Figured I should explain, since I’ve barely written anything lately.
I’ve been on small rations, computer-wise, for the last few weeks. My laptop (currently an enormous luggable Acer) has been doing downhill for about five months – the F5 key went, hell for web development, then the R key got shaky, both my shift keys are failing, which has forced me to draft EVERYTHING in Word, lest they go and I suddenly be missing capitalization. Then, of course, last week my track pad began to fail on 4/5 start-ups, causing me to resort to using my mouse. All. The. Time.
Now.
Under any other circumstances, I’d have been forced to make do until I could save up. I have on loan a netbook to type on, but that will be going back to its real owner shortly. For the projects I have going on in the very near future the netbook is an unfeasible option.
However, given my newfound love (You Need A Budget), some consultation with both my lovely wife, some fellow earthlings, I looked into Dell‘s options.
Bingo!
Without going into details, I’ll say two things; advice from friends on finances is not evil. Also, Dell’s customer support system is surprisingly awesome – three emails with them took less than three hours, and sometime around April 20th, I’ll be in business with an awesome Studio 17. It’s not the cheapest thing on the planet, but considering the other option is a throwaway laptop that would only last a year to two as my current monstrosity has, overspending to outstrip my needs in so astounding a manner is something I see as an investment in my future productivity. The backlit keyboard helps too.
What does this mean for my projects?
Thankfully, much of the principal writing for Dowager Shadow was done years ago – the writing we’re doing now is fill-in and editing based on beta readers vetting the plot. I expect that with perhaps a few exceptions (which I’ll try to warn people of) the stream there will go off without a hitch.
It does mean I’ll have to be less than scheduled on this blog. Sorry. I’ve made some commitments to projects run by others (I’m guest writing for and promoting three blogs next month and beyond) so I’ve decided to commit myself to the successes of new ventures, largely because of the lack of consequence this blog has at the moment. However, if I fail to post at least once a week, you’ve got my full permission to send hate mail or bash me on Twitter.
So I’ll be around – but until my shiny new toy comes in, I’ll be playing ninja.