Jules Jones's Blog, page 9
March 30, 2019
Hello world
The first quarter of 2019 has been "may you live in interesting times" for me. It's involved quite a lot of interesting side effects from trying to adjust my migraine medication. We are now convinced that they were merely side-effects, for values of "merely" including "at least we now know that I have not had a stroke or heart attack". We also know that I definitely have a brain, and that it is the right size and shape, because it has been scanned twice.
All of which is to say why there have been no public posts for a while. I've been *busy*.
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All of which is to say why there have been no public posts for a while. I've been *busy*.
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January 2, 2019
2018 - a brief summary
2018 wasn't a lot of fun, for reasons given at length in a locked post, but which can be summarised as I spent it being not well. I'm still not well, but things are slowly getting better.
On the writing front, Loose Id closed its doors after 14 years, leaving many of my titles without a home. My titles at NineStar Press are fine and I'm not having any problems writing new material, but I have to stay off the computer as much as possible for now, which means self-publishing the out of print works won't be practical for a while.
In summary: 2018 sucked, and I am grateful to my immediate management at my day job who did their best to make it suck a little less.
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On the writing front, Loose Id closed its doors after 14 years, leaving many of my titles without a home. My titles at NineStar Press are fine and I'm not having any problems writing new material, but I have to stay off the computer as much as possible for now, which means self-publishing the out of print works won't be practical for a while.
In summary: 2018 sucked, and I am grateful to my immediate management at my day job who did their best to make it suck a little less.
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December 8, 2018
Hello World
Hello World. I am not dead. I do have a new and exciting medical problem, details in a locked post. I am still failing to keep up with Dreamwidth, although for slightly less unpleasant reasons than "looking at a screen bigger than my phone hurts my brain". Ditto doing something about my profic website, ditto any of my WiP that were progressing on electrons rather than dead tree. Even dead tree has been not happening over the last month, which is annoying because The Words Want Out; but some of that is because as has previously been mentioned I get a bit shy about writing the smutty bits when there are small children sitting next to me on the bus and I have run out of not-smutty bits to write, or at least lost track of which not-smutty bits are left to write.
"Screen hurts my brain" is actually still a bit of an issue in that my capacity for looking at a full size screen doesn't greatly exceed my working hours at the day job, but it's slowly getting better and there are workarounds. Unfortunately it's chewing up all the bandwidth I have, which means I have read lots of interesting books and they are not going to get reviewed or logged, not even to my usual lackadaisical standards.
I gather Tumblr has gone the "thanks for building our readership, now take your dirty, dirty porn away from our advertisers" route. This does not affect me because I never managed to wrap my elderly brain around the concept of Tumblr anyway - probably because I'm not a terribly visual person. I suppose my erotica alter ego ought to dig out their Tumblr password for the first time in several months and see if the account still exists. Not quite sure why I grok Twitter but not Tumblr, but there you go.
As anyone who follows my Twitter account has probably realised, I'm still spending too much of my limited screen time on the Cult Pens website. The "but I need it for professional writing purposes!" excuse is wearing a bit thin now, even if there's genuinely a lot of truth in it. I'd better get on and justify it...
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"Screen hurts my brain" is actually still a bit of an issue in that my capacity for looking at a full size screen doesn't greatly exceed my working hours at the day job, but it's slowly getting better and there are workarounds. Unfortunately it's chewing up all the bandwidth I have, which means I have read lots of interesting books and they are not going to get reviewed or logged, not even to my usual lackadaisical standards.
I gather Tumblr has gone the "thanks for building our readership, now take your dirty, dirty porn away from our advertisers" route. This does not affect me because I never managed to wrap my elderly brain around the concept of Tumblr anyway - probably because I'm not a terribly visual person. I suppose my erotica alter ego ought to dig out their Tumblr password for the first time in several months and see if the account still exists. Not quite sure why I grok Twitter but not Tumblr, but there you go.
As anyone who follows my Twitter account has probably realised, I'm still spending too much of my limited screen time on the Cult Pens website. The "but I need it for professional writing purposes!" excuse is wearing a bit thin now, even if there's genuinely a lot of truth in it. I'd better get on and justify it...
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August 11, 2018
First Thoughts - Ohto Rook pocket fountain pen
It is possible that I have too many fountain pens. I did not, however, until very recently own a pocket fountain pen; and that one is sufficiently expensive that I'm a little reluctant to take it out of the house. So when I was browsing the clearance section at Cult Pens and saw an Ohto pocket pen at £6 I decided that I Wanted That.
( Read more... )
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( Read more... )
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July 7, 2018
Hello Dreamwidth
I haven't posted since mid-May. Apparently I haven't read Dreamwidth since shortly after that, since I missed the news about a friend's new job. (Congratulations to that friend. :-)
There are a number of factors in this, not least the ongoing migraine issues which chew up quite a lot of bandwidth and don't leave much for things other than day job. Also, at one point one of the side-effects of the meds and/or migraine was a bout of something close to hypergraphia, which is how I come to have a completed short story, a large chunk of a different short story draft, a bunch of random jottings on story ideas, and an outline and substantial chunk of something that is probably going to be at least novella length, all as a result of the #cockygate nonsense. This lot was mostly written by hand, with fountain pen and ink, and needed/will need to be transcribed onto electrons.
And that was before my Firefox install fell over multiple times, on one occasion taking Edge with it. Those things that require the big screen on the laptop plus a proper keyboard were not happening, and that includes Dreamwidth, both reading and writing. Actually fixing [expletive deleted] Firefox seems to involve removing every trace of it and then doing a fresh install, then waiting for the next time it falls over, so the only two reasons I use it at this point are Containers and NoScript. It makes Edge look stable by comparison.
And at some point I have to face the task of updating my website, so that will consume such spare clock cycles as I have. I shall endeavour to post slightly more frequently than I have of late, but am not making any promises.
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There are a number of factors in this, not least the ongoing migraine issues which chew up quite a lot of bandwidth and don't leave much for things other than day job. Also, at one point one of the side-effects of the meds and/or migraine was a bout of something close to hypergraphia, which is how I come to have a completed short story, a large chunk of a different short story draft, a bunch of random jottings on story ideas, and an outline and substantial chunk of something that is probably going to be at least novella length, all as a result of the #cockygate nonsense. This lot was mostly written by hand, with fountain pen and ink, and needed/will need to be transcribed onto electrons.
And that was before my Firefox install fell over multiple times, on one occasion taking Edge with it. Those things that require the big screen on the laptop plus a proper keyboard were not happening, and that includes Dreamwidth, both reading and writing. Actually fixing [expletive deleted] Firefox seems to involve removing every trace of it and then doing a fresh install, then waiting for the next time it falls over, so the only two reasons I use it at this point are Containers and NoScript. It makes Edge look stable by comparison.
And at some point I have to face the task of updating my website, so that will consume such spare clock cycles as I have. I shall endeavour to post slightly more frequently than I have of late, but am not making any promises.
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May 13, 2018
A new short story
Occasionally a silly idea seizes my brain and won't go away. If you aren't familiar with the #cockygate nonsense, this may not make a lot of sense.
Kevin the Knap: Volume 1 of the TrollBane Chronicles
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Loose Id has closed
My primary publisher, Loose Id, has alas closed as of 7 May. My books published through them are now out of print, although you may see them on third party distributors for a short period while the out of print notices work through the system.
I do intend to make the books available again, but that takes a lot of time, which is a resource I'm rather short of at the moment. I'm also waiting on Loose Id to finish working on the rights releases for the cover art I'd like to re-use. I'm focusing on writing new material for now.
If you're still looking for something of mine to read, I do have books at NineStar Press under the name Storm Duffy, which are still available and will be for the foreseeable future.
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April 21, 2018
Stationery review - Le Yogi writing slope
I've been intending to post this for the last two months... Never mind.
I have neck problems and instructions from the physiotherapist to remember to use a good posture, so went in search of a writing slope to use at home. It needed to be relatively light, big enough to hold an A4 page in both portrait and landscape orientation, sturdy enough for an adult to use, not require me to lean hard on the paper with my non-writing hand to pin it down, and have a lip to catch any escaping paper sliding down. This ticks almost all the boxes, for a reasonable price as such things go. The one thing it misses is "portrait A4". The surface is big enough, but there is a pen rest groove cut into the slope 2 to 3 cm below the top, and the top edge of an A4 sheet resting on the bottom lip will lie over this -- something to note if you want to write/colour to the very edge of the page.
It's made of a sturdy sheet of acrylic folded into shape, with a nonslip silicon strip on both surfaces in contact with the table, and another along the bottom edge of the writing service as a lip, thick enough to hold a colouring book in place but thin enough not to press too hard into my arm. I'm mostly using it to write on A5 paper, and finding it much better for my neck than writing with the paper flat on the table. It will also take the weight of an iPad 2, which is handy when I'm playing with electronic jigsaws. The only fault I found is that the gloss surface reflects overhead lights. Mine's black but it's also available in white, which may or may not be better for the glare problem. For me it's worth every penny of the 20 pounds I paid. Oh, and you get an email with a link to a downloadable colouring book. :-)
Amazon UK [image error]
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I have neck problems and instructions from the physiotherapist to remember to use a good posture, so went in search of a writing slope to use at home. It needed to be relatively light, big enough to hold an A4 page in both portrait and landscape orientation, sturdy enough for an adult to use, not require me to lean hard on the paper with my non-writing hand to pin it down, and have a lip to catch any escaping paper sliding down. This ticks almost all the boxes, for a reasonable price as such things go. The one thing it misses is "portrait A4". The surface is big enough, but there is a pen rest groove cut into the slope 2 to 3 cm below the top, and the top edge of an A4 sheet resting on the bottom lip will lie over this -- something to note if you want to write/colour to the very edge of the page.
It's made of a sturdy sheet of acrylic folded into shape, with a nonslip silicon strip on both surfaces in contact with the table, and another along the bottom edge of the writing service as a lip, thick enough to hold a colouring book in place but thin enough not to press too hard into my arm. I'm mostly using it to write on A5 paper, and finding it much better for my neck than writing with the paper flat on the table. It will also take the weight of an iPad 2, which is handy when I'm playing with electronic jigsaws. The only fault I found is that the gloss surface reflects overhead lights. Mine's black but it's also available in white, which may or may not be better for the glare problem. For me it's worth every penny of the 20 pounds I paid. Oh, and you get an email with a link to a downloadable colouring book. :-)
Amazon UK [image error]
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March 30, 2018
At Eastercon
First thing on the packing list I've forgotten is to post to DreamWidth... Here Friday lunchtime to Monday late afternoon. No panels, not least because I'm still having occasional problems with my speech. In case anyone doesn't already know, I'm @bookfetishist on Twitter.
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February 14, 2018
Stationery review - Schneider refills
In the never ending quest to tidy my room, I decided to have a cull of the pen herd. I have many, many pens of various types accumulated over the years, some dating back to when I was at university [mumble] years ago. I can tell, because they're in the biscuit tin I used as a pen case.
I was going to be ruthless about throwing out the ones that didn't work anymore, but some of the ancient and venerable have sentimental value, or are promo pens in a barrel style that I find very comfortable to use, so I set about investigating the availability of refills.
First port of call was the Cult Pens website, a wondrous cavern of everything pen. It turned out they were having a three for two special deal on Schneider products, and Schneider make All the Refills, or pretty close to it. I already had a Schneider disposable courtesy of a sample in a previous order, so I knew they made decent cheap pens. Cue buying binge…
I needed a selection of refills, and I haven't had a chance to do much with most of them yet, but so far -- nice refills. They write smoothly and don't need much pressure to get them started. I really like the Slider 755, which is a Parker style G2 filled with Schneider's ViscoGlide hybrid ink. It writes very smoothly with no skipping and almost no pressure once it gets going, but can write on gloss paper without smearing even if it gets wet. It's described as combining the best features of ballpoint and gel pens. It's moderately expensive but I think well worth it if it continues to perform like this. I do love my fountain pens for not needing any pressure to write, but this refill comes close and is waterproof to boot.
The refills are all clearly labelled with brand, model number, colour and tip size, even the tiny D1 format multipen refills. This might not sound important, but when you've just opened an envelope full of miscellaneous loose refills, it's very useful for matching refill to pen. Definitely for my "buy again" list.
You can find the Schneider range in lots of pen shops, and as of the time of writing there is still a three for two offer at Cult Pens for the entire range.
comments
I was going to be ruthless about throwing out the ones that didn't work anymore, but some of the ancient and venerable have sentimental value, or are promo pens in a barrel style that I find very comfortable to use, so I set about investigating the availability of refills.
First port of call was the Cult Pens website, a wondrous cavern of everything pen. It turned out they were having a three for two special deal on Schneider products, and Schneider make All the Refills, or pretty close to it. I already had a Schneider disposable courtesy of a sample in a previous order, so I knew they made decent cheap pens. Cue buying binge…
I needed a selection of refills, and I haven't had a chance to do much with most of them yet, but so far -- nice refills. They write smoothly and don't need much pressure to get them started. I really like the Slider 755, which is a Parker style G2 filled with Schneider's ViscoGlide hybrid ink. It writes very smoothly with no skipping and almost no pressure once it gets going, but can write on gloss paper without smearing even if it gets wet. It's described as combining the best features of ballpoint and gel pens. It's moderately expensive but I think well worth it if it continues to perform like this. I do love my fountain pens for not needing any pressure to write, but this refill comes close and is waterproof to boot.
The refills are all clearly labelled with brand, model number, colour and tip size, even the tiny D1 format multipen refills. This might not sound important, but when you've just opened an envelope full of miscellaneous loose refills, it's very useful for matching refill to pen. Definitely for my "buy again" list.
You can find the Schneider range in lots of pen shops, and as of the time of writing there is still a three for two offer at Cult Pens for the entire range.
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