Authors, Wine and Book Launches

A rather funny article about the perils of book launches and the drink served therein.

Which reminds me, I have to plan what sort of wine to have at my book launch for Small Magics.

Yes, I'm having a book launch if it kills me. I worked hard on it and I want a party and a chance to flog it for all it's worth to a small, trapped crowd.

I will post where and when in the near future. All are invited. Come buy my book and drink some wine.

It'll be fun.

And this is the end of the week's worth of blogging. Time to write for a little while, then sleep.

Shakespeare told dirty jokes? Say it isn't so!

So the book "Filthy Shakespeare" is hitting the shelves. Apparently, the book will let those not in the know understand that William Shakespeare was a populist who wasn't above using foul language, double-entendre, and dirty jokes in his work.

Now, anyone who has studied Shakespeare beyond high school already knew that, and those of us who performed Shakespeare knew it intimately. In fact, half the fun of doing Shakespeare is figuring out how to get the jokes to the audience.

Might be a fun read, though.

Geek Link!

Okay, this is cool. Gigapixel-sized panaoramic photos available on the web. You can upload your own, and you can look at other people's work. And it's free. Neat.

gigapan.org

This Magazine

A magazine I came across one day while looking for other things. It's progressive, interesting and deep. They've got a wide variety of articles, and it isn't just the usual media drivel.

Here's the link:

http://www.thismagazine.ca/

And because I didn't say it in the last post, buy my book.

I Have an Office!!!

And I am happy as all get out. I have a door I can close, a library of bookshelves waiting to be filled with our library of books and a workout space just waiting to be cleared. The feeling is fantastic. I am a happy, happy monkey.

Of course, the job is not over yet. I still have to shim all the bookcases so they are more or less level, screw them to the walls in case a certain little monkey tries to climb them, fill them with books, clear out the boxes, get the workout space cleared, add floor mats to it, buy/build a chinning bar (probably the latter. Those things are expensive) and put down the threshold. May do that last tomorrow, if my child naps. If not, then soon.

And there's the whole house to get done as well, but for now I have an office, and it's a good start.

And now, I must write.

Okay, I have a week's worth of blogging I want to do, but I must also write.

Lunchtime Blogging

Been busy for the last little while. And sick. So blogging has come to a virtual standstill.

Of course, so has my life, so I'm not too worried.

Got the bookcases and everything upstairs, went apple picking on the weekend, and generally did a whole bunch of stuff not related to writing or being published or even home renovations.

Good weekend. Wish I wasn't lugging this cold around with me.

Anyway, because they are cool, here's a link to Wyrdsmiths, who are putting together some good writer resources and are well worth a look. I visit often.

Back to work. Once I finish my sandwich.

Done!

The floor is in, the quarter round is in. The room looks fan-expletive-tastic. Yay!

Actually not completely done. The doorjamb needs to go in but that is a one hour project I can do any time this weekend. So I'm done!

I am so proud of myself, I might just explode.

I also wired myself with caffeine today so I could get the job done this evening. I'm wide awake and ready to haul boxes as soon as the floor dries! Wheeee!

No, really. Wheeee.

Happy, happy, happy happy.

Tonight, I haul boxes. Tomorrow night, bookcases, filing cabinet and put together the desk and computer. Then I have office! After that, other housework.

And the website, and the book promotions, because Small Magics is out and available!

Got to get the promotions going and have myself a book launch!

Also, this weekend, we clean. By end of weekend, we have almost functioning house!

Again with the yay!

And Once Again...

Nothing quite goes to plan.

Cheops Law: "Nothing is ever completed on time or under budget."

First read that in a Heinlein book. Can't remember which one. Time Enough for Love, I think.

Anyway, one section of the room has a bit of a jog which it took me the better part of an hour to shape the quarter round for. Didn't help that the laminate was just a bit further from the corner than I had expected. Rigged something and it doesn't look bad, but by then the kid was in bed and I had an errand to run and here I am. The work is so close to done I can taste it. Think I'll go up and do the last of the cutting before I go to bed (manual saw, no real noise). That way, tomorrow I can just nail everything into place.

On the other hand, I might just spend the night writing instead.

Heck, I'll do both. Who needs sleep?

If a project seems way harder than It should...

Chances are you're doing it wrong.

(A quick lunch-time blog)

Nonetheless, and screw-ups set aside, the floor is now down in my office. Tonight I install the quarter-round trim around the walls, then start hauling up boxes and boxes of books and bookcases and my desk and the many and sundry other things that are going upstairs.

Very happy to get the job done. Very tired or I would have got the quarter round in last night. That and I didn't have any nails.

Once the office is set up, time to focus in on the new website because the current one, you'll notice, is tacky. And badly out of date.

The new one has cleaner lines and looks much prettier. And it's more up to date.

And then, it's time to promote my book! Yay!!!! Buy Small Magics!

The Floor! The Floor!

No, it isn't done, but it's started.

Hat tip to hammerzone.com (Better living through Handymanlyness) where I found the plans to to build the workbench I needed to cut the laminate to lay on the floor.

Here are the plans, should you need a workbench.

The floor is one quarter down. Laminate is easy to lay on the floor, easy to cut, and a pain in the neck to make join together properly. If anyone has any tips, they're appreciated.

Also, there's an 8 PM cut off time in this neighbourhood. Too many neighbours with small children and not enough light.

Think I'll write something.

Geek Link!

Haven't done one of these in a while.

http://www.sciencedaily.com/

For the science geek in all of us. Here's just three of their stories today:

Extra Gene Copies Were Enough toMake EarlyHumans' Mouths Water

Exoplanet Offers Clues to Earth's Future

Predation Linked to Evolution, Study Suggests

Interesting stuff, eh?

Almost enough to make Ontarioans forget there's an election coming.

By the way, vote for MMP.

Think I'll go write something

Email Annoyance Part 3 and Final

I should be writing. Instead I'm blogging. Bad me.

The email problem is called "Spoofing." Basically, someone got a hold of my website address, found a contactlink, and used it as a launching point to send out 1000,000 or however many emails from some anaonymous server somewhere. Nothing can be done about it. Jerks.

Meanwhile, I should get back to writing, but I wanted to close that exciting part of the saga that is my life.

Email Annoyance Update 2

So, my computer had some possible spyware cookies which have been deleted a joke.puncher virus, which is also gone (in fact, the files with it in it are zips that have never been accessed or opened on this machine, so I think that problem is gone entirely, fingers crossed).

Which leaves the question, who is got hold of my domain name and is playing silly buggers with it?

I'll find out tomorrow, I hope.

Annoying Email Update

Finished scan 1. Got something on here. I've deleted it and am scanning again.

Still don't think it would do that.

And for all of you out there who see a cool game labelled Stress Reduction Tools, don't do it. It's infected (I checked around, and I'm not the only one who has had this issue).

Well, That's Annoying

So I just got 63 returned emails from my domain, erikbuchanan.ca. Apparently a lot of the emails didn't go through.

This is annoying on 2 fronts:

1. I didn't send any emails from any name at erikbuchanan.ca, let alone the ones they're coming up with, and

2. I can't send any emails from erikbuchanan.ca. It's a shell domain, and the email addresses there all lead to my home address, from which I would send any replies.

So, what the heck is going on?

I've called my domain host and told them, as well as emailed them, and am currently scanning my computer, though I don't think it can be me, as I, as I said, cannot send emails from that address.

So that's mighty annoying.

Meanwhile, if anyone is getting spam from erikbuchanan.ca, please accept my apologies, and know I'm doing what we can to fix the problem.

Quick Lunchtime Note

And yes, I am taking lunch at 2:30. Lost track of time.

Remember how I was going to do that floor today? Not happening. The electricians came in early to remove the knob-and-tube wiring from the house (my pocketbook hurts thinking about it) and started with - that's right - my study, because the floors weren't done and there was less danger of creating a mess there.

Good plan for them, and I'd love to get it done over the weekend, but I'm not sure I'll have the time.

Ah, the joys of home improvement.

I Have a Computer Again!

Not an office, of course, because that would be easy, but I have a computer!

For those who have been following the saga, the office floor is clear of tiles and debris, the sealing for the room is gone, and light once more shines through the window.

Unfortunately, the hardwood that lurks beneath is unreachable. The plywood on top has nails every three inches and shows no sign of coming up easy. This would mean a ton of work, and chances are the time to repair the floor would be astronomically annoying. So what to do?

Bought laminate which matches the laminate in the hall, and will be putting that down.

The plan was originally to get it down tonight, but by the time I got everything I needed (jigsaw, quarter round, boards to use as spacers on the wall) and started work it was 9 PM and the noise from the jigsaw would be more than enough to wake the neighbours' kids, and that's not fair to them. Dammit.

So, it looks like I'll be taking Friday off work, if I can swing it, and will be installing the laminate then. Meanwhile, we have a working computer and I...

(taking a moment to plug the speakers into the right jack)

...am listening to the Tragically Hip.

He said I'm famously rich
C'mon just lets go
She kinda bit her lip
Geez, I don't know
But I can guarantee
There'll be no knock on the door
I'm a total pro that's what I'm here for
I come from downtown
Born ready for you
Armed with will and determination
and grace, too
The secret rules of engagement
Are hard to endorse
When the appearance of conflict
Meets the appearance of force
But I can guarantee
There'll be no knock on the door
I'm a total pro
that's what I'm here for
I come from downtown
Born ready of you
Armed with skill and it's frustration
and grace, too

Tragically Hip Grace, Too lyrics

Life is good.