TechnicDragon: Blog

It's funny what will influence someone to do what they've already set out to do but lack enough motivation to finish. I lack motivation under normal circumstances. I don't know why. Right now though, I'm highly motivated.

My motivation: the internet bill is due.

So, I've been spending a lot of time writing. I haven't sent anything to my editors. I've only churned out chapter after chapter, in an effort to get as much done as possible because I'd like to post what I have before the internet goes down again.

The only reason I'm mentioning this is because of all the problems I've told you about and the one issue I haven't mentioned. That issue is my health. No, I'm not dying, but my asthma has been acting up a LOT. In fact, I've gone through two inhalers and ten full doses of Albuterol breathing treatments in the last month. For those who have asthma, you'll know just how much that is. Now I'm sitting here, typing this while fighting off another attack, knowing I don't have the money to get more meds. I'm drinking coffee. Something some people proclaim helps, but since I already drink coffee, tea, sodas, and so many other caffeine laced liquids, I seriously doubt it will be of any benefit.

So, now that my rant is out of the way, I'm letting everyone know that I don't know if and/or when I'll be posting anymore. I'll continue writing, but getting online is the issue. (I've reduced my status with the fire department to 'reserve' because of the problems I've had this summer --- severe pink eye in both eyes that blinded me for two weeks and left me unable to focus in the sun for a month after, and now my asthma). It's not that I'm not welcome up there, but going in only to get on the net is just rude.

I hope everyone's summer has been better than mine (I'm sure most have!) and I'll be back sooner or later to finish posting Sibling Magus and my planned second half to that story. Thank you for reading.

TD

Okay, I've recollected all the documents and chapters from my archived emails. I've also copied all of that to Google Drive, that way should I have another failure, all of the files will be there waiting for retrieval.

I've continued writing. Chapter 7 was done and I had sent copies to some of the folks who helped me out with donations. Chapter 8 was where I was having some problems. It was supposed to end the day for Seth, but is now taking things in a different direction than originally planned for this segment. It won't dramatically affect the rest of the story, but the change got my creative juices flowing. It's also going to add one or two more chapters to the story.

All-in-all, I should have those new chapters done in the next day and everything sent to my "army" of editors.

TD

Normally I wouldn't post about this but everyone needs to know. I woke up today to find out that one of my hard drives has died. The hard drive in question (I have three of them) contains all of my story files: the research, the compiled workups on characters, groups, etc, and the story files themselves.

Fortunately, I can at least retrieve copies of the story files and some of the compiled data from Gmail. I've sent copies to my editors so they have a better overall picture of the backstories and such and can help with any inconsistencies in the story line. I rarely delete emails in Gmail (prefer to archive) and this is one time I'm glad they offer that option. However, I'll have to start over on the chapters I've been working on.

My biggest qualm with this is the loss of my music. Almost 90 gigs. My last backup of music was almost 3 years ago. I've accumulated a lot since then. I listen to music while writing, while drawing, while... well everything. So, that is a big loss to me.

I'm already looking to replace the drive and any donations or help anyone is willing to offer is welcome.

For those tech savy people out there, here's what I've done and why I've come to the conclusion that the drive has died...

When I woke up and got on my computer, I had indicators that something was wrong with the drive. Normally, I run my computer all the time. So, I go to explorer and the drive wasn't even listed. I tried to do a normal restart but the computer locked up while the windows logo was displayed. The BIOS listed the drive as connected. I attempted to run windows repair disc but again the system locked up at the windows logo. I removed the drive and restarted the computer. It's working normally. I have external SATA-2-USB cable set which includes power (I've used it on other drives successfully), so I connected the drive to the computer that way and got no response at all. Currently the drive is sitting in the Freezer (just put it there about an hour before this post). I'm planning on leaving it there overnight and try to connect it externally again tomorrow. Other suggestions are welcome.

Drive specs: Western Digital model WD5000AACS. SATA connection, 500.0 GB, LBA 976773168

I received the replacement video card today. It's installed and everything looks good. I'll put it through some paces tonight just to make sure there aren't other issues in the system too.

TD

I've finished chapter 7 and have written a lot for chapters 8 & 9. I'm hoping to finish those today, as well as (possibly) chapter 10 before sending them off to editors for corrections.

Ordered my replacement video card. From what I've seen in the tracking number, it could be delivered tomorrow, maybe Tuesday at the latest. Again, thank you for the donations.

TD