got my fever down

 journal, writing life  2 Responses »
Sep 032009
 

Yesterday, I popped in to a pre-auction inspection. As if I have the money to buy property!1 As if I have the money to buy this particular property! As if I could ever have the know-how to make a bid at an auction or negotiate the tangled thicket that is the purchasing of property — or wrap my head around the very concept of owning land, for that matter.

Rank foolishness.

Said property is less than 5 minutes walk from work, however, and thus it continues to haunt my brain.

In writing news…I think I've converted to Scrivener.

I know this not because I've started using Scrivener in preference to Word for my first drafts (which I have been doing, on and off (more on than off) for the last however long lately), but because over the weekend I took the plunge and actually handed over money for the program. Me! Hand over money for software!2 It must be commitment.

I'm not sure what made me switch, in the end. Probably a whole host of little things which just add up to a far smoother first-drafting experience, because to be honest I haven't even started using the corkboard or outliner in any depth. But I'm loving the typewriter scrolling feature which keeps my text at eye level instead of at the bottom of the screen, and the way everything from notes to pictures to previous drafts is all in the one window.3

But d'you realise what this means? This means I can never go back to a PC. (Or at least, I can never go back to "just" PC.) I HAVE ASSIMILATED. :shock:

  1. Hush, I know no one ever has the money to buy property and everyone borrows from banks and thus the world continues to turn, its impetus fuelled by debt…but you know what I mean. [↩]
  2. I know it doesn't cost much, but that is decidedly beside the point. [↩]
  3. And no, having it neatly organised in Explorer/Finder does not count as having it all in the one window. This is quicker. And definitely betterer. I speak as one who has spent years trying, and jettisoning in favour of Windows/Finder, software designed to keep writing notes organised for me. [↩]

moving, precious, we does not like it

 journal  2 Responses »
Feb 112009
 

Pray for me, Internets, for I have discovered the wonders of Delicious Library 2. Seriously, it's software like this that makes me delirious to own a Mac.

Using the MacBook's inbuilt iSight camera and this software, I have catalogued some 200+ books, some 300+ CDs, and about 100 DVDs. All in the space of a couple of hours, total. (The DVDs were the slowest part of the process, because none of the Amazon stores really stock Australian DVDs. I anticipate the VHS tapes to be even more slower.)

the switch, extended

 journal  6 Responses »
Jan 262009
 

I know, I know, I said I wouldn't bore you all with details of the switch from pc to mac, but secretly, I know you're dying to know whether I've lost all my teeth from frustration.

Surprisingly…not. In fact, I think I might even be smitten.

There have been problems, naturally. Excel is not exactly rubbish on a Mac, but it's not far from it. It certainly doesn't support as much functionality as the Windows version; I've had to import all my spreadsheets via Google Docs.

Then there were all the Mac "quirks" that I can't stand: the irrepressible start-up sound, for example, and the way hibernation is supported, but impossible to apply manually. Luckily, my Google-fu proved strong enough, and I have muted the startup sound and found a way to manually select hibernation.

I did use a Microsoft Access database to track everything to do with my manuscripts, which for the moment has been downgraded to a spreadsheet, because I've yet to find a freeware equivalent to Access for the Mac platform. Which brings me to the one thing I really, truly miss about the Windows environment: freeware. There's just not so much of it for the Mac, and what little there is rapidly evolves into shareware nagware. Less than ideal.

On the whole, though, I'm happy with my new computer. It's just far less fuss than operating in the Windows environment.

And apparently the anodised aluminium case tastes pretty good, too, because I cannot stop the cat from trying to lick it.

spawn has a kiwi accent

 journal  5 Responses »
Dec 262008
 

There's a possibility I might emerge, if not unscathed, at least relatively intact, from the operating-system-switch.

Excel proved very traumatic, as the Mac version tries valiantly but in vain to open the files I created in Windows. I use Excel all the time to track manuscript changes, revisions, word/page counts per scene, character placement and action per scene. In other words, Excel is the brain that is capable of holding the whole novel in one place, unlike my actual brain.

Thank the powers that be for GoogleDocs, which I think I can use to strip all the Windows-only functions from my spreadsheets. The Mac seems to cope with GoogleDoc exported spreadsheets just dandy.

I also found a lot of the files I thought I lost (although not in time to save my iTunes ratings and playcounts; thankfully I found an Applescript which recovered probably 80% of them).

And now that I can see a light at the end of the tunnel, I think I like my MacBook. Leopard is a very nice, distinctly unflappable operating system. And I promise I shall attempt not to bore you all any more with details of the switch.

In proper writing news, after a last visit to the post office all the competition prize books have been posted. Domestic winners should receive them within a week; international within…actually, I forgot to ask. Let's say a fortnight to be safe. If your book doesn't arrive, please to be letting me know!

macbook!

 journal  9 Responses »
Dec 242008
 

I am typing this post on a brand new, shiny MacBook.

I won't trouble you all with a photo (mainly because, um, I haven't dug the camera cord out of the old PC yet), but suffice to say, oh, my, she is pretty. So very, very pretty.

A long time ago, when my brother first set up the home network, he had a theme of Greek Gods for naming the computers. I've always gone with a sub-theme of Greek Goddesses. The old desktop (may she rest in peace (actually, may my brother be able to resurrect her, because despite all that backing up there's still some files missing (moral: you are never as backed up as you think you are)))1 was called Nike. The Dell laptop is Nyx.

In honour of the operating system wars, the new MacBook shall henceforth be named Nemesis.

Now, if you'll excuse me, I have a whole new operating system to learn. And keyboard shortcuts. I am slowly but surely conquering the Command/Control muscle memory, but so far I totally fail at navigating the application menu by keyboard. Where oh where is my Windows-Alt functionality?

  1. bet you never thought i'd escape out of all those clauses intact, eh? [↩]

the leopard approacheth…

 journal, writing life  9 Responses »
Dec 212008
 

The reformat has hit a snag. Of the "machine won't boot at all any more" variety. Er…oops?

It was all going so well, until I made the apparently foolish mistake of updating the system drivers, as microsoft requested. I should have known better, eh? I didn't realise it was possible to achieve the blue screen of death on a fresh, uncorrupted install. Not only did I achieve the blue screen of death, I've taken it a step further and trapped the desktop in a pre-boot failing cycle. I suspect this is because XP triggered an automatic restart after installing one driver, not quite realising it had simultaneously moved on to installing the next driver and wasn't finished that yet.

So I have admitted defeat: a new computer it is.

And because I don't want to fight with Microsoft any more (Vista? No thanks!), and because I don't quite trust myself with Linux yet (I'd probably spend all my time tweaking system configurations instead of, you know, writing)… there is a brand new MacBook on her way to me.