve been working on in the version 2 software, and this was a major version change. Once downloaded, though, it converted the old files perfectly and I breathed a sigh of relief.

In Scrivener 3.0, I did find the same familiar feel to things so my writing efforts weren’t slowed down a bit, but I also did enjoy an improved interface. New features like the writing history function and a better compiling process really have made the upgrade worth it for me. They also have a lot of how to videos to walk you through the new version on their Literature & Latte site.

While I’m loving the new version, it’s not so much of a change that it’s distracting from my work, as I haven’t mastered version 3 by any stretch of the imagination yet, but I do think this will be easier to learn its many features than the older version. I’ll write more about it as I discover and utilize more of its options, but for now, I”ll just say I’m a Scrivener 3.0 believer.

Progress Report:
“Inheriting S.O.F.I.A.” Novel Progress: DONE, published

“Burt’s Bots” Novel Outline progress:
Outline:  19,416 words  (Getting the story down first)
Novel 1st Draft:  13,367 (Went back to outlining 1st though)

To Write,.. or Bike,.. How About Both?

With this new year comes a new way of furthering my writing aspirations while also benefiting me in another way as well. Part time novelists need to find creative ways to make their time count as it’s a constant battle to balance the demands of your day job, everyday life and the need to write.

One of those everyday life components is to take care of one’s health, and unless you work in a job where you get plenty of exercise, many of us need to seek this out intentionally. That’s often the rub as needing the time for other things, like sleeping, eating and writing, often competes with the need to exercise. This also provides a convenient excuse to put off exercising, if I’m honest about things, which I always am on my blog.

Enter an idea that I first looked at as somewhat goofy,.. again, being honest about it,.. but the more I thought about the concept, the more ingenious I thought it could be. What if I could exercise AND write my newest novel at the same time? Game changer,.. I thought! Two driving motivations at the same time. That early morning hour could be filled with the exercise I need for my body to be healthy, and the writing time I need to work on my next novel. One effort to preserve my health, the other to explore my creativity. Both fulfilling life needs and both motivations helping to support each other.

So off to Amazon I went, and after much consternation over which would be the right purchase for me, I settled on the Excerpuetic ExerWork 1000. I’m sure there was a 2000 version that would be even better to use, but I haven’t optioned any novel to Hollywood yet, so the 1000 version it would be. With some minor assembly required, I found a small spot in a room to set it up, with plenty of plug access, and I was in business. Apart from a small detour when we had relatives come over for the holidays, this has become a functional alternative that allows me to kill two birds with one stone, so to speak.

Now that I have things put back in order again I’m going to do my best to make this a normal routine so that I can get both benefits at the same time. Another positive motivating factor to get me from point A, to the point of this whole exercise, which is to complete my next novel, Burt’s Bots. Here’s to my goal of success for me in both of these areas in the coming year.

Progress Report:
“Inheriting S.O.F.I.A.” Novel Progress: DONE, published

“Burt’s Bots” Novel Outline progress:
Outline:  19,416 words  (Getting the story down first)
Novel 1st Draft:  13,367 (Went back to outlining 1st though)