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Writing

I don’t own a laptop anymore

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For the first time in twenty-odd years, I don’t own a laptop. This past weekend, I fedex’ed my MacBook Air (With the shitty keyboard. Thanks, Tim Cook) back to apple for trade-in credit on a Mac Mini.

Macbook Air packed up and ready for shipment.

The Mac Mini is great, it’s way more powerful than the MacBook Air, which is a plus, but wasn’t super necessary outside of making video editing and possibly running my upcoming online conferences easier.

I really liked the Air, except for it’s keyboard. I bought it knowing it wasn’t outrageously powerful, which for conference organizing and writing was just fine. Except the keyboard made writing agonizing. keys would repeat, keys would not activate, all randomly and never the same behavior in a row, so my manuscripts would be riddled with repeated words, wrong words that spell check was ok with and outright typos. It was annoying.

Mac migration tool screen.

Writing with the Mac Mini

I had already started moving to my iPad Pro for travel writing; it went to Egypt and Tanzania and was my only device and was just fine. The addition of the Magic Keyboard was the final nail. For a few weeks I’ve been leaving my laptop in my office, docked at the end of the day and just using my iPad around the house (Living room, kitchen island, etc). During the day writing on the Mini vs. the MacBook Air isn’t any different as the Air was docked behind monitors. The Mini is under them.

It’s definitely a little weird, and there are some things that require me getting up and going to the office (Designing book covers, for one) but I think as I get more used to using the Affinity tools on my iPad that might change. Otherwise walking away from my office at the end of the day, leaving the computer there, is kind of nice.

Conferences without a Laptop

This will be the first full week so we’ll see how I feel (not that there’s takebacks, the laptop is enroute to Apple). Right now I’m pretty happy. I think when I get closer to conference time it’ll be a great help running Zoom, and other tools for live streaming.

As I’ve been exploring online conference options I realized that since my MacBook Air would struggle with being a zoom participant (fans roaring, etc) that being host, plus running other tools like Ecamm Live, etc would tax the power little laptop.

Once the world gets back to allowing in-person events, I’ll face the final test of my set up. During the conferences, I do a lot of work at the registration table, or anywhere else, plus at least two times during the event, I am presenting on screen. Thankfully some of my speakers have already blazed the trail on presenting from an iPad.

Welcome Expedition Inc. to the Family

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Expedition Inc Logo

I’ve alluded to it in my newsletter, and I’ve started setting up the back end stuff (Like the Newsletter link to opt into Expedition Inc. Specific news)

I’ve just received book 1 back from the editor and am prepping it for ARC readers (want to be one? Sign up).

This is a bit of a departure while staying in my zone. I don’t want to give away too much, but if you like the dynamic of the crew of the Ghost, you’ll love the Expedition Inc. Team.

Expedition inc. is set on Earth just a little bit in the future. I’m aiming for more action adventure than scifi.

I’m aiming to launch Expedition Inc. #1 – Island of Secrets sometime in the fall.

Coming to a 3D Printer Near You

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Tiny Wil

I’ve never been a table top gamer, ever. No particular reason. I did have miniatures. I’d often buy pre-painted ones from the local hobby store when I was a kid in Torrence.

So, yeah, I like miniatures. So when I stumbled upon Hero Forge, I knew I’d have to design the crew. Fair warning, Hero Forge can be a time suck, even if you’re not into miniatures! It’s so addictive!

Tiny Zephyr

Anyhow, I’ve created the crew in miniature (within the constraints of the system) and I’ve released Wil and Zephyr to start. Right now you have to print them yourself. Your purchase is license to print (but not modify) the characters as much as you like.

My goal is to offer pre-printed miniatures (You still gotta pain ’em), but that’s gonna be a bit, so for now, if you have a printer, go nuts :)

Ever Wonder what Fury Looked Like?

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Space Rogues 7 Cover Concept

I’m working with the awesome Greg Bahlman on the cover for Space Rogues 7: A Guy Walks Into a Bar and he sent over a quick sketch to show the blocking he’s thinking about.

I toyed with a landed Ghost for the cover of Space Rogues 5: So This is Earth? but it was a bit cartoony (Because I did myself with stock assets) and when I polled readers, they weren’t feelin’ it.

But for Book 7 it made sense for the cover to show the Ghost in one of her most frequent haunts, a spaceport on the planet Fury; dingy dirtball that it is. Book 7 actually gives us a glimpse of life on Fury beyond the spaceport, market and the space Friday’s the crew hangs out in.

I’m pretty stoked, to watch this cover come alive.

If you haven’t yet, you can pre-order book 7 now, it releases October 6th.

WIP Thur–Friday 4/3 High Stakes

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The crew of the Ghost often finds themselves on the bad side of someone, whether it’s pirates, mega-corporations or powerful politicians. Sometimes it goes better than others.

The Ghost is standing where they left her. The two hover vans that brought the work crew are still parked near the starboard engine nacelle.
Wil is out of breath by the time they get close enough to the ship to see the first body. A quilant man is sprawled at the foot of the cargo ramp.
“Oh dren.” Cynthia swears as she kneels to check the being. She looks at her friend and shakes her head once. The three of them draw their sidearms and walk up the ramp slowly. Zephyr is in the lead. At the top of the ramp are two more of the work crew, a Quilant and a Trollack.
They find another body in the crew lounge, this one still alive, barely. The work crew team lead, the Trenbal woman. Orange blood is pooling around her. Her dinosaur-like face is twisted in pain.
Wil rushes over, dropping to his knees, “Don’t move, we’ll get help.” He looks up at Zephyr, “Check medbay!”
The Palorian woman darts past Wil and opens the hatch to the small medical compartment. She turns, “Empty.”
Wil scoops the wounded woman up and rushes her two the medbay. A bloody hand reaches up and grabs Wil’s shoulder, “It was… Crimson Sun.. Took your people.”

I’m sure things will work out though, right? I mean maybe they’ll just give Bennie back.

WIP Thursday 3/26 The importance of Physical Fitness

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We all know the importance of physical fitness (I’m typing this on a day I chose to sleep in vs. work out), President Reagan used to make us do sit ups in school for crying out loud.

It’s fun to have Wil be the punching bag sometimes. He’s cocky so it’s a little comeuppance.

Wil has changed out of his normal shipboard jumpsuit and into a tank top and shorts. Maxim is similarly dressed. The big Palorian looks at his Captain, a head shorter than him, “I’ll go easy on ya.”
“It hasn’t been that long.” Wil says defensively.
Maxim tilts his head, “Do you even remember the last time you trained?”
“Well no, I mean I don’t mark it in my calendar or anything.”
“Almost eight months.” Maxim points to Wil’s midsection, “You’ve also gotten fat.”
From the side of the training mat Bennie cackles until Cynthia smacks him on the back of the head.
Wil swings his bo staff in a wide arc attempting to get in a shot at Maxim before he expects it. The big Palorian dodges to the side, Wil’s staff missing him by inches. In the same move he brings his own bo staff around catching Wil in the ribs.
Wil takes a step back readying his staff just in time to deflect an overhead swing. He twists at his hip bringing his staff down, dragging Maxim’s with it. He opens his mouth to comment but clamps it shut just in time to twist further narrowly avoiding a blow to his head.
Maxim spins quickly bringing his staff low to take Wil’s feet out from under him. Wil jumps just in time, bringing his staff up to catch Maxim in the chin. The two of them separate a few paces.
Maxim tilts his head side to side cracking his neck, “It’s on.”
Wil swallows, “Oh shit.”
Bennie rubs his hands together.

I enjoy giving the crew time to train. I like the slice of life moments it provides (same with team meals). There’s no stress, they’re together being family.

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