Writing On The Go
I still do most of my writing at my desk on a desktop computer. Lately, though, I've been considering getting a portable device so that I can write wherever I happen to be. The choices are numerous and continue to expand.
First off, I should describe the not-so-current system and devices I have now. For those with all the newest gadgets, you may need to hold your nose and roll your eyes at my "setup."
The desktop is an Intel Velocity Micro Edge Z40 running Windows 7 with a 250GB SSD drive, a number of external drives and a 21" HD monitor. Not flashy, but stable and gets the job done. The very few problems I've had were handled superbly by my favorite local PC store, MPC Electronics in Chula Vista, CA.
http://www.mpcelectronics.com/home.php
I bucked the Apple bandwagon (favored by my iPhone spouse) and use an older model LG smart phone (identical to the Galaxy 5). Works for me.
I also have a Lenova Windows 8.1 tablet that I never really got comfortable using. The detachable keyboard and wireless mouse worked fine, but other connections for HDMI, USB, microUSB, etc were poorly placed which quickly became irritating. The Windows 8.1 touchscreen was also difficult to manage and maddeningly vague about how to navigate it. Okay, so some of that is from my own inexperience with touch screen tablets. I hoped the Lenova would help me get over that, but it didn't. When the battery utterly failed, that was the end.
Since the main reason for getting a second device is to write in places other than at my desk, I considered getting a small, inexpensive wireless laptop that I could use anywhere. There are any number of those and I may still wind up settling on one of them. As a secondary desire, I am very interested in checking out the now available Windows 10. I could use the laptop to get comfortable with the new operating system before trying to upgrade my PC. In other words, I'm not going to screw up my PC by attempting to upgrade the OS to Win 10 until I really knew I could do it safely.
I dug deeper, looking to see what else is out there that might fit my needs. I came across this recent article:
http://www.pcworld.com/article/2911098/computers/mini-pc-invasion-10-radically-tiny-computers-that-fit-in-the-palm-of-your-hand.html
The PC World article reviews 14 tiny devices that are fully functional computers. Looking through all fourteen, it was the last one on the list that got my attention. The Asus Vivo Stick fits in the palm of your hand, has all the connections you could want, and it runs Windows 10. It's not yet released, but the projected price is $129. I could use the keyboard from the Lenova and connect to any screen with an HDMI connection.
http://www.cnet.com/products/asus-vivo-stick-pc
I want it. Let me know if you use similar devices or know of other good ways to write on the go.
Wednesday, October 14, 2015
Saturday, October 10, 2015
Talking with an Agent
Talking with an Agent
Wow! I'm so excited I can barely contain myself. Yesterday I pitched my novel, "The Majik of Spark," to an agent. A real literary agent! I was so nervous I knew I'd forget my pitch. I had a pile of paper notes to keep track of what I wanted to say, though I know I should have memorized it.
Wait. Maybe I should back up a bit. An apology first for disappearing for the last seven months. It's been that long since my last post. That was in March, after I attended the Southern California Writer’s Conference. I had a lot of lofty plans after the conference. In hindsight, I'm okay I didn't get to many of them. Instead, I focused on making the novel better. Not long after the March conference I began to realize my "finished" novel was really more like just the latest version. I kept finding issues in my read throughs, and my wonderful editor, Deb, was put through the ringer fixing grammatical errors and other missteps. I lost count of how many versions we went through before I really felt like it was DONE.
Back to the present. Yesterday, 9 Oct 2015, I went to the San Diego Writers Workshop. This is an intense, one day workshop hosted by San Diego Writer's, Ink. The key reason I went is that the conference offered sessions with real literary agents where I could pitch the book. Out of the many agents available, there were two who represented sci-fi and fantasy works. The sessions are short - ten minutes. The idea is to get practice pitching our work, learn that agents aren't ogres and that they are just as excited meeting us writers as we are to meet them.
One of the agents liked my pitch enough to ask me to submit the first 25 pages of the book. Literary agents see hundreds of pitches and read thousands of query letters from novel toting writers trying to get their books published. Nearly all are rejected. So this is a big step, but I have to remind myself it is only one step.
What happens now? I'll write a query letter. In addition to the 25 pages I'll send a synopsis (a 1-2 page summary of the entire book). She asked that I add the word "Requested" in the query letter, which gets my submission out of the slush pile of other query letters and directly into her hands. I can't ask anymore than that. But I can hope.
PS - If you don't know who this is, this is Charlie Bell. My pen name is J Walker Bell.
Wow! I'm so excited I can barely contain myself. Yesterday I pitched my novel, "The Majik of Spark," to an agent. A real literary agent! I was so nervous I knew I'd forget my pitch. I had a pile of paper notes to keep track of what I wanted to say, though I know I should have memorized it.
Wait. Maybe I should back up a bit. An apology first for disappearing for the last seven months. It's been that long since my last post. That was in March, after I attended the Southern California Writer’s Conference. I had a lot of lofty plans after the conference. In hindsight, I'm okay I didn't get to many of them. Instead, I focused on making the novel better. Not long after the March conference I began to realize my "finished" novel was really more like just the latest version. I kept finding issues in my read throughs, and my wonderful editor, Deb, was put through the ringer fixing grammatical errors and other missteps. I lost count of how many versions we went through before I really felt like it was DONE.
Back to the present. Yesterday, 9 Oct 2015, I went to the San Diego Writers Workshop. This is an intense, one day workshop hosted by San Diego Writer's, Ink. The key reason I went is that the conference offered sessions with real literary agents where I could pitch the book. Out of the many agents available, there were two who represented sci-fi and fantasy works. The sessions are short - ten minutes. The idea is to get practice pitching our work, learn that agents aren't ogres and that they are just as excited meeting us writers as we are to meet them.
One of the agents liked my pitch enough to ask me to submit the first 25 pages of the book. Literary agents see hundreds of pitches and read thousands of query letters from novel toting writers trying to get their books published. Nearly all are rejected. So this is a big step, but I have to remind myself it is only one step.
What happens now? I'll write a query letter. In addition to the 25 pages I'll send a synopsis (a 1-2 page summary of the entire book). She asked that I add the word "Requested" in the query letter, which gets my submission out of the slush pile of other query letters and directly into her hands. I can't ask anymore than that. But I can hope.
PS - If you don't know who this is, this is Charlie Bell. My pen name is J Walker Bell.
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