Yeah, not whipping anything out. I’m arguing with a new laptop, and new OS. My laptop (which I’ve been using for three years, now)…started to not charge the battery. It worked okay plugged in…but…
It was also starting to give me BIOS warnings that it couldn’t verify what the charger/transformer was.
I have two finished novels in my documents. One’s first draft finished, and one’s waiting on a final read-through before I pop it up for sale. I cannot have another issue where the laptop eats my work. Cannot.
So I ordered a new laptop. Acer Aspire 1. I’ve had these before, and they’re…not bad. Provided you don’t drop the damn thing on the corner with the power jack while it’s plugged in. Eh, I don’t really move the laptop much anymore so…no longer an issue. It lives on the TV tray next to the chair’s right arm, and I operate it with a USB mouse and keyboard. Both of which are silent.
I can tell you right now that I hate Windows 11. I may come to hate it less as I get used to it, but right now? Yeah, hate it.
On the upside, it comes with a year of Office 365. We’ll see whether they pull their heads out and stop demanding yearly ransom, or if I look for something else for drafting and formatting novels at the end of the year, because really? No. I’m not renting. I bought a house. I bought a car. I’m not renting a word processing ap. No.
Okay, I think I mostly have everything set up…I guess it’s time to finish a last few things on the old laptop and get the keyboard and mouse moved, the old laptop closed down, and the new one set in its spot.
While I’m at it, I should probably update y’all on what’s going on with the writing. Well, January, you’ll remember I put Whine in a Box up for sale. And started the next book, Meals on Wheels. That one’s first draft finished, as of the first part of last month. I’ve set it aside to work on other things.
I’ve gotten the draft of Certified Public Assassin back from beta readers, and I’ve revised it–fairly massively–twice. There’s one more to go. I’ve set it aside so that I read what I wrote instead of what I thought I wrote.
Ooh–also last month, I got Faerie Gifts up and live. It’s ready for anyone to borrow through Kindle Unlimited, or to purchase on Amazon.
On that note, the short story that kept growing and turned into surprise novel? I’ve started working on the second draft of that. Title, right now, is Dogfather. Sometime in the next few months, it will be ready for beta readers.
I’ve gotten ambushed by several short stories, too. Looks like next year’s themed collection will be science fiction.
I think that’s mostly it, for now. I’ll try to keep you posted (at least once a month or so).