Inkabout L. Darby Gibbs

Science Fiction & Fantasy author

What I’m (th)Inkingabout

Advice: Back up your computer

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There are some things you should just do:  floss your teeth (at least the ones you want to keep, according to a dentist I used to know), cleanse your face of all makeup before you go to bed (thanks, mom), mean it when you say your sorry (self explanatory), exercise at least three times a week (just to stay in a holding pattern), be yourself (do you really want to be loved for something you are not?) and BACK UP YOUR COMPUTER.

BACK UP YOUR COMPUTER!

I have two computers: one is my working computer that contains all my lesson plans and teaching stuff.  The other is my home computer which has my writing life.  Both are absolutely essential to me.  Sure I have hard copies of everything, but I don’t want to have to retype it all.  So I use a little external hard drive to back up my main hard drive.  Of course, it is only hooked up when I am backing things up.  There are numerous such devices available.  Mine is a WD Passport with bunches of gigabites on it, and it’s tiny.

I routinely back up my two systems so I needed it to be easy to manage.  It’s pretty simple to work the function of running the back up, and it can be set up two ways: auto and manual.  For some reason my laptop doesn’t like it when the Passport is set to automatically access the drive.  So I removed the auto backup software and do it manually, which is just like using a thumb drive.  Open it up, and drag and drop the whole drive into it.  My home computer manages the auto access well. So I handle things differently, letting the software determine what has changed and needs to be backed up.  Either way, I get my work safely saved to a second drive, and I have less to fear about losing my hard work.

Tuesday prompt: #30 2012

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Today you will describe something in detail.  Pick something on your desk or think back on a favorite toy, your first car, the dinner your ordered at a favorite restaurant or the worst pizza you had at a bowling alley in some hokey town you passed through late one night.  Get deep into describing it.  Work it over and over, removing, adding, choosing precise wording.  Don’t stop until you have covered everything.  Then determine the focus and cut to the most profound of your imagery.

Paper holder taking up space on the desktop?

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Since I scribble my notes on anything at hand, I tend to have a variety of paper sizes and weights to work with when I am transferring my notes to my computer.  Those papers without much stiffness just drape over when I prop them up.  My standard desk paper holder also takes up too much room, and I have had to add a clip to the side because the fan keeps making the paper wiggle and fly about.  And it takes up just as much room when not in use as when in use.

Then my mother-in-law gave me a Page-up dingus.  It looks like a little more than half an egg, that has a flat side, sitting on the flat side, and takes the same amount of room as an egg sitting on the flat side.  There is a curved cut in the top where you set the paper.  Since my phone, mouse, glasses, camera, notebook, etc. also take up room on my desk, this tiny thing is perfect.

You might think the fan would have the same effect, but you would be wrong. The curve creates a stiffness that keeps the paper in place. 

I am in no way affiliated with the creators, makers, or sellers of this thing. I just like it.

End of the Month of July Sale at Smashwords

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The last days to purchase my book at Smashwords are here.  

Anybody who knows me knows I hate this stuff.  But if I didn’t mention again that my books are on sale at Smashwords (half price, making each just .99) and one can download them in any of the popular formats for ereaders and computer eBook readers, I will be berating myself in a few days.

I can just hear it now, “Really, you couldn’t plug your books just once more.  It is not like you have been creating traffic jambs on the internet with your broadcasting efforts to sell your book.  One time really?”

It wouldn’t be pleasant. So, one more time: I have two books, In Times Passed, a time travel novel that can stand alone from the series it begins, and Gardens in the Cracks & Other Stories, an anthology of short science fiction stories.  See my books page on this blog or follow the links for details.

Really one dollar.

What do I want in the books that I read & write

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I am at the beginning of redrafting my second book in my Students of Jump series.  In the process, I started thinking about what it is I like about the books I like to read.  Knowing that will help me make sure my book has those qualities.  So what is it that holds my attention when I read a science fiction novel?

1. depth of humanity:  I like my characters to show their fears, joys, fellowship to other characters
2.  activity:  I don’t mind a lull especially after a heavy action or emotional scene, but I don’t want the lulls to last too long, and they must have purpose.
3.  well-developed characters that I can sympathize with even if I don’t like them.  I understand why they are doing what they are doing.
4. humor:  life always has moments of humor, and I want any stories I read to have it, too.  Silly moments, puns, laugh instead of cry, etc.
5.  emotional involvement: some catharsis for at least the main character
6. connection to other characters:  relationships that show the main character has family, friends, co-workers, enemies, pets.  I don’t like when they exist in isolation.  Everybody has backstory and forward reconnections to others
7.  I want to see (hear, smell, touch, taste) the environment, things, actions described.
8.  Sense of local: where are they, where are they going?
9.  the fiction of science: space travel, technology in every day life, the stuff that is related to but not of this contemporary time.
10. I like to get lost in the story: (I don’t mean the author dropped me off a cliff, and I have no notion of where the story is going and has gone).  I want time to go by that I didn’t notice because the story caught me up and carried me away.

After looking at my list, it is clear I have set myself up for a challenge.  I had better get onto it.

Tuesday prompt: #29 2012

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For this writing prompt, make up a holiday. 

  1. Example:  Happy Hoop Skirt Day.  
  2. Now decide how it would be celebrated.  Clearly every girl would be wearing hoops under their skirts, and perhaps a few fellows would as well.  Maybe there is a special drink with tiny rings floating in it that rise and fall.  And there are ring toss challenge games all around town with a winner named at the end of the day.
  3. Now that you have all that figured out, add a few characters and write how the holiday went for them.