Feb 6, 2011

First of hopefully a run of new stuff -- Fixing a Leak -- enjoy!

Oodles of nit fixes as well, and expect a flurry of revisions to this one over the next few days.

Nov 20, 2010

Some new stuff -- Part 10 of Open Clinic. I also have a lot of material for Parts 11 and 12.

Contemplating some HTML changes that would change just about every file on the site. Also doing more ePub files. Don’t have links to the ePub files in the sagas, doing those as I go.

No rest for me -- I’m busy, which is the good news!

Oct 22, 2010

Nothing new, in spite of a lot of changed dates on things -- I’ve added a shitload of ePub files, and will continue to add more. If you like them, let me know. If you find bugs in them, let me know how to fix them -- I’m currently producing ePub files by loading my MS Word originals into (Macintosh) Pages, and exporting to ePub from Pages. So far, that handles everything I’ve thrown at it, including (and particularly) the Sagas, which cause some of the freeware/shareware programs to barf.

Life is busy, but busy is good. I may get some free time after mid-November!

Oct 15, 2010

I was looking for a small printer for a teacher friend to use at school. The process was totally unsatisfactory. But lemons, somehow, turned into lemonade.

Read New Printer. It’s short!

Oct 12, 2010

HEY! I don’t care what the ASSTR “What’s New” page says -- all it looks at is mod dates on files. Unless something gets mentioned here as new or significantly changed, all that’s happening is fixing nits! Really!

This time around, I changed “beasts” to “breasts” in a story (although I might write something that entails being held between to full beasts just to explore the concept!).

October is end-of-the-quarter time at work, and that means busy.

I am working on things though. I had to go out and buy a small laser printer last week, and the process was so underwhelming, so painful, that a concept popped into my head that wants to get written. We’ll see.

The last one breathing, wins! That old Jethtro Tull song -- “and the race was won, by running slowly.”

Aug 30, 2010

I wrote most of Blumlein a few years ago, long before the whackos started whining that LHC was going to bring about the end of the world. Polished it up some, and here it is. I like it. Shortish, not a lot of character development, no sex, but I still like it. Oh, it’s the high energy pulse physics Blumlein, not the audio one.

The latest update to Apple’s Pages (word processing) application has ePub output, so I can open MS Word files and save them as ePub. Doing that pretty mechanically, no special formatting yet. We’ll see how it goes, and if the ePub files get any interest or comments. I like them for my iPod touch (subtle fucking hint -- you like ePub, let me know). I’m still looking for ways to mechanically generate good ePub files. Calibre doesn’t hack it -- it croaks on some of my saga files.

May 14, 2010

A new one, and it’s short! Another Trap! -- it may turn into a group of similar vignettes.

I am alive, and well. The good news is that I’m employed, and very busy!

The bad news is I don’t have a lot of time for fun writing. But I’ll do what I can. I did sneak in another section to TDOA last week or so, with lots of geek content.

Mar 7, 2010

I’m still alive! Life is busy; life is good. I’m healthy, employed, and overworked. I haven’t had the time to do much “new” writing, but my German friend keeps me busy by pointing out my past sins, which I gratefully fix!

--artie

Dec 14, 2009

Got an e-mail from an anonymous reader who congratulated me on stories which are error-free...

Don’t know about error free, but I try -- and thanks to all of you who point out errors!

And on other fronts, I was fixing a reported nit in Field Work: Our Lady of the Bodega when I noticed that the HTML version was missing a few paragraphs from the PDF! So I redid the HTML, and cleaned up some other small things as well.

Nov 30, 2009

So what did I change today?

If you look at the ASSTR what’s new page, I changed a lot of files.

If you ask me, I changed some HTML coding, but nothing substantive. Oh, I updated Behind the Scenes, and that got me to change the HTML coding in a bunch of stories to make it more obvious that they have some behind the scenes info attached.

I added a section for Awakening -- getting feedback on it. I like it, too! I scratched a whole bunch of itches in that one!

Nov 29, 2009

A new Sci Fi story, Awakening. It started out as a quickie, but took off from there. Around 66 pages, so not that long. Hope you enjoy it! Working on some random short things, as well as longer things.

Nov 8, 2009

I did a short one last week, The New One. Posted it, and I’ve gotten almost no feedback on it. I like it -- it’s really short, but there’s a lot going on.

Ah well. I should know better. Worked another election, in the throes of another musical. Last one breathing wins!

Oct 17, 2009

A new one, Part Time -- a simple story, one of the D Series, nothing complicated or deep, not much in the way of character development. Just a fairly straightforward phantasy.

My continuing thanks to those letting me know about nits -- had a pair spotted in a story I wrote a damn decade ago! Simple things, but still!

The short things I’ve been doing really, really want to turn into longer things -- telling me maybe it’s time I returned to some of the sagas and give them a few cycles.

But we’re also about to move into the theatre and start hell week on another musical, a local election the first week of November (I’ll be working; I just don’t know where), and the startup I work for is still making money.

So all in all, life is good. The one who breathes the longest wins!

Oct 3, 2009

New/old stuff!

In addition to the slew of nits readers have spotted (thanks again to Curiosity in Germany), I’ve posted some new stuff.

“Preferring Selections” is part of the D Series -- shortish things.

Probes 4 draws that one to a close. Probes 3 has been re-edited as well, as part of that one belonged in 4.

When I started Probes (a number of moons ago), I had a framework behind the story, how humans were being used as probes. I knew it would be a dark story. But what about the other side? How do they respond to the pain and the suffering? That’s what happens in Part 4. I’ve been trying to write those last few pages for years! I think what I’ve posted works, but I’m not entirely happy with it. I’ve tried a number of approaches, and while the one I ended up with (so far) doesn’t capture all of what I wanted, it’s the best I’ve got so far.

The other thing I knew part way through writing Probes, when I knew how it was going to end, was that Probes was the prelude to Vector (Chosen).

Now my internal debate is dealing with whether or not to fork off the Chosen part from Vector (Chosen).

I know where the Chosen part ends (sic itur, ad astra), but I’ve been having a hell of a time with some of the early (thematically speaking) transitions!

Writing the short things has helped me exercise and develop different writing muscles, including the ability to wield my editing axe with more vigor; that work convinced me to go with a “good enough” ending for Probes 4.

And as always, Tempus Fugit. Getting into a more busy part of the year -- theatre, elections, all sorts of fun to keep me away from other pastimes, including sleeping!

But I’ll keep writing!

Sep 11, 2009

Wheee! Well, the reception on Challenge is better than expected -- a lot of people really love it, and others think it’s weirder than shit. I can accept both. So with a little tweaking, I’ve pulled it out of the D Series and put it on its own.

I’ve added another one to the D Series though, Strings. It has more analytical content than I’ve done recently. Glad it dropped by.

Add the usual nit cleanups, and things are busy.

Sep 10, 2009

The German contingent continues to find nits that haven’t been spotted before.

I’ve also got two more short things for the D Series; one is the start of a longer one, and the other is a short, fun piece, demonstrating the near-impossible; I can write something without tits in it!

Aug 21, 2009

Posted a new one, Landlord -- actually started it last year, just cleaned it up some and punted it out.

Edited Lemon Extract to show the math using the html abbr tag -- I’ve gotten some questions on how I got the numbers I did.

First off, decouple the whole CAP score thing from sigma, other than 3 sigma is CAP 6.5 and 6 sigma is CAP 9.

3 sigma is 0.97724987, the residual 0.02275013

6 sigma is 0.99999971, the residual is 2.86652E-07

Multiply those out with 6.6E+09, and you get the numbers shown.

Aug 17, 2009

Trying something new -- short pieces!

What? Something under 40 pages? Not possible, you say?

Well, it’s the working hypothesis, anyway. Short things. Not so much character development as character introduction and exposure. Uses different writing (and editing) muscles. We’ll see how it goes, but I’m going to play with these for a while.

Also working on chunks for the longer sagas.

Oh, and as I touch things, I rip out IE6 support...

Take a look at D Series for the short things.

Jul 19, 2009

A productive weekend! I actually rewrote some of my core Python tools to remove a dependency on a no-longer-maintained open source component. It wasn’t as bad as I’d thought. I even refactored some of the code to improve things a bit.

It’s always a good idea to comment things thoroughly -- the next poor soul digging through that code may be you...

Oh, as I touch things, I’m dropping the damn IE6 html code.

And, I polished up a short, nasty little piece, Ransom -- no sex, and some violence. Hope you like it... It proved that my newly rewritten tools are not only passing unit tests, but actually doing what they’re supposed to do, as well!

I’ve gotten much interesting feedback on the second (and the last) of my Sa’arm Stories -- Lemon Extract. A lot of it has been from Sa’arm afficionados, complaining that it’s not according to the agreed canon! As if I give a rat’s ass! Enjoy it anyway.

I’m going to try and get out a few more short things, a little different way of doing things. Let’s see if I can do something in under fifty fucking pages, shall we?

We’ll see. Vacation time coming up. That may mean I write more. Then again, it may mean I take some time off!

Jul 3, 2009

Some new stuff coming down the pipe. First is another left-handed addition to the Sa’arm cycle -- Lemon Extract. Not exactly a Sci-Fi shoot-em-up!

Oh, lots of nits have gotten fixed, and I’m actually working on new material as well.

May 16, 2009

Taking a break from the grind -- after the massive reposting, I’ve been getting a lot of comments, and a lot of reports of nits, including a lot from my German friend. My thanks! Some of these are small, “to” which should have been “do” and that kind of thing.

Posting Part 9 of Open Clinic -- which has been in the PDF for the last two weeks, as some readers figured out... Some new material in other things as well, but mostly nits.

May 3, 2009

Old Wine in New Bottles!

I’ve revamped the HTML coding on the website, and the tools I use to try and maintain it. Not perfect, but I hope it’s an improvement (looking to improve things for iPhones and the like).

So while the ASSTR page shows just about everything as new (because I’ve uploaded just about everything), very little is actually new or changed. Oh, the SHS headers now make sense, and multipart stories have SHS headers reflecting the parts, and there’s a more-or-less uniform forward linking of parts, with the breadcrumb at the top of the thing pointing back to the main page for a saga.

I also cleaned up quotes, shifting most everything to “smart” quotes. Some of this was done mechanically, and some by hand.

Be on the lookout for wandering quotes! One of my tools may have dropped double quotes between words, where a space should be! Think I got all of those, which means I’ve missed some...

I do have some new/revised content ready to go. I’m waiting for comments on the mass reposting to die down before I put up the new/revised stuff (Part 9 of Open Clinic, some revisions to other things).

It’s interesting, some of the comments I’m getting on stories that are (gasp) ten fucking years old!

Simpler, for the most part, well crafted. More “innocent” perhaps? We definitely live in a different world...

namaste--

Mar 17, 2009

More HTML cleanup, and fixing nits (many of them in HTML) in various files. Nothing to see here. These aren’t the files you’re looking for. You can go about your business. Move along.

On the other hand...

I’m ready to start tearing my hair out... I’ve been in the computer racket for many decades. I think I understand how they work. I’ve done hardware, software, tech pubs, teaching, you name it.

I’m having fun with my iPod touch. I like it.

Except...

When I move my web page to the touch, the index page looks different. The font size for table elements (such as the top 10 list) is smaller than the font size for “normal” text.

And I have no fucking idea in the world how or where it is being told to do that. As far as I can tell (using Firebug with Firefox on my Mac), the font sizes should be the same. On the Mac, they look the same.

On the iPod, they don’t.

Why? Where is this “feature” and how do I fix it?

Update -- it’s a bug in Safari/Webkit on the touch/iPhone.

Aaugh!

Mar 9, 2009

I continue to atone for my HTML sins. New content maybe late in the week or next week.

Mar 3, 2009

Aaugh! Here’s the e-mail I sent to a reader who pointed out a flaw in the HTML in a BUNCH of my files--

Sigh. This is why I don't change the oil in my cars anymore.

It's not that I'm not capable of it, it's just that I might screw something up because I'm not up on all the details.

I've dealt with this problem before -- and fixed it. But somewhere along the line, one of my template files regressed, and reintroduced the problem. 51 out of 350 files changed. Plus go get the templates, and make sure I have good, coherent backups.

And it's not like I'm not used to working with version control and other such source control systems. I've never found a set of tools amenable to the way I want to do stories.

If you've looked at what passes for css in these things, you can see the remains of a number of different experiments (and css files). Once upon a time there were going to be different coloured backgrounds for the different types of stores, as were done on a few sites. Then maybe different css and such for some of the sagas, such as Naked in School. Then move everything to Molio, except I never figured out how to move everything mechanically, particularly the sagas with the chapter structure I tried using for TGM and GWB, but abandoned for newer sagas such as Vector, TDOA, and the like.

Bleah. What I want to do is write. But every so often I have to spend time on the administrivia, the tools, and the packaging. Oh well.

Thank you very much for finding this, and letting me know!

Ignore all those modified files you see over the next day or so!

--artie

Feb 28, 2009

Part 7 of TDOA is up -- more Space Opera!

Oh, lots of nit fixes in other things, tolled into the indexes which haven’t been updated in a couple of weeks.

Feb 14, 2009

Random nit fixes, reformatting PDFs for the Sagas so they behave better with handheld devices, particularly using Stanza.

You’ll also see some changes sneaking in to multi-part stories, such as TGM and GWB, with at least forward links from each section to the next -- no content changes though, other than nits.

So if you’re wondering if something has changed, if it isn’t marked as a change in this Diary, or in one of the index pages, then it’s changes to formatting and/or nits being cleaned up.

Anyone interested in epub format support? I’m looking at that. I’m also pruning the old text files from that part of the website, just going with PDF and HTML. When I look at weekly access/download counts, the counts on txt files seem to track really closely with the spider bait files I have in that section.

Jan 28, 2009

It’s late, and I’m doing it in a hurry, so it’s probably full of errors, but here’s Part 7 of Open Clinic!

THanks to a cadre of eagle-eyed readers, especially Curiosity in Germany, for pointing out all the things that get through the proofing process. Every one we fix is one less that the next reader has to trip over.

Jan 12, 2009

This one rolled out quicker than I thought -- part 6 of Open Clinic.

Jan 5, 2009

Whee! Part 5 of Open Clinic is up! I also posted a PDF of parts 1 through 5.

Expect nit fixes to dribble in over the week on various things.

Jan 3, 2009

Many thanks (again) to my eagle-eyed German reader, finding a nit in Hand that’s been there for years!

Snips is getting interesting response. It was a quickie (five hours or so to write, but most of the work I did in my sleep). If you like it, you like stories which tell a lot by implication, letting you think a bit, and rewarding you for it. Yes, there are hints of an awful lot surrounding what goes on in the story. There are some aspects I may try and capture, to work in, aspects that were very strong in my dream, but don’t come through in the story. Well, one of the reasons some of them don’t come through in the story is that I made the decision while transcribing things from my dream that they didn’t aid the exposition, move the story forward, or add foundation. Part of it I got, that sense of walking around somewhere, that sense of almost but not quite lost, and shouldn’t that be over there? Seeing and recognizing something, but shouldn’t I be seeing it from a different angle?

Then again, some think it’s weird, and have trouble figuring out which end is up. That’s okay, too.

I’m taking the afternoon off to watch some (more) football. Tomorrow, too!

Then it’s back to the salt mines on Monday morning.

Jan 2, 2009

The Muse and the dream fish conspired to put this thing in my head last night -- so I wrote it. It’s a weird little sci-fi piece with some interesting visuals and characters in it. Snips -- about five hours from start to finish at the computer, but a lot of it was just transcribing from a dream!

And thanks to everyone sending me nits! I’m working on some more, including one fairly complex deal in Vector(Chosen).

Dec 31, 2008

Happy new year! Fixing nits and links in a bunch of stories -- many thanks to sharp-eyed readers, particularly to my German readers.

Nov 29, 2008

Anyone been waiting for the Yeti to come back in Open Clinic? Well, I posted Part 4, and they’re back!

Miscellaneous nit fixes in other things as well.

Nov 26, 2008

A flock of nits fixed, and a new (old) chunk to Hand -- no, I haven’t forgotten about that one. Nor have I forgotten about the Doc and his Yeti girlfriend(s). I’m busy! But I am finding some time to write.

Nov 17, 2008

Adding a new section to Vector (Chosen) and fixing nits in the previously posted parts. Expect a bunch of reposts clearing up nits over the next few days. New parts coming probably next week.

Oh, this one started in 2005 -- some parts of it have been around for a while.

Nov 2, 2008

I’m still alive!

The new stuff:

Cleanup -- a new(old) story, short, not real complex.

Vector (Chosen) -- this one started a while ago, with chunks getting written over the last few years. Decided to do an editing pass over it and actually punt some of this stuff out. Lots of ideas here.

More to come on older things as well, and a bunch of nits fixed that have appeared thanks to my tools spotting them.

Expect more in the next few weeks; I’ve got a little time to do some fun writing.

Jun 18, 2008

Another short one that’s been sitting around -- polished it up, and here it is. School Daze.

Yeah, I’m working on more -- I’ve got parts 4 and 5 of Open Clinic to polish, and some other stuff as well.

I take next week (and a few days) off for Field Day, a Ham Radio celebration.

Jun 8, 2008

I’m still alive!

Yes, it’s been a while. Sins of commission, sins of omission. (I know, what you want are the sins of emission...) I’ve been busy, and I’ve been lazy.

So many things happening -- recovering from surgery, lots of work, other outside activities.

One thing that’s been slowing me down is a decision I made a few years ago to base my website maintenance tools on some open source packages. Don’t get me wrong; I’m quite in favor of open source. It’s just that one of the open source tools pretty much at the center of my website stuff was seriously broken by a system update.

Now a decade or so ago, I’d have rolled up my sleeves and dug into things, accepting this as a challenge -- let’s fix it! But these days... I decided I’d wait until someone else fixed it. And waited, and waited, and waited...

Until I realized nobody was likely to fix this thing, so I’d better figure out a Plan B.

And that was actually pretty easy; install an earlier version of the system on my desktop machine on another disk, restore from a backup made before I did that system update, and I’m good to go.

That’s the first part of Plan B -- the second is to wean myself off that broken tool, so I don’t have to do this funky two-step when I want to update things.

Oh, and for your reading enjoyment, I’ve added a short one, Miki’s Eyes. It came from an e-mail exchange with a reader, and a pic (a very SFW pic, if you want to know) she sent. (No, I’m not going to post the pic.)

And I am working on other things!

Jan 10, 2008

Aargh! Read my Rant and see! The good news, there’s light at the end of the tunnel, and it isn’t coming at me!

Jan 4, 2008

Posted a bunch of nit fixes. Isabel sent me some wonderful suggestions for Probes, and the start of part 3. I know there’s a big jump there -- might have something to do wit the large chunks of text I cut out that I don’t like. She made some very good suggestions on how to ease the shock. I’m looking at those.

I’m also doing some other writing, on something the Muse did to me.

Dec 18, 2007

Cleaning up and reorganizing -- turning a bunch of things into sagas and giving them their own index pages. Time of Arrival, Open Clinic, and Probes -- Probes has been split into 3 parts and has a bunch of new material in 2 and 3, and some cleanups to the first part. I’ll be adding more to Probes. I’ve got a lot of ideas, scattered all over the map.

Nov 28, 2007

Posted Gigue, the third and last part to Allemande, Courante. Hint: not a happy story.

Nov 17, 2007

Still recovering, doing some writing and some editing. I recently reposted all of Growing Up With Beth -- and not one damn word was changed, just some of the HTML, cleaning up errors and informalities. I’ve also reposted two sections of Hand -- fixing two minor nits.

Expect more changes to format and organization in the next week or so, but nothing really new!

Oct 13, 2007

At home for a few days recovering from surgery. At this stage, mostly correcting nits and cleaning up random things. When my head clears, I may actually do some writing!

Oct 6, 2007

Corrected some long-standing HTML atrocities, and I may do some more -- multi-file search and destroy is so much fun!

Nothing changed here, maybe some new stuff next week.

Aug 22, 2007

Okay, part 5 of TDOA is up. Part 7 (and 8) may be a while, interesting things going on.

If you see reposts of 4, 5, 6 (or other things) over the next few days without corresponding entries in this diary, or having them show up as “new” on my index pages, it means I’m fixing nits.

Aug 18, 2007

Well, shit... I have been writing. I’ve been pretty damn productive, just a little out-of-order. F’rinstance, I’m, real close to having parts 4, 5, 6, and 7 of TDOA done. 6 has been done for a while, 5 is almost there, and I need to review 4. I also have another Sa’arm deal about ready to go, finishing up the free-for-all section.

So mea culpa, I’m going to post some things out of order. The first out-of-order things are part 4 and part 6 of tdoa.

And after you read 6, after you’re wondering, “where the hell did that come from?”

Some of you might remember The Prisoner with Patrick McGoohan. Think Living in Harmony.

Jul 3, 2007

Well, Horndog had some ideas as to what the Sa’arm looked like, and had discussed them with Jack. Revisions to The Battle of Escalon to fit the description.

Jul 2, 2007

I’m minding my own business, with plenty to do, and I wander over to Jack Lipton’s website (which no longer exists). Gak! now I’ve got the Sa’arm Cycle bug! Thanks to Jack and Thinking Horndog for letting me play!

Oh, the story? Short and no sex. The Battle of Escalon.

Enjoy!

Jun 20, 2007

Dear Soforia -- we will miss you, Mistress.

Jun 9, 2007

Comments on various pieces, mainly from e-mails sent to readers over the week. Thanks for the feedback, folks, it’s the only payment I get!

I knew as I wrote the first Open Clinic story that I had a damn franchise, or it had me...

Part of keeping the franchise going is holding back a few things for the next part, such as what the Gatekeeper left, and what's in the bag. I think you could probably make a good guess as to the contents of the bag.

One of the things that's fun in this one is setting up the general rules, the structure, and then banging into the limits those rules and structures suggest. (The Gatekeeper, and aspects of him, will turn out to be useful in the last sections of the story.) Also, looking at characters in different settings -- a vampire that lives in Little Italy (and preys on socialites and partygoers), the brujo turned jackalope, more "normal" denizens such as dwarves, and everyone's favorite, the yeti.

But with all these, life must go on -- so the mundane has to poke its snout in there (Jack Kornfield sums it up well in "After the Ecstasy, the Laundry.") He's got a hot yeti coming in two weeks for a few days of rolling in the hay, but he also has bills to pay, patients to take care of, a normal life to run.

I'm surprised I've only gotten one request for the al-Faz manuscript so far...

The dwarf, not really happy, but making the best of his predicament, taking on quite a responsibility. In my effort to keep these things from being 60 pages each, I end up leaving out so much. He's chosen to take the hard path with these kids -- he could have turned them into toads, or bushes, but he chose the harder path, to try and change them. Now you've given me the challenge to see if I can get this across with a few key additions...

The whole thing with the rabbi/boar was fun. Somehow I know a lot of his backstory, how he was pontificating on something or other and pissed off a local witch but good. She fixed his wagon -- but I figure that each curse has its benefit; like with Joe, or the Katze, the downside is you're no longer human, you're a (were-)beast, but the upside is you're now a magical creature, and essentially immortal. Joe adapted well to that (Joe has a lot of stories to tell -- he got to tell part of his story in this one), but others are having problems -- mom-komodo and rabbi-boar haven't learned Suzuki-roshi's lesson, "to accept things as they is." (read "Crooked Cucumber")

So much to write, so little time -- I've two more sections of "Time of Arrival" about ready to go. Actually, part 5 is about done (it's somewhat reminiscent of the Prisoner episode "Living in Harmony"), and I'm having to backfill in 4 and add details. 4 is getting pretty long, and may end up getting split, so I'll have 3 chunks rather than 2.

And the third part of Allemande-Courante, called Gigue, is more than half baked, but part is unsatisfying. Parts need to be redone. It's dystopian, and ends on a sour note, but still deserves to be packaged better.

"Pilot's Tale" is done, stick a fork in it, and no, it's not a clean fit with other sci fi stories, but that's what happens when the muse sticks her tongue in your ear -- you takes what you gets.

I'll keep writing. Keep reading, and have fun!

Jun 6, 2007

The Open Clinic adds Part 3!

Jun 4, 2007

A new short one, sci-fi, The Pilot’s Tale. Dark, but I like it.

Note -- this one isn’t a clean fit with other of my Sci Fi stories. Don’t worry about it!

Apr 23, 2007

Another chunk to Open Clinic -- if you’re looking for the Yeti, she isn’t in this one!

Apr 6, 2007

Changes to most files, only affecting the underlying HTML. Nothing happening. Writing other stuff. Hopefully more next week.

Apr 1, 2007

I’ve been going through a series of “life changing events.” Still kicking, though, and even finding some time to write and revise. Here’s part 3 of TDOA. I’m going to be taking some vacation time in the near future, and plan on doing some writing. That’s plan -- we’ll see what happens!

Wow! A reader found two nits in part 6 of Tales of the Golden Mule! Fixed, reposted, and with my thanks!

Jan 2, 2007

I know, I know -- everyone wants me to do Open Clinic - the Yeti Returns!

Not yet.

Instead, I present a more dystopian piece, the follow-on to Allemande, called Courante.

Dec 12, 2006

I’ve got a problem. I had a short one come to me, “Open Clinic.” The problem? It’s not a story, it’s a damn franchise! I can feel so many stories feeding off this one! I’ve got such a feeling for the characters! Sigh... Time will tell. Also fixed nits in other things. Didn’t mean to get distracted, but this one landed, and I had to do it!

Dec 5, 2006

Just about doubled the size of Allemande, and I’ve got another big chunk to post as well, but I’ve split it off. Managing to find a little time to write.

Nov 20, 2006

Well, I was going to post some short stuff, but something interesting happened -- my desktop computer went tits up... Diagnosis: it’s dead. Got a replacement, and thanks to good backup procedures, didn’t lose a damn thing. So I’m back up and running on a faster confuser. May even get some other things posted this week, who knows!

Nov 3, 2006

A new one popped up, Allemande. First part of four parts. In writing up how it happened, a quickie popped out as well -- A Little Light Work. Pure phantasy, but fun. Enjoy!

Oct 25, 2006

An anonymous reader sent me a handful of nits for Probes. Thank you! Don’t expect much in the way of updates until mid November.

Oct 12, 2006

Okay, I’ve started posting the re-worked sections of “A Life of Service.” Parts 1 through 3 have minor tweaks, with new material appearing after that. As with other pieces, the end, the last few paragraphs, won’t change, but the path there will. Expect sections to get renumbered from 5 on.

Oct 8, 2006

So, Denny asked, “Why isn’t Life Cycle of the Kaelen” listed in Sci Fi? Ah, how about, it is now? Thanks, Denny!

Oct 3, 2006

I’ve been posting some stories on Gina’s site, Beyond the Far Horizon. That’s gotten me to do some clean-ups. I’m currently re-working “A Life of Service,” integrating some unpublished material and cleaning up some loose ends. I’ll post the revised sections here, and to Gina. Big hint: the PDF of this one already has a lot of the revisions.

Sep 25, 2006

I’ve been making some one and two word cleanups to stories -- so unless a change is noted here, that’s what it is, and you can probably ignore it. I also updated Behind the Scenes.

Sep 6, 2006

Whee! The second part of TDOA is up! Let the nit-picking begin! I had fun with this one!

Sep 5, 2006

Cleaned up nits in some other stories, and added a new short one, Rush. Hope you like it!

Aug 25, 2006

Forgive me, but I’m pulling a Nixon, declaring victory and moving on -- did minor cleanups on Twixl and moved it from Lost Souls to completed Stories. Yes, Twixl was supposed to be the intro to a longer piece, but I’ll probably never write it. I’ve got plenty of ideas, but not enough time.

Aug 21, 2006

A new short one, QB6. It’s part of another universe, but can stand alone. Also posting the occasional one-word cleanup to other things.

Aug 11, 2006

Back from vacation! Nits fixed in tdoa (part 2 still being written), but the big news is Part 6 of Life Cycle of the Kaelen, appearing after many years!

Jul 24, 2006

Thanks to sharp-eyed readers who found nits in TDOA and Bodega -- and I’m off on vacation for a while, looking forward for some dull-and-boring.

Jul 4, 2006

Major revisions to TDOA -- and many of you will notice that this one is now marked “part 1” -- that’s because it was getting too damn long, and because I’m having problems with some of the characters in part 2, which is well under way thank you.

Jun 27, 2006

Cleanups to Tuesday Morning at the Mall. Working on some other stuff, too.

Jun 18, 2006

A new short one, Tuesday Morning at the Mall. Sort of sci-fi, sort of mc, sort of ROM, with some interesting bits. I like it, and hope you do too. More short stuff coming, maybe some more on Storm. Some typos fixed in other stories.

May 29, 2006

Fixed a one-word typo in part of Surviving the Storm, which is what I’m working on currently. Expect a bunch of new material in the next few weeks. Also had a weird dream that’s turning into a sci-fi story, but it’s going to take a lot of work.

Apr 8, 2006

Cleanups and changes to Bodega, thanks to dotB and his crew! All the other changed files are changes to HTML, nothing to worry about.

Apr 2, 2006

Added material to Field Work - Our Lady of the Bodega. Also continuing to convert to new HTML and CSS. I expect to be updating just about every page on the site for HTML and CSS, probably multiple times! So look here to check what’s really changed!

Feb 16, 2006

Added a new one, Probes -- sci fi, other stuff. Hope you like it.

Jan 18, 2006

Changing HTML coding to become more standards-compliant and clean up tools. There are some nits cleaned up here and there, but nothing significant!

Jan 8, 2006

All the important parts of Eggs are there. Smoothing, and an interlude to take care of. Is the last egg too subtle?

Jan 6, 2006

Posting the first chunk of a new Sci-Fi story, Eggs. Builds on a number of others. Definitely more to come!

Dec 28, 2005

Revisions to Stage Fright, now called Rehearsal, thanks to Denny!

Dec 27, 2005

A new one, Stage Fright. Yes, I spend a lot of time doing theatre work.

Dec 20, 2005

More cleanups to Ambassadors, additions to Behind the Scenes. Happy holidays! Keep reading and I’ll keep writing!

Dec 16, 2005

A new(ish) one: Ambassadors. Sci fi, even though it might not feel like it at first. Uneven, and like a lot of my things, could go farther. Look for sporadic updates to this one over the next few days as readers shake out what my proofing missed!

Dec 15, 2005

Update to Field Work: Our Lady of the Bodega. I still have a few chunks to fill in.

Dec 9, 2005

Updated Behind the Scenes to cover NIS: About Ron. Important note -- I’m changing my web/HTML tools (coding for single/double quotes, that kind of shit), so unless I mark something as changed, don’t worry about it.

Nov 24, 2005

COMPLETED NIS-About Ron. Let the nit-picking and fly-specking begin!

Nov 12, 2005

Added Thursday Morning to Naked In School: About Ron

Nov 6, 2005

Random cleanups, added Wednesday Afternoon to Naked in School: About Ron

Oct 31, 2005

Updated some PDFs for stories, fixed nits in some others. I survived October!

Oct 29, 2005

Added a new (complete!) story, House Calls. There should be more time for writing in November!

Oct 3, 2005

Reworked two Sci-Fi stories, Folly and Weapon. Doing some other writing as well, in the midst of chaos.

Aug 24, 2005

I was very impressed by a saga on MCStories - Generous Spirit, a very good story! Look for more updates in a couple of weeks.

Jul 14, 2005

Fixed nits in a bunch of things (thanks, Joseph), added new material to Field Work - Our Lady of the Bodega.

Jul 2, 2005

Fixed some nits. Nothing new. Off on vacation for a while.

Jun 21, 2005

Surprise! I’m writing again, at least a little. Additions to Hand as a start.

May 2, 2005

Stealth update -- an eagle-eyed reader found a typo in Growing Up With Beth! Last week was the end of a fiscal quarter at work. We have one more weekend to go with the theatre production I’m involved in -- don’t expect updates for a week or two!

Apr 26, 2005

Stealth update to Portal to fix some nits an old friend sent me. Others have noticed a convergence of threads among different stories...

Apr 24, 2005

Portal - a new one, sort of Sci-Fi, mystic, in the same vein as “The Case of Christine M.” Got a better title for me?

Apr 15, 2005

Stealth updates on some stories (grammar and spelling corrections), with new entries in the “Behind the Scenes”

Apr 7, 2005

I should know better -- posting something incomplete... Yet there’s a lot there. So, up it goes. Sci-Fi, tied in to the same universe as “Time of Arrival,” but with a wider scope, more characters. Take a look at “Field Work - Our Lady of the Bodega.”

Mar 29, 2005

Huzza! A new, complete story! Will wonders never cease! Take a look at Reunion. Actually, it’s been sitting around for a while. It wanted to go to a place where I didn’t want to go, so I let it sit. Finally realized that I should let it go where it wants. Some folks may not like it, but it’s a good story.

Mar 8, 2005

Another stealth update, this time to blade; MS Word thinks “tem” is a properly spelled word. A reader disagrees. Fixed it. Zero time for writing these days.

Mar 1, 2005

More stealth updates. Added a link to this diary to the index by date page to make it easier for people to find out what I haven’t changed...

Feb 27, 2005

Stealth update of C3 (got a better title for me?) A reader very apologetically pointed out an error. Bring ‘em on! If you find something, let me know! Theatre performances, Thursday, Friday, Saturday, matinee today. Damn actors -- cause all sorts of problems! Meetings most of the day tomorrow and Tuesday.

Feb 22, 2005

Another stealth update -- fixed typos in sections of Storm. As an aside, I’m involved in local musical theatre. Last week was “hell week” followed by opening performances. I’m still recovering... Performances again Thursday through Sunday for three more weeks.

Feb 12, 2005

Thanks to dotB, changed the title of “Tweening Daze” to “Between Shelters.” No content changes.

Also had a reader ask, “have you tried hypnosis?” for what ails me. In short, yes. And it helps deal with certain components, such as those related to stress and muscle tension, and to attitude, particularly in bridging the divide between different parts. But hypnosis isn’t as effective with organic issues.

Feb 7, 2005

Reposted Tweening Daze to correct a fairly major fumble in the last few pages... By the way, if anyone has a better title than “Tweening Daze,” feel free to suggest it to me!

Feb 5, 2005

Fixed some typos and tightened language in older parts of Storm, and added two new sections. Writing is difficult these days, not only finding the time, but also because I’m going through “interesting times.” For the curious, google eletriptan. I’ve also moved to using a real tool for keeping diaries, a great program called MacJournal. That lets me spend more time writing (hopefully) and less time tweaking/debugging tools.

A note/warning for fans of Storm: a lot of folks like the different points of view. Yes, it’s fun to look/explore from different angles, bringing in different perspectives, without going to the omniscient/third person form. And, bouncing back and forth results in tighter, crisper exposition (well, when I get it right, it does). The problem, however, is the greater the overlap, the longer it takes to write! So, don’t count on seeing the whole thing from three points of view!

I’m also facing a dilemma on whether to post some sections (of Storm) out of order. Almost did that with Hand, glad I didn’t. Did that with Life of Service and not sure that was the right thing to do.

Jan 25, 2005

Working, writing -- this Diary is getting good feedback. Posted an updated Tool to correct a link at the end to a song.

Jan 21, 2005

This is offered as a service to my (frequent) readers, to help you decode what the hell I actually changed, why, and is it worth fishing for it? And when the hell are you going to update (insert your favorite title here)?

It's been a hell of a week. One close relative survived heart surgery, another died from liver cancer. For those of us still here, life goes on. Work and life is still hectic. I'm working on more for Storm, and some other things. I reposted Predicting the Storm tonight, cleaning up a grammar goof and changing terms slightly. I hope to get some writing done this next week, and have things to post by the first of the month.

Let me know if you think this is a good idea! It seems to work for my friend and author Jack Lipton!