on working and technology

After almost a month of questionable network connectivity and trying everything we could think of to fix it, our Time Capsule (Apple wireless base station/backup device) was declared dead at the Apple Store yesterday. They gave us a new one. The network is now much, much happier and back to being quick like a bunny, and backups are no longer glacial.

*hugs internet*

Seriously, I’m a geek when it comes to my internet access. I get twitchy when I can’t check my e-mail. My Google Reader is my new best friend. Having to wait five minutes for a page to load makes me crazy. Sure, I like to unplug completely once in awhile but I don’t like having to do it involuntarily and when I have stuff to do.

These past few weeks of lousy connectivity (not completely lost, just intermittent and slow, which was almost more annoying because it was teasing me) made me realize how web-based a lot of what I do can be.

Sure, I can write and paint without the internet. I can paint without a computer at all, but I prefer typing to longhand writing. But I can’t manage anything in my Etsy store without an internet connection. Thus the sale on originals got extended longer than I’d intended, but that’s alright.

And I wonder, sometimes, if I’d be as inclined as I am to push forward with trying to get my novel published if it weren’t for the incredible presence of the publishing industry online.

There are countless informative blogs by literary agents and editors out there. I follow a handful of agents on Twitter, even. There are forums and websites and it’s all so accessible that I’ve learned buckets of stuff about an industry I had no clue about just about a year ago.

(Really. I had a vague concept of publishers and agents and whatnot but I didn’t even know what a query letter was.)

Because of all that easily accessible information I now have ideas and plans and I feel like I know what I’m doing. It doesn’t feel as daunting as it once did. The process of getting from manuscript to bookshelf seems challenging but not mystifying anymore.

I think the point of this post is that I love the internet and I’m glad my little network of computers is happy again because it makes me more productive, even though my job doesn’t seem all that technical.

books & links

I am in more of a reading mode than a writing mode lately, though I am attempting to switch back and forth. Reading often puts me in a writing mood, which is helpful.

This is my current reading pile, more or less. I have some random nonfiction things floating around but this is the fiction stack, all in various levels of just finished, mid-way through or haven’t started yet. It is both YA heavy and entirely female authored, huzzah.

Here, links and info since books are fun to press on other people. From bottom of pile to top which is essentially in no particular order:

  • The Season by Sarah MacLean. I stumbled upon this by accident, through the wonders of the internet. I actually knew Sarah when we were both at Smith, oddly enough. I found her through a collection of Smith Alum blogs and picked up her book shortly thereafter. I just finished it last night, it’s a lovely, frothy Regency era romance meets murder mystery with a wonderful, spunky heroine. I’m happy to have found it, and Sarah again, through the wonderment that is the internet.
  • The Forest of Hands and Teeth by Carrie Ryan. I’ve wanted to read this since I first saw the cover over on the Absolute Write forums months ago. Yes, I do judge my books by their covers, but only when they also have excellent titles and zombies. Haven’t started it yet, but am very much looking forward to it.
  • Stranger Things Happen by Kelly Link. I am almost finished with this one, I have a few more stories to go. I’ve been savoring them, like a box of fantastically oddly flavored chocolates. This is my second Link collection (I read and loved Pretty Monsters a few months ago) and I really love her stories. She apparently teaches short story writing at Smith, too. Wish she’d been teaching when I was there.
  • The Dust of 100 Dogs by A.S. King. I found this one through Sarah’s blog, and was sold on the cover blurb alone (and the cover itself didn’t hurt) because, you know, pirates. Haven’t started it yet, either. May have to have a pirates vs. zombies imaginary death match to figure out which to start next. (Do zombies win by default, being undead and all?)
  • Palimpsest by Catherynne M. Valente. I’ve mentioned Cat before here, there & everywhere, of course. I’m only a few chapters into Palimpsest and taking my time with it, not quite in the same chocolate-savoring way but more like wading slowly into it, letting myself adjust to the water before it inevitably pulls me under.

The ampersand I found in the clearance corner at Pottery Barn this weekend. I may paint it, though the orange is growing on me. It is also begging to be photographed in the wild, combining all manner of unsuspecting subjects.

Am mostly drinking tea and trying to write, now that I have my painting obligations out of the way. I’d ideally wanted to finish my edits by the end of the month, which now seems unlikely. But I needed some mulling time, and it’s spring and there’s a new moon in a few days, so it is probably a good time to be getting things done.

equinox

It’s cold outside, but we bought flowers to make the inside more springy.

This little potted ranunculus that’s now living in a blue glass goblet, and some snapdragons.

I have Cadbury Mini-Eggs, the true sign of spring.

And I’m having computer network issues that I am ignoring in favor of chocolate & flowers & springtime.

someday i will tell the tale of why her name is bucket*

A few days ago I got some firmware upgrade for our Airport/TimeCapsule and my internet went from happy to grumpy and slow. Just figured out how to downgrade the firmware and my internet is back to happy. Still not sure exactly what went wrong, mostly just glad to have pages loading at something other than a glacial pace.

Took pictures of kittens in the sunshine.

That’s Bucket, being extra special dramatic. There’s a less dramatic one of her and a couple of Tessa up on Flickr.

Mostly spending today drinking tea and knitting, gearing up for the epicness that is the South Boston St. Patrick’s Day parade tomorrow.

Really this entire post is just an excuse to post dramatic lighting Bucket.

*Today is not that day.

i *heart* friday the 13ths

Two Friday the 13ths in a row! They are one of my favorite types of day. I got married on a Friday the 13th, which probably adds to the fondness, but I liked them before that, too.

I’m wearing BPAL‘s latest 13 blend today, too.

A sweet, comforting base of dark chocolate and brown sugar with thirteen herbs of good fortune, including nutmeg, Tonka, allspice, star anise, Jamaican and African gingers, devil’s shoestring, lucky hand root, and thyme.

It’s a dry, spicy, gingery scent on me with just a little bit of sugar sweet kicking around the edges. Very different from my only other 13 from BPAL, the original white chocolatey version that I wore for my wedding.

Mostly layering paint on a custom painting today that keeps wanting to be darker. I like it better today than I did yesterday, so I think it was right about the dark. Going to let it dry and see how I feel about it after that.

Tessa just jumped in front of the computer, so I assume that means she says hello.

This is my new tea mug that I promised pictures of, on my desk with my statue of Thoth hanging out in the background:

It’s from khphillips on Etsy. (This mug, link has additional angles.) I’ve had my eye on this style of his for ages, I love the tones and the decals, but this is the first one I’ve actually purchased. It’s even lovelier in person. I’m tempted to start collecting them, replace my mass-produced mugs with unique pieces of usable art.

Getting Indian food for dinner, nom nom tandoori salmon. Mulling things over more than editing, I tend to switch back and forth from painter to writer and back again. Today is a painting day.

why do i not live in australia?

Thanks to my friend Steph and her Seen on Flickr blog, I am thoroughly besotted with this Australian performing arts company called Strange Fruit.

I sometimes have difficulty explaining the tone of my fictional circus. It’s not a traditional circus. It’s not clowns and elephants. It’s stuff like this. I love that there are people out in the world doing things that I sit in front of my computer and imagine.

I just wish they weren’t on the other side of the world.