Time for a journey

Posted on November 10, 2011 by James Ashman

Well today is my last day in California. Tomorrow morning I head on on a drive across America, to a new place to live. A new coast. Someone such as I, who has been out of CA a total of 6 weeks in my life, and over a month of those weeks under the age of 10, finally leaving the state I grew up in. And good riddance. Drastic changes are fine by me. I think I’ve had enough of CA and what it’s had to offer over the years.

And who knows what’ll come of this. Maybe good, maybe bad, but still no worse, still the possibility of better. And with effort, you can only make things better.

I do hope to start writing seriously again, to get a new schedule down, a new way of working through life. And hopefully, a significantly enhanced amount of joy.

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Tethering and a Floor

Posted on October 31, 2011 by James Ashman

Selling my bed today, ain’t that great!

Nope, cause it means it’s gonna be really hard to get through the next 4 nights. The past night I slept on just a mattress, off the box spring, so floor/mattress, and it was extremely uncomfortable. I didn’t know the box spring would have that much of an impact, but it does, even if the mattress is good. I’ll just have to make due till I move out Friday and stay with some friends for a while. No getting on the road yet. Which doesn’t sound that bad anymore.

Turns out I get relatively decent internet through my phone’s connection, so a bit of tethering on a main computer is working out fine, though it’s not perfect or very reliable in this regard. It means I’ve also made sure to fully watch and read just about everything I have left. I’m planning on making tomorrow as much of a ready to go day as possible. Though I leave Friday, I want to be completely ready to go Tomorrow or Wednesday. Once the bed is gone, I’ll be quite a bit closer to that. I’ve more or less able to see what I have left and what I’ll be packing or throwing out. It looks like I’ve got a lot of books already in some boxes, and I’ll hold onto those. Some old stuff will be thrown out, and it looks like it shouldn’t be too much work to actually finish up. Unfortunately there are some items I don’t have the ability to either sell or get rid of, so as bad as it is, I’ll leave them for the apartment managers to dispose of. I’d have to pay to dump them or transport them anyways, so its fine to know they’ll take another part of the deposit like that.

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Where oh where

Posted on October 27, 2011 by James Ashman

Has my internet gone? Well, still here, but it’ll be gone tomorrow. It’s definitely been a while since I’ve gone any length of time without constant internet access on a main computer.

Now I’ll have a week without much more than a tethered connection, and even after that for a week or two, a connection that I wouldn’t use much, and then probably a week after that, a real connection again. So up to a month… possibly. I’m gonna fall behind on several things to watch, that’s for sure, though it doesn’t matter that much.

Time to read and write and see some things I’ve got put aside. As well as getting everything I have either trashed or packed. Might have a buyers for 1 of the 2 pieces of furniture I have left that I really need to get rid of that I can’t just throw away, so there’s another thing down. But this might make a few more things harder to do. Just gotta work with what I have.

Next post’s from a laptop, I guess.

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Poem anew, for a past life Va’il knew

Posted on October 25, 2011 by James Ashman

A forgotten wound
Did scorn my haste
Laughter and tears
Remorse and hate

And the picture painted
So long uncovered
That life remembered
Might continue forever

And realization, odd
Through a new life told
Did strike the pond
That was her heart of gold

So covered it went
With a smile and tear
To be remembered
When only the next end drew near

– Va’il, several years after the events of the first Together with Silver trilogy.

Should it ever be completed on paper, rather than in mind, his own thoughts I’ll have to come up with. For the story goes on much longer than most. The first book may be a bit more childish than the rest. It can be sad to think, what’ll eventually have to be written. But as Va’il himself will know, certain things have to happen, and have to end. And there will be new beginnings with that.

Just the rambling of thoughts, as ideas are coming again. Remembering certain things, expanding plots here and there before I read and reread again and again. My head is much, much clearer than it was last week. Before there was usually this wall in my head, keeping any kind of real focus from coming about. But now it flows. Fingers and words, they run and think and arrive in mind, and even on paper. Spur of the moment, long and drawn out. Sentimental where needed, serious throughout. And yet there is more to come, so much I’ll need to do. The words keep singing, and it’s wonderful. I have a feeling next week will be pretty crazy, considering I’ll have no internet to rely on.

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A small break.

Posted on October 20, 2011 by James Ashman

Today I woke up. At the time I woke up. And then went back to sleep till it was the real time to wake up. It’s good to no longer have to wake up at a horrendously evil time, before 7 AM even, to get to work at 7. Yesterday was much more tiring than expected. I did get off my job early, but had to go deliver some computers to a guy who was taking them off my hands, get something from the store, deposit my final paycheck, etc. Ended up getting back home later than if I had worked! But now, a small break.

Which will probably not last that long. Already going through the first steps of the next thing I’ll do, which is to help out somedaybox, write again, marketing and promotions, finish getting my place ready to leave, etc.

So as part of that: Kindle formatting. I’ve written a couple books, I’ve got a Kindle, and Joel + Sue have written books and put them on Kindle, done the editing, etc. With the experience we’ve all got at it now, Spinhead, another portion of the business, will be offering a formatting service, to make sure any Kindle projects appear correctly for someone who’s self-publishing. Formatting was one of those things that once I figured out once for the first book, I saved templates and other stuff so the next books would work with it. It can definitely be a pain to get right. One of the things that I don’t look forward to as a writer, especially one that does everything, is the after-writing editing, formatting, and further refinements. It can take months to make sure it’s done correctly, once all your thoughts and ideas are on paper.

Dreaded, but it’s still pretty rewarding to do.

Speaking of which, I’ve even gotta go read my own books over again. Probably two or three times before I can start writing again, so I can get a feel for what my story is and return to it. A little daunting, but it’ll be fine. First though, make sure the small break is taken, though kept short.

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