2010-07-31

Getting things done

Filed under: Family,Games,Programming,Writing — D. Moonfire @ 21:51

One of the writers over at the Nobel Pen started asking me questions about DocBook 5, mainly because I’m doing so much with the `mfgames-writing-python` toolchain. It was nice being a somewhat knowledgeable source for stuff, but they were doing relatively simple stuff and it didn’t really push the limits of my skills. Still, nice to be considered. Speaking of the toolchain, it is moving around quite nicely. I got it so it will be idempotent while converting between Creole and DocBook formats. I also made it easy to create converters for DocBook and other text-based formats, like Markdown. It also now converts subject terms into DokuWiki tags, something I use fairly heavily.

Beyond the programming and working on a commission, I’ve just been doing “life” thing. Fluffy’s car broke down and we had to return it to get it fixed right. They are keeping it over a few days, so we are down to one car again. *sigh* At least it isn’t anything really critical.

I also got a chance to play the demo for Revenge of the Titans, a RTS tower defense game. I actually liked it; I normally like TD games but I haven’t really warmed up to RTS games. This one… I could enjoy. They have a special right now, 50% off ($13) for pre-ordering and I decided to pick it up. Amazing how many fun games you can get for under $20.

2010-07-26

The showers have ended

Filed under: Family,Friends,Programming,Writing — D. Moonfire @ 18:13

It was an interesting weekend. Fluffy and I went back to Illinois for the second (and last) baby shower. We got back pretty late on Sunday with a car full of pastels, an exhausted dog, and a $100 electric bill.

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2010-07-19

A Good Weekend

Filed under: Games,Programming,Writing — D. Moonfire @ 17:59

Pretty good weekend, I would have to say. And it wasn’t doing everything I planned on doing. I played a lot of games, wrote a good chapter, and rewrote part of my writing tool chain. Oh, and cleaned the house.

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2010-07-12

Python + Perl

Filed under: Programming — D. Moonfire @ 23:54

No, I’m not interesting in finding out the One True Programming Language™. After talking to my dad two weekends ago, I decided to give Python another chance and see if I could get over the purely mental hangups I had over it. Most languages are just syntax for me, just a matter of putting the braces and letters in the right place, do you use “&&” or do you use “and”?

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2010-02-21

A writing bump in the road

Filed under: Programming,Writing — Tags: — D. Moonfire @ 00:02

Got chapter four critiqued at Nobel Pen this week. It wasn’t what I would call really good and I seem to be having a bit of trouble getting over it. There was good advice in there, but some of it made me wonder if I’m somehow doing the wrong thing. Like missing the point or somehow creating a story with potential that never really goes anywhere. I think Wind, Bear, and Moon was in there, but I’m getting hints that Flight of the Scions might also. Its frustrating, because I really haven’t figured out what I’m doing ungood to make this story spark.

In a different part of writing, I got a short story out on Friday. The reading period ended that day, so I’m hoping that they meant 23:59:59 instead of “end of the work day”. Oh well, nothing ventured, nothing gained. It’s an okay story, not what I would call great at this point, but it could be the shadow of the critique speaking.

It is amazing how fragile I can get from opinions of my writing. I think it makes sense, since we (writers) seem to put so much of ourselves into our writing. It will be a good story when I finish, just need to get there.

One of the technical side is I decided to learn Git at the same time I polish up my writing toolchains (series of programs that work together). So, I created a git repository for mfgames-writing toolchain which will have the various programs I use to write. Right now, I only have the beginning of mfgames-docbook for converting from DocBook 5 XML files to PDF. Eventually, it will include HTML, ePUB, BBCode, ODF, and text. I’m going to also add a few other programs, like the Creole version.

Update: Fixed link, renamed things.

2010-02-07

Writing productivity

Filed under: Programming,Writing — D. Moonfire @ 16:04

Wow, I’ve had a very interesting day yesterday. It mostly involved me sitting on the bed (my current favorite writing spot) and working on the second round edits for my commission. I got it down and sent out, which is always a rush because I just absolutely love writing “END” at the bottom and meaning it.

I also worked on getting MG ready for eBooks. Yes, it is at the end of its effective life of being a niche novel with a small reader base, but print on demand (POD) gives me the chance to keep it out there, long after it is no longer commercially viable. Plus, I get the chance of learning how to do typesetting and enjoying all those little technical details about creating books I don’t exactly get as a writer.

I hate when books disappear. I’ve been trying to get copies of some of my favorite novels for years but for some reason don’t want to spend $80 for a banged up copy. I’d rather give the original author a few more dollars for the work they put into it. Traditional publishing might not allow that, except for the evergreens and classics. So, I went with POD for MG (and now eBooks). Someone might want it in a few years, so might as well keep it out there. Creating an eBook is something I’m willing to do, because it doesn’t take that much effort once you have the original manuscript.

Me keeping MG alive is much like my reviews. I write the reviews that I want to get. I keep MG up because I would love it if other publishing companies would do the same. No, it won’t make them do it, but if I’m not willing to do it myself, how could I ask anyone else to? I already know I’d pay for a POD book that I remember from my past, or one that simply doesn’t show up on the shelf anymore. Same with eBooks. Doesn’t mean you have to advertise them to avoid diluting the new novels, but I’d still like it to be out there.

But, time to work on the new again. I owe Noble Pen chapter three by tonight, so between doing cleaning, accounting, taxes, and ripping DVD’s, I need to clean up chapters one through three and get it posted.

The rest of this is about the technical side of my writing.

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2009-12-14

Web convergance

Filed under: Programming — Tags: , — D. Moonfire @ 01:12

Spent a rather large time today working on my Simple Notes theme for websites. Still has a few rough edges, like not embedding the fonts and some interface quirks, but otherwise it looks pretty good.

It is frustrating doing website themes. Right now, I use WordPress, DokuWiki, MantisBT, and Simple Machines Forum. Each of these has an entirely different way of skinning their application but I want each of them to have a common “look and feel” with the least amount of work. But, things don’t work that way. If I really wanted a nice, consistent look and feel, I pretty much have to do the same theme five or six times. One for each application and also my initial static page.

Call it the programmer in me, but I hate repeating code. I keep looking for a library or platform or framework where I can create this theme one and have it applied to everything. But, instead I’m struggling with using a metaphysical crowbar to jam everything together, copying code over and over. Which makes it a nightmare when I realize I missed something and have to copy that fix across six different versions.

While working on Rough Blue, I started created a PHP template library that worked across all those applications. It is still rough, but every time I hit a road block, I look for some other smarter person who already did it.

Haven’t found that person. Or that library.

Oh well, I’m happy with it so far. If I keep using my WTF library (or figure out how to get client-side XSLT to work without crashing Firefox), I might see if it can help someone else.

2009-12-12

And, this should be the end…

Filed under: Education,Family,Programming — D. Moonfire @ 23:04

My last class is finally over. That last little essay (got a bit cocky though) got finished somewhere in the middle of the week. I’m already approved for graduation, and I got a 98% score according to the online course. So, that should give me a 3.9 GPA for my master’s program.

Given that, and ignoring my irrational fear that I somehow missed a class, I’m completely done with college. I probably won’t go on to the doctorate program at all. Instead, I’m going to focus on something more enjoyable.

Like fiction writing.

Haven’t gotten much of it in the last few days though. Work is winding up for a deadline next Friday and hopefully there won’t be any overtime this time. We also had a pretty impressive snow storm and a nastier set of confusion. The snow removal guy never showed up, so I had to shovel the 20-30 inches worth of snow myself.

Yeah, whine, whine. Still did it and I wasn’t even that sore for more than a day. We are also watching one of Fluffy’s co-workers Lab puppy for the week. It has been… interesting. I keep forgetting that some dogs consider horking up a tug rope as a sign of affection.

I’m still working on that website design probably for the rest of the weekend. Fluffy is working on her own designs since she needs to brush up on her skills. And, for some reason, I really struggle to teach her programming; we live well together, but we don’t exactly work well together.

I’m also hoping this means the three people who read this will actually see more posts.

2009-12-08

An impressively busy week

Filed under: Education,Family,Programming,Writing — Tags: , , , — D. Moonfire @ 13:21

’tis the season for lots of change.

I finished my final paper for my masters on Sunday. While I hate it with a passion–it isn’t my best work–the instructor seemed pretty happy with it in the draft a week before. I have one last short paragraph to write and I should finally be done with college. I even paid my tuition last week, so I could actually graduate.

Looking forward to starting new projects soon. I decided to hold off on the programming for a little bit and just work on novels for the rest of the year. Yeah, those plans will last. But, I’m looking forward to just… writing.

And a little web design since I’m trying to make a little site for a friend. It isn’t perfect, but I’m liking how it turns out so far. Haven’t gotten much feedback on it, to be honest, so I’m going to just assume it is awesome and let people quietly snigger behind my back.

Yesterday, I finally got back to the .NET user group meeting that my co-worker runs. Got a chance to see some pretty little libraries out there and won book in the raffle. Always fun.

On Thursday, I’m going to try out the local writer’s group and see if it would fit my personality. Once a month, but if I want to be a good writer, I need to take myself a bit more seriously.

Finally, Fluffy got her Christmas/holiday gift last week. It was down to a year subscription of People magazine or me going to the gym with her twice a week for a few months. I bet you can guess which one she got? Yeah, her subscription star… never mind. Tonight is session four at the gym. It isn’t a habit and I feel so pathetic since I can’t keep up, but I’m persistent so I’ll get it sooner or later. It works out since my co-workers pretty much stopped walking with me at lunch.

I won’t get under 136 kg pounds by the end of the year like I hoped. I should be within 5 kg pounds of it though. According to Weight Watchers last night, I’m at 140 kg, so I’m within that goal. Going to try making that different as small as possible in the next few weeks.

2009-11-15

Multiclassing

Filed under: Games,Programming,Writing — D. Moonfire @ 17:09

In the last week or so, I found a gaming group that is semi-local to let me at least fill some of my RPG cravings. They play Pathfinder and Dungeons and Dragons 4e. Not really into 4e, just goes a bit too far into tactical for my own preferences, but I decided to join the Pathfinder games. It looks like most of them are part of the Pathfinder Society (like RPGA), so I joined that just because it seemed to make things easier.

Creating characters, I noticed something. I really like multi-classing. First character concept? Paladin/Monk combat medic. Second? Sorcerer/Rogue. The third and fourth weren’t much better. I know multiple classes in Pathfinder/D&D 3e is not “optimal” for pure survival reasons, but I feel straight-jacketed by specializing.

This seems to be true for real life also. I’m not specialized in my primary profession. I can’t say I know databases, web, or GUI better than others. I’m just a good developer and a fairly decent architect. In my personal life, I keep trying to tell myself to focus on “just writing” or “just programming”, but no matter how much I try, I keep end up wanting to do both.

It isn’t optimal.

I’m not going to say it is wrong. If my own goal was to be a “great writer”, this isn’t the most efficient way of doing it. Same for writing computer games. But, it is also pretty obvious that, at this point in time, it isn’t going to change. So, I’ll be happy with my Writer 4/Programmer 11 for now.

Though, I’ll admit, I do feel a bit of envy for those all those Writer 15 running around.

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