Elyse M Grasso has moved

I am moving to Elyse M Grasso (npub1qx2…3etr)

Occasional thoughts: https://emgrasso.dreamwidth.org
Author site: https://www.superiormagpiepress.com
WritingMonth: emgrasso
Heir of the Bindings, Broken Oaths & Boundaries: https://books2read.com/HeirOfTheBindings https://books2read.com/BrokenOathsBoundaries

Public Key

npub1eh7srccv577h7nxwg8et6le7nucdhx3cszs3tsrrgmnsz3sas4jqyzya7h

NIP-05 Address

[email protected]

Profile Code

nprofile1qqsvmlgpuvx200tlfn8yru4a0ulf7vxmngugpgg4cp35decpgcwc2eqpz3mhxue69uhhyetvv9ujuerpd46hxtnfduqs6amnwvaz7tmwdaejumr0dscrsld9

Publishing to

relay.damus.io

nos.lol

Author Public Key

npub1eh7srccv577h7nxwg8et6le7nucdhx3cszs3tsrrgmnsz3sas4jqyzya7h

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Last Notes

2025-08-18 16:47:25 UTC

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I found it disappointing when I tried some. I read an article (sometime in the past few years) that pointed out that the story was set during WWII rationing, so the desirability of anything sweet would be amplified.

2025-08-18 01:21:49 UTC

#WordWeavers 18. Do you carry any symbols from your own life into your stories?
How could I not? I'm 71 and I've been marinating in writings on religion and myth and folklore and philosophy and science and technology for at least 64 of those years.
I don't guarantee that some of my symbols will make sense to anyone else...

2025-08-16 19:55:36 UTC

I once read an article that suggested that the genetics are not for right-handed vs. left-handed, but strongly right-handed vs weak handedness, and some right-handed people have the weak bias.
My youngest brother says his left hand is just a spectator, while I am inconsistently handed: left-handed for some things, right-handed for other, both for some, and our other brother is more definitely left-handed.

2025-08-10 19:48:45 UTC

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Death of the Necromancer is a sort of Sherlock Holmes/Count of Monte Cristo swashbuckley caper in a fantasy world (her Ile-Rien series)

2025-08-02 18:12:11 UTC

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That cover is lying: It clearly indicates that the title is "In the Land of Simplicity" which, according to the info provided by the publisher, is false. (Sort of the opposite of the equally annoying covers that hide words like 'of' and 'and', which as a former librarian I find equally annoying)
Fair warning about the story, possibly.

2025-08-01 18:14:59 UTC

#WordWeavers 8/1. If your story were an animal, which one? What would you feed it?
In the world of my WIP, the Manifest are language-using entities from beyond time and space whose natural structure is predominantly semiotic rather than material.
Bogles are "smaller" non-language-using entities from the semiotic pseudo-ecosystem Elsewhere: basically the animals rather than people. (Wysps are tiny but can be eu-social, basically bugs.)
My story is a bogle. It eats semiotic structures.

2025-07-26 19:08:57 UTC

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I worked at AT&T on the software side of T1 support, when that was the big new thing before fiber was even an option.
One person briefing us said the biggest hazard to US communications was 10K people every day running backhoes.
They envied one of their competitors who leased space in gas line rights of way: people pay attention when the sign says "Don't dig. GAS LINE"

2025-07-22 02:05:11 UTC

#ScribesAndMakers 22. Show us something you've created. Tell us the story behind it.
In the early 70s my Nonna made me a red crocheted poncho, which I wore for years, decades, until it was in some luggage that was stolen out of my truck. In 2014 I found the Simplicity pattern she had worked from for sale online (the neck opening is distinctive) bought it, and made a new poncho in green, black and white. It was lost in the fire, but I have acquired another copy of the pattern and will remake it.
https://media.historians.social/media_attachments/files/114/894/388/340/580/203/original/ab3a9ba5973f4d10.jpg

2025-07-20 22:40:36 UTC

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Try # sheepOfMastodon ?

2025-07-14 20:06:34 UTC

#ScribesAndMakers Jul 14: Self-promotion day. Show us what you're proud of. Let's boost away.
The Elderkin Chronicles has 2 volumes out, and volume 3 being written (and that's just the prequel to the main series!)
Heir of the Bindings: Elderkin Chronicles Volume I
https://www.books2read.com/HeirOfTheBindings
Ebook ISBN: 978-1-966887-00-3
POD paper ISBN: 978-1-966887-01-0
Broken Oaths & Boundaries: Elderkin Chronicles Volume II
https://books2read.com/BrokenOathsBoundaries
Ebook ISBN: 978-1-966887-02-7
Paper ISBN: 978-1-966887-03-4
https://media.historians.social/media_attachments/files/114/853/356/913/435/747/original/c6a64499251437e5.png
https://media.historians.social/media_attachments/files/114/853/370/702/055/148/original/c124564ddf90826c.png

2025-07-14 00:37:33 UTC

#WritersCoffeeClub 14. What is your favorite emotion to write?
I don't set out to write emotions. I set out to write characters and events, and the emotions sort of come along for the ride.
Hmm. Is there a word for the satisfaction of solving a puzzle or problem? (I know the joke is that the Germans probably have a word for it, but I'm not sure even they have that one.)

2025-07-07 15:07:29 UTC

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One thing the Knife Skills class did not mention that I discovered recently: If you happen to be left handed, using left-handed knives makes a HUGE difference in how straight and tidy your cuts come out. Even a cheap left-handed knife can work better than an expensive right-handed knife.
Do I sound bitter?
#ScribesAndMakers

2025-07-07 03:22:58 UTC

#ScribesAndMakers 7: Have you ever taken a cooking class? If so, what did you learn?
I took a class on cheese-making a very long time ago. (80s?)
A bit more recently, (at least, in this millennium I think) I took a kitchen Knife Skills class at a local cooking school. We made baklava, among other things. I was thinking about taking additional classes there related to different cuisines, but started traveling more for business, and then my dietary restrictions tightened up.

2025-06-29 18:39:35 UTC

#ScribesAndMakers 29 What's your proudest or best moment with your creative endeavour this month?
I think that I have figured out what vol 3 of the Elderkin Chronicles is about (as opposed to what happens in it, which I already knew quite a bit of).
And the paperback edition of volume 2 was released for sale.
Edit: And... the author copies have arrived, just in time for the end of the month!!
https://media.historians.social/media_attachments/files/114/774/303/472/922/030/original/5a176fb638f701f9.jpg

2025-06-27 22:14:54 UTC

#WritersCoffeeClub 28 Would you join a writing residency? Talk about your reasons.
I am retired, and I have spent the past year living alone except for my cat in a beautiful house built to my specifications, with a wonderful view out the windows.
What would a residency provide that I don't have, except too many people, and - probably - food that I don't trust not to trigger my allergies?
https://media.historians.social/media_attachments/files/114/757/586/882/954/652/original/112d4ad9aff3299e.jpg
https://media.historians.social/media_attachments/files/114/757/612/976/353/437/original/72b845748baf1369.jpg

2025-06-27 16:38:01 UTC

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Meh. I like writing that takes advantage of the things that writing can do and other media cannot. And I found the sample scene annoying, which I suspect was not the intent.

2025-06-16 05:10:14 UTC

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7 hours for 99k words sounds slowish. Packing for business trips, I used to expect that I would read mass-market paperback mysteries and SF&F books at a rate of about 100 pages/hour: at least one book per evening in the hotel plus a few more for travel time and in case the others were short (my luggage was very heavy and I was overjoyed when e-readers became available).
The pagination of hardback and trade paper was different.
But I'm aphantasic and may read differently

2025-06-07 21:24:16 UTC

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#ScribesAndMakers 7
Some denizens of my current yard: these are all growing wild .
I've been letting the triffids grow because last summer the irrigation water just ran off the heavy clay soil: I hope the monsters' root systems are breaking things up a bit.
I'm pleased that the wild roses are coming back after being crushed by construction equipment and the spread of driveway gravel.
Not sure what the yellow things are, but they are all over the undisturbed grass in the yard.
https://media.historians.social/media_attachments/files/114/644/046/487/712/318/original/6d77147b8358b759.jpg
https://media.historians.social/media_attachments/files/114/644/050/607/598/796/original/61090451347fb492.jpg
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https://media.historians.social/media_attachments/files/114/644/152/979/501/655/original/c648b78bb011c225.jpg

2025-06-07 05:50:43 UTC

#ScribesAndMakers 7: Do you plant a garden each year?
I have been in this current landscape for less than a year. So far I have planted perennials and a few trees and some grass in the areas disrupted by construction. And I need to do something about the humongous weeds that have sprouted in the construction fill soil.
I hope to gradually add some edible perennials, but my soil and well water are both appalling.

2025-06-06 02:18:46 UTC

#WritersCoffeeClub 6 June. What are the conventions of the genre in which you write? How strictly do you follow them?
I do not write in any of the usual tightly defined genres. 18th century secondary world historical fantasy is not exactly a thing that has established conventions. The closest genre category I have found on any of the standard lists is "General Fantasy" which does not really narrow down the criteria.

2025-05-27 21:52:30 UTC

Flowers growing wild in my yard... The first two may be alfalfa/lucerne and some kind of cinquefoil, but I don't really see anything very recognizable on pages about Colorado wildflowers, so all three may be horrible invasives. But they are pretty.
#BloomScrolling
https://media.historians.social/media_attachments/files/114/581/939/695/984/077/original/8b880a8f757c335e.jpg
https://media.historians.social/media_attachments/files/114/581/939/741/221/149/original/966a78319a89b6cd.jpg
https://media.historians.social/media_attachments/files/114/581/939/801/425/014/original/00d2f817e38a4123.jpg

2025-05-26 18:04:46 UTC

#ScribesAndMakers May 26: Describe your creative workspace(s).
I have an official office with office furniture and a printer and NAS and the router, but most of the writing happens on my laptop on a lapdesk on my sofa in my living room, which has the good sound system and the best view of the bird-feeder and the mountains.
https://media.historians.social/media_attachments/files/114/575/416/910/317/143/original/350fbaa3cb729b88.jpg
https://media.historians.social/media_attachments/files/114/575/416/938/392/854/original/6adec840aada7b1c.jpg

2025-05-17 06:13:02 UTC

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The 10 episodes of the current series are adapting the first novella 'All Systems Red'. It is a very good, close but not obsessive adaptation, so there are some differences. It might make sense to watch the series, then read the books beginning in mid-July after the 1st season is complete.

2025-05-11 22:10:58 UTC

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I want surfaces that won't collect dust... but I have a lot of allergies.

2025-04-30 22:12:05 UTC

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Alternatively... buy 1 and a half academic texts. Ouch.

2025-04-29 02:36:45 UTC

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https://writingmonth.org/ has been set up to support writers

2025-04-26 03:05:43 UTC

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Functional Baggage is less generic than the titles you proposed earlier in the thread, so you are moving in the right direction... People are probably going to be able to remember the title, and search for it with some chance of finding it..
Are you thinking of baggage-related cover art? Is baggage a recurring motif, or an element of a pivotal event? (If it isn't, can you add a few strategic references?)

2025-04-25 01:12:25 UTC

#WritersCoffeeClub 25. World Penguin Day! How have ‘the classics’ influenced your work?
Our family book shelves held some classics packaged for the aspirational middle class, and when I was 9 we moved to a small town whose public library was founded in the 1880s or 90s and never had its shelves weeded... I read a LOT of classics. Homer when I was 8, Defoe (unabridged), Dickens. Shakespeare beginning when I was 10 or 11. Lots of 19th century best sellers (Scott, Dumas,Alcott, etc.) It's my world.

2025-04-17 21:32:07 UTC

Update on my 3 trees
The crabapple is COVERED with blossoms, but may get hit by snow tonight. The variety is Spring Snow, which is non-fruiting, so it may flower like this every year. I wonder if this variety can be a pollinator for any fruiting varieties?
The maple has fairly large buds, now, and may start producing leaves, etc. soon.
The hackberry has some visible buds but only on twigs that are very high up: 8ft+ from the ground. But at least it doesn't seem to be completely dead
#gardening
https://media.historians.social/media_attachments/files/114/355/426/102/179/724/original/861275fa5caba41b.jpg

2025-04-09 20:38:33 UTC

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Well, for one thing, (besides the subject line on every post) answers in usenet threads were usually appended (or prepended, if someone was sloppy) to the indented text of the message they were replying to. In a long discussion of a book, the title and author were very present in the text of an earlier message that was included in the current message. So there was a way to follow a discussion and know what it was about.

2025-04-09 19:38:51 UTC

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An article when the project was announced said that Skarsgard is a big Murderbot fan, and was one of the people who put the deal together and was pushing for the series to be made.

2025-04-08 21:22:22 UTC

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When I see comments about books on Mastodon, they are often boosted comments from 1 to 3 days ago.
It is difficult to have a discussion that is quite that asynchronous.
I'm trying to remember how we managed it on USENET, back in the day: I think it made a difference that the threading was better and all of the posts had titles. Less need to click back to find out what the heck people were talking about. Also there were fewer tight character limits.

2025-03-18 07:29:45 UTC

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They changed the numbering system in 2024... 24.x is later than 4.x, so you will need Linguist 1.5.1

2025-03-18 07:18:55 UTC

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It's an extension called Linguist. If your LibreOffice is 4.x or later, you want 1.5.1, not 1.5.0, which has a compatibility problem.

2025-03-17 04:51:21 UTC

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I just had LibreOffice do a "Sort words on frequency " on the WIP. Looking down the list from 'the' with 6903 occurrences plus 748 for 'The' (1st and 16th most common among 102022 words) I don't see anything that seems disproportionately common. Things may show up at the phrase and sentence level when I do a full text read, but without excessively common components I don't think they will be too bad.
#WritersCoffeeClub

2025-03-16 15:28:04 UTC

#WritersCoffeeClub Day 16: What word or phrase do you tend to overuse?
I think that I have 'actually' and 'really' under control in the WIP, at least compared to the previous volume. I'm not sure what has replaced them as needing attention. I may need to be in a different phase of editing to figure that out.
I think that in close 3rd there needs to be a balance: words I overuse need to be tweaked, but words the viewpoint character tends to overuse need to stay or the POV will be less close.

2025-03-01 04:53:47 UTC

#WritersCoffeeClub 1 How did your WIP's premise take shape?
My 2020 NaNoWriMo text was 50 K words of the beginning of a story set in what is now Franz-Karl's world. A character traveling to meet the main cast (just after the part that was written down) encountered Franz-Karl at the age of 9ish in a pivotal scene. The current WIP, Childe of Sorrows is volume 2 of exploring how Franz-Karl ended up in that scene.
Franz-Karl's youth makes him a GREAT focal character: people explain things to him.

2025-02-26 02:41:51 UTC

I have seen article claiming that #Google is going to switch to requiring use of #QRcodes (which I loathe) in order to use #gmail, sometime in the not too distant future. The other email that I have used in the past gradually became useless in recent years (I suspect Gmail of blocking smaller mail servers) so I have just finished migrating everything to my gmail address, but it looks like I now need to migrate elsewhere.
Can people recommend a reliable email service?

2025-01-14 01:35:22 UTC

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If you talk me into accepting a goal of reading X books, I will either read X+n books or spend the time doing counted cross-stitch and jigsaw puzzles... gamified tasks are counterproductive for me.

2025-01-13 23:42:12 UTC

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I'm 70, and for most of my lifetime reading enough books was not the problem: having enough books to read was the problem. Now I keep hundreds and thousands of books on the tablet I use as an ereader... and I always have plenty of books available to read. If I really wanted to know how many books I have read in a given period, I could probably pull a rough count from the tablet, but I don't care.

2025-01-10 00:29:40 UTC

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You probably do not want to use a term as obscure as YASID: only insiders will know what it means. Something generally comprehensible would be more useful. BookID? NameThisBook?

2025-01-04 20:05:45 UTC

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On Mastodon, we are the algorithm.
Besides things that matter to me personally, I have a policy of always boosting job openings and job hunting posts. I generally try to boost other posts that might useful to other readers, or where someone is looking for information in a non-annoying way, even if it is not a topic that interests me strongly.
As a former librarian I also tend to boost publication announcements unless they are very badly structured...
That's my algorithm.

2024-12-21 04:02:10 UTC

Last sunset before the solstice.
About half an hour after the sun went down behind the mountains, the clouds started glowing in these amazing colors.
https://media.historians.social/media_attachments/files/113/688/762/105/551/940/original/1bb6f4532f2e99b5.jpg

2024-12-02 09:09:07 UTC

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My sensei 40+ years ago recommended kicking an assailant hard in the kneecap and then running like hell: most people don't protect their kneecaps, it doesn't take much force to wreck them, they can't chase you with a wrecked knee, and in those days (late 70s) knee caps were not repairable.

2024-12-01 23:22:15 UTC

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I'm not sure why the asphalt granules don't sink into the clay as much as stony gravel/road base.
Density? Texture? Slight tendency to stick together?
My current driveway was rebuilt this summer and looks paved from any distance... and is partly snow-covered at the moment.

2024-11-28 07:36:32 UTC

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The question is, given the weather, do you need to wear them before Christmas

2024-11-23 01:18:21 UTC

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I think I've seen recycled concrete listed at sand and gravel companies.
Recycled asphalt is definitely a thing: my 'gravel' driveway is not paved as such, but covered with a thick layer of recycled asphalt. It drains like gravel but doesn't get swallowed by the underlying clay, and hot weather and the weight of vehicles tends to knit it together instead of kicking it up and tossing it aside as happens with regular gravel.

2024-11-22 06:44:14 UTC

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11/21/24, 21 consecutive days of writing
885 net words for the day, bringing the month's total to 19674 of the 20000 goal, where 14000 would be par for this day
New length of the text of vol 2 is 75,748 words,
#WritingMonth
Finally some progress on the start of vol 2.
Not included in the net count, I also rummaged through old NaNo texts and pulled out 2 (not mutually consistent) summaries of vol 3: one is just over 16K words, the other is just under 35K
vol 1 is at the alpha reader

2024-11-21 06:47:20 UTC

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11/20/24, 20 consecutive days of writing
445 net words for the day, bringing the month's total to 18789 of the 20000 goal, where 13333 would be par for this day
New length of the text of vol 2 is 74,863 words,
#WritingMonth
Editing and restructuring are happening that did not affect the net word count much, and I think I know in general what needs to be done to the first few chapters of vol 2

2024-11-20 06:53:40 UTC

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11/19/24, 19 consecutive days of writing
606 net words for the day, bringing the month's total to 18344 of the 20000 goal, where 12667 would be par for this day
New length of the text of vol 2 is 74,418 words,
#WritingMonth
Besides text updates for vol2,, added chapter stubs to the first half to make the flow match vol 1 better, Thinking about a major rewrite of chapter 1 and probably part of chapter 2 to make the volume transition smoother

2024-11-19 05:59:01 UTC

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11/18/24, 18 consecutive days of writing
671 net words for the day, bringing the month's total to 17738 of the 20000 goal, where 12000 would be par for this day
New length of the text of vol 2 is 73,812 words,
#WritingMonth
The printer is being uncooperative, so vol1 has not reached my alpha reader yet (she is old fashioned).
I've been poking at vol 2 to get my head back into that space. The beginning and overall structure both need major adjustments to harmonize with the current vol 1

2024-11-17 22:13:41 UTC

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11/17/24, 17 consecutive days of writing
843 net words for the day, bringing the month's total to 17067 of the 20000 goal, where 10667 would be par for this day
New length of the text is 119,311 words, 410 pages in LibreOffice writer.
The revision of volume 1 has reached the end, with 3k words and 13 days to go of what was planned. (The version the pro editor saw last spring was about 91K)
Tomorrow vol 1 goes to my alpha reader and I start propagating the changes into vol 2
#WritingMonth

2024-11-17 05:16:54 UTC

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11/16/24, 16 consecutive days of writing
1015 net words for the day, bringing the month's total to 16224 of the 20000 goal, where 10667 would be par for this day
New length of the text is 118,468 words, 407 pages in LibreOffice writer
[edited because I tweaked a few more chapters.]
#WritingMonth

2024-11-16 05:56:41 UTC

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#WritingMonth
11/15/24, 15 consecutive days of writing
1470 net words for the day, bringing the month's total to 15209 of the 20000 goal, where 10000 would be par for this day
New length of the text is 117,453 words, more than 400 pages in LibreOffice writer
I deleted whole paragraphs today and rewrote others, and my net word count is still high. I'm halfway through on days and 3/4 on my word count goal. I could probably have set a goal of 25k or 30K without too much struggle.

2024-11-15 16:36:39 UTC

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Have a picture of Nyx. Hope you feel better soon.
#CatsOfMastodon
https://media.historians.social/media_attachments/files/113/487/929/385/827/664/original/3d4536cfd015d254.jpg

2024-11-15 05:52:54 UTC

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#WritingMonth
11/14/24, 14 consecutive days of writing
696 net words for the day, bringing the month's total to 13739 of 20000, where 9333 would be par for this day
New length of the text is 115,983 words
Smoothed out the text from the last two days.
I suspect I'm going to spend the first week of December tightening things up.

2024-11-14 02:31:51 UTC

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#WritingMonth
11/13/24, 13 consecutive days of writing
1694 net words for the day, bringing the month's total to 13043 of 20000, where 8667 would be par for this day (13043 land sometime on the 20th, so I am now nearly 7 days ahead of schedule)
New length of the text is 115,287 words
I have the A to B transition mentioned yesterday roughed in, producing what's now the climax of the book, but now I need my buffers to refill, so probably some low net editing next

2024-11-13 06:28:52 UTC

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#WritingMonth
11/12/24, 12 consecutive days of writing
2196 net words for the day, bringing the month's total to 11349 of 20000, where 8000 would be par for this day (11333 would be par for the 17th, so I am running about 5 days ahead of schedule
New length of the text is 113,593 words
My MC has now completed his homework (A) and the antagonist has had confusion and destruction rain down on him.(B) My next goal is to explain coherently how A caused B. This may be a bit tricky.

2024-11-12 06:24:58 UTC

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#WritingMonth
11/11/24, 11 consecutive days of writing
751 net words for the day, bringing the month's total to 9153 of 20000, where 7333 would be par for this day
New length of the text is 111,397 words

2024-11-11 05:46:03 UTC

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#WritingMonth
11/10/24, 10 consecutive days of writing
1756 net words for the day, bringing the month's total to 8402 of 20000, where 6667 would be par for this day
New length of the text is 110,646 words
Among other larger changes. I added the wolf/goat/cabbage puzzle as an epigraph, and a brief solution as a sort of appendix. It keeps getting mentioned, and I can't assume readers know either the puzzle or the solution.

2024-11-10 06:56:17 UTC

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11/09/24, 9 consecutive days of writing
245 net words for the day, bringing the total to 6646 of 20000, where 6000 would be par for this day

2024-11-09 06:56:04 UTC

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#WritingMonth
11/08/24, 8 consecutive days of writing
198 net words for the day, bringing the total to 6401 of 20000, where 5333 would be par for this day
I gave my alpha reader the first 200 pages of the revised text. She was very enthusiastic, which was encouraging

2024-11-08 06:24:46 UTC

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#WritingMonth
11/07/24, 7 consecutive days of writing
740 net words for the day, bringing the total to 6203 of 20000, where 4667 would be par for this day
Total words in the text are now 108,447, and I just added a scene roughly at the midpoint, so the revision is progressing well

2024-11-07 05:26:26 UTC

#WritingMonth
11/05/24 11 net words, the sequence of writing days remained unbroken, but honestly, yesterday involved way more doomscrolling than editing
11/06/24, 6 consecutive days of writing
2083 net words for the day, bringing the total to 5463 of 20000, where 4000 would be par for this day

2024-10-27 04:30:42 UTC

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Check the settings, there may be a way to enable the other alarm. Sometimes the defaults are weird, or a previous tenant set the oddly. (A huge number of appliance manuals are available on-line)

2024-10-13 20:57:24 UTC

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Does not work in modern Ubuntu for the example given, because they have turned firefox into a snap

2024-09-15 18:52:10 UTC

Actually looking for distro recs.
I have a System76 laptop that was delivered with Ubuntu 22.04. The upgrade to 24.04 did NOT go well (I've been installing and using Linux since the mid-90s and I've never seen such an emphatic screen of death before. What did NVIDIA DO?)
Looks like I'm going to need to adjust the partitioning and do a parallel install from a USB stick.
Any recommendations for distros I should try instead of Ubuntu, which has gotten a bit enshittified lately?
#linux

2024-09-14 23:46:34 UTC

I have added a new member of my household. I am calling her Nyx: she is mostly black, even her whiskers, but has little constellations of white hairs in a few places. Her eyes are green.
I'll try to get some better pictures once she settles into her new home a bit more
#caturday #CatsOfMastodon
https://media.historians.social/media_attachments/files/113/138/548/056/048/382/original/7305024d5e760e99.jpg

2024-09-12 04:20:42 UTC

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Very glad you are safe. Now you need to include it in a story sometime. (I think I dimly remember that one of the causes can be sand with an upwelling current in it. Getting the eddies just right, or wrong, and the sand grains separate too much to support anything)

2024-09-03 01:41:40 UTC

Deleted my NaNoWriMo account.
I'm going to miss what they used to be, but not what they have become.
Even their merch has been going down hill the past couple of years

2024-08-31 15:03:38 UTC

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Cowboys herding dinosaurs? Git along little ceratopsian...

2024-08-25 05:55:53 UTC

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It's early enough in the season that they may still be doing practice flights and pre-migration training. Is there a nice body of water in the direction they are flying?

2024-08-22 01:15:50 UTC

The new house is complete. By the end of the month, 32 months after the Marshall Fire, the last few punch-list items will be finished.
The solar system needs an inspection, and activation on the power company side, but the construction project is done.
https://media.historians.social/media_attachments/files/113/002/967/717/762/246/original/64e4729120b26390.jpg

2024-08-15 03:18:09 UTC

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Things worked like that for more than a year...

2024-08-15 02:15:02 UTC

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The IT dept at my last gig before I retired very cleverly set things up so that the company Windows laptops everyone used would update over night. Except Windows updates always took at least 3 reboots, sometimes as many as 5, and the hard drives were encrypted, so reboots could not happen without human intervention.
Whenever IT pushed an update, everyone would find their laptops shut down, and need to restart them and then cajole the update to complete its later sections.

2024-08-10 20:13:22 UTC

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You may want to check your planned stack: I think in many cases MariaDB is the preferred fork of MySQL, and some of the newer web servers like nginx are lighter weight than apache and easier to configure unless you are doing something really fancy. php is a language, and can coexist with others on the same server. With a reasonable linux distro (or possibly even a MAC) your limitations are more likely to be storage and internet bandwidth.

2024-08-10 05:11:18 UTC

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It's also useful if your mailbox is a half mile from your house.

2024-08-03 23:55:34 UTC

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Why infiltrate? If you contact the organizers they'll probably add you to some of the official panels.
MileHiCon has had some panels like that over the years...

2024-07-18 19:26:22 UTC

Progress on my new house's landscaping: the front yard is mostly done, with the addition of an octagonal meditation labyrinth and a lot of reworking of the drainage in the front yard. The soil here is horrible clay that does not drain worth mentioning, so they had to add a french drain to carry water past the concrete ramp that leads to the front door.
https://media.historians.social/media_attachments/files/112/808/997/188/413/118/original/85d974e69b14a2f3.jpg
https://media.historians.social/media_attachments/files/112/808/997/190/872/528/original/7cb2af71997af3e9.jpg