You say 90% of the problems but the last 10% involved me having to reset my computer to the factory default at the end of last semester and that is arguably THE MOST SIGNIFICANT 10%.

And don't tell me that Windows 8.1 should fix it.

It was the Windows 8.1 update that crashed the entire system.

But yeah I already have a bunch of stuff from Acer that fixed some of the stupider problems with Metro so that's not so bad.

...Also I kind of love the idea of using Dropbox as a really bad instant messanger.

Don't know much about 8.1, my home box is still 7. I have had to preside over setting up a couple new systems since 8 though, including for rather... not tech savvy folks, for whom change was a big no-no. The fact that I could get the machines usable for them I consider to be an accomplishment.

I'm hoping the next full version isn't the same level of ****, or I'll probably switch over to a linux system running windows emulation when I get my next new computer, and I'm not sure I'm ACTUALLY tech savvy enough to pull that off. All the same, I do think that the system gets a little much mistreatment for how easy it is to fix the issues that always get brought to the front. Again, I'm not trying to excuse microsoft -- my opinion has long been that they're the democracy of computers: the worst system, except for all the other ones. Win 8 pushes that, but I don't think crosses it. mac still manages to be worse in the end.

I guess for me it's like some of the stuff on the Mothership: it isn't hard to fix, but why should that be our responsibility? Like maybe try just producing something that not everyone hates. >_<

I'd seriously consider going to Linux if I could get my thousand dollar art programs to work on it, but I can't, so that's out. Although honestly, Krita is making me real happy, so maybe it wouldn't be such a bad thing to just give up on Adobe... it's not like they're something other than money grubbing crooks; I got no loyalty to them.

I dunno, I got my new computer a week ago and went from Windows Vista to Windows 8.1. I gotta say, it's really not all that bad, especially once you set up your desktop and set Windows to launch in desktop mode instead of the Start Menu.

~SE++

Well fingers crossed your computer doesn't have a melt down and reset itself to the factory default, uninstalling your Adobe software which both costs thousands of dollars and is sitting in a different country.

I know my wife managed to make a Linux partition on her computer, if you guys want, I could ask her how she did it and do a step by step post sometime to help walk you guys through it as well. Heh, might be fun to put one on my new rig just for the hell of it. I hear Unbuntu is a good one, but I think the one she went with was specifically designed for writers who were doing worldbuilding.... I'll ask her for the name of it later.

~SE++

All this talk of computer failure prompted me to print out all of my stories that I've done so far. I've got my digital back-ups, too, but I'm a 70-year-old trapped inside a REDACTED-year-old's body, so I'm also a sucker for having physical copies of these things, too.

And, honestly, seeing this stack of folders on my desk filled with these stories that I've written for this project - I'm not going to lie, it made me a little emotional. I got to look at that stack of dead trees and say to myself, "after years and years of promising myself that I was going to start writing again, and finding reason after reason to not do it, I actually did it, and I actually wrote all this stuff."

Which probably wouldn't have happened without all of you fine people. So let me just take a moment to say "thank you" one more time for the time and effort that you all put into the work you do here. Whether it's reading your stories, or hearing your ideas, or receiving your encouragement, or all of the above, you guys are the ones who got me to start writing again. You have made my life more creative and fulfilling, and I appreciate it at a very deep level.

I'm going to go ahead and take all the credit here. All of it. All of your success and your obvious talent, heck, even your literacy! Yup, all because of this guy!

...



Okay, maybe not. It's probably about 50/50...

In all seriousness, though, it's great to have you around, Orcish, and I'm glad we could get you writing again. This project did the same for me, so I'm glad I could help in my admittedly (and non-jokingly) small way to help someone else experience that. And here's to many more amazing stories in the future!

It's really touching to hear how much of a difference Raven's efforts have made, OL. I'm glad you're around, too, so I'm glad Raven was singlehandedly able to encourage you to write more.

I'm super curious, though... how many pages did you end up with total?

Thanks to you, I now know how to use context clues to figure out all those unfamiliar words, and to sound the long ones out pho-net-ic-al-ly. I've really come a long way!

In all seriousness, I really, really appreciate all the great comments and feedback you always offer. Your perspective is always very helpful.

And, obviously, I love reading your work as well.


From your keyboard to God's monitor. Fingers crossed.



I know, right? He should do this for a living, or something. That guy's a pro.


Well, so far I printed Beryl stories 1-4 and Jackie stories 1-4. To the best of my recollection, those totaled about ~110 pages of Jackie content and about ~60 pages of Beryl content. I think "Friends and Killers" is in the 50-page range, so they'll be about even once I'm finished with that.

I stopped at Staples on the way home from work and bought a three-hole punch and a bunch of report folders with three-hole fasteners. It was like I was getting ready for fourth grade or something. I'm guessing that the clerk at the checkout was wondering who this crazy grown-up was, looking so dopey-happy about buying report folders with three-hole fasteners.

Man, it would be trippy if you turned out to be a former student of mine or something.

As for your binder, I have one of my stuff, as well, though I only have a few of my prose pieces in it, some of the early ones like Allo's Fortnight and The Butcher's Cleaver. But I do have all my poems in there, organized in the order in which they were written. Just in case.

Let's see... could your first novel be described thus:

"Throughout her life Natalie Baxter has lost everyone she has ever cared for, and after losing her faith in people she returns to her hometown of Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, and takes a job at a local horse ranch. Caring for a fiery true black mare named Twister, she slowly begins to find courage to return to the world. And when a gradual romance builds between Natalie and farm's strangely reclusive owner, Pierce, she is forced to confront the ghosts of her traumatic past."

I finally have my computer back, I can be a bit more active until life sees fit to pull me in another direction.

Ok what's really trippy is that Bethlehem PA is 20 minutes down the road from me and I'm not sure if that's just dumb coincidence or if you knew that and chose that passage deliberately...

@Fakeartist:

Congrats, dude!

It could, if the character and location names were different, and the plots points were something else entirely, and it didn't exist.

Total coincidence. But isn't it a small world?


Somehow it didn't strike me as your style. Too many horses, not enough awesome.

It is reminiscent of when I found out that Eid lived two towns over from me. Possibly 3-4 depending on how you squint.

Oh wow, yeah, I forgot about that. Did you guys ever get to meet up in Meatspace?

I wonder how he's doing these days.

For reasons I cannot begin to fathom, this makes me want to write an M:EM written equivalent to Andy Warhol's Empire. I'll call it You've Herd of Horses, and it will be 3000 pages describing a plane where the highest form of life in non-sapient horses who do nothing but roam around and graze. There will be no characters; there will be no plot. I will pioneer the genre of verbose minimalism.

Now, if you'll excuse me, I must return to my own time.

No, he was mildly harder to get in touch with than some other people I could name.

I am disappointed by the fact that you intend to have no antagonist, because Nightmare was made for the part.
Also, can I just express my displeasure at the fact they haven't reprinted Thundermare?