Tahiel
Legendary Adventurer

Boo for crap weeks. :/ I don't know what particular circumstances you're going under, but I kind of know that feel, bro. >_<;

xD The only time any of my cats (well, I only have one now, but as recently as about two years ago, I had two) was interested in my wigs was when my friend came to visit and brought her doll with the mohair wig. Neither of them was interested all in my other wigs - just that one. I think Berri did try to lick it, though. Either lick it or pick it up in her mouth. So if you don't use mohair wigs, you'd probably be okay. xD

Let's seeee....

http://www.thepassivevoice.com/ <-- My #1 publishing blog. It sort of picks up the most interesting/useful articles around the net and gathers them into one place. The guy who runs it (he's on vacation right now, though) is/was a lawyer. As I understand it, he was retired until he started this blog and seeing all the crazy contracts publishing houses were putting out made him decide to become a publishing contract lawyer to save authors from having to rely on (often shady) agents to do their negotiating and ending up (with or without their agent) signing bad contracts. So if I ever get an offer from a traditional publishing house, I'm hiring him to go over the contract. :B

http://www.deanwesleysmith.com/ <-- He's sort of the leader of the idea of, "Charge a decent price for your work. Don't sell yourself short." He does a lot of posts on the math of publishing and how to act as your own publisher. It's very worth the time to go back through his older posts. He's an extremely prolific author with several pen names (most of which he's open about).

http://kriswrites.com/ <-- Dean Wesley Smith's wife. Her Business Rusch posts are pretty much self-publishing's Thursday routine. It's very interesting to read from the start of her posts under the Business Rusch tag and read backwards in chronology. For one, it gives you an extensive background into the history of publishing. For two, you'll actually see her position on self-publishing shift as she writes. She starts out kind of, "Yeah, self-publishing is okay, I guess. But get traditionally published first and only self-publish what you can't get a traditional house interested in." To more recently deciding, "99% of what I publish is going to be self-published because right now, the traditional publishing industry is off its rocker and I don't feel comfortable working with them anymore." Like her husband, she's extremely prolific. I forget what *his* claims to fame are, but she's been given awards both as an author and as an editor. She's got some serious, serious writing stars next to her name.

http://accordingtohoyt.com/ - She's an author who was born in Portugal and due to various circumstances (mainly not quite fitting in in her home country), she became a foreign exchange student as a young teenager and essentially is more American than Portuguese now. (She's in her 40s now, iirc. I know that she has two sons and the youngest just graduated high school, anyway. Also - cute story - she married her host family's son. Eventually. It wasn't a love-at-first-sight sort of deal, but it's sweet.) I really like her, though I suspect she's an acquired taste depending on personality types. She writes a lot of insightful posts on thinking about your writing or how she made it through her career/why she writes; etc. I typically don't follow, "How to" type writing blogs, and this isn't a "how to" type writing blog. I think she's more towards getting you to think about your own approach.

I would be remiss if I didn't add: http://jakonrath.blogspot.com/
He's kind of "the" guy in self-publishing because he puts himself out there and in no-nonsense (often rude) terms, points out what's wrong in traditional publishing (and sometimes e-publishing). I don't always agree with his points (especially how he says he's looking forward to when writers don't get paid for their work by fans, but by advertisers), but he can be worth the read. He's also the first self-publishing blog I ever found and the one who opened my eyes that this is something that someone can do.

There are other writing blogs out there, some of which I might even recommend, but I think those are more or less the ones I *most* recommend right now. xD And if you followed no others, I'd recommend Passive Voice, just because if any of the others makes a really important post, it usually gets reposted there.

xD I had to stop playing Prince Maker, at least for a little while. xD I started dreaming in the format and my brain kept trying to schedule an order of activities, so I kept half-waking up to try to figure out the schedule and the stats. xD (I wasn't even dreaming about Prince Maker - it was something else. xD )

Yeah - I think that the type of people who drink hot tea are... more common online? I mean, obviously, I run into a lot of coffee'o'holics, but I think of it almost like cat people versus dog people. Obviously the overlap isn't perfect, but I find by and large that "dog people" drink coffee and "cat people" drink tea and there are more cat people on the internet, based on personality type. xD (Dog people are usually more active and social offline. Cat people are usually more homebodies and social online.) It's massively stereotyped, but seems to be (as generalizations go) semi-accurate.

xD If you think of what you were thinking of, feel free to ask anytime. xD I've been tempted to link you to a lot of writing blogs. Most of them are themed more towards "self-publishing" than actual tips on writing, but some of them are about writing. xD

xD If you're a Bodyguard, you unlock the Military Training class, which lets you talk to the teacher, who knows a little something about the plot/past. xD

I just (well, last play through) became King of the Demons (cannot for the life of me figure out how to trip the last bit where my boy resolves to become Emperor so I guess King of Demons is the best I could get?), so maybe there is a Prince ending. xD I suspect it's "Prince Maker" because it's familiar, but it could have prince endings. xD

And it had a sexy graphic because a monster caught him! (And apparently ripped off all his clothes. xD )

That's a little odd that in your experience, Americans are into tea. xD In my experience, if an American is into tea, it's usually the sweet/iced tea type. xD Unless they're sick, in which case they'll drink tea. But I do live in the South, where sweet/iced tea is a way of survival. Hahaa. xD But I've always had the idea that Americans are known for coffee. Not in the same way that, I dunno, Columbia is known for coffee - but known for being coffee drinkers (particularly Seattle).

I will keep that in mind with Stargate. xD I did enjoy the movie, even though it was a little cheesy. xD It's why I was on the fence about the series. xD Man, it's been ages since I've seen it... I ought!

I'm not sure. They weren't working on Menewsha until today/yesterday-ish, I know. There were a few weeks there at least where they just weren't working for anyone and apparently Insomniac let something lapse. So if it lapsed for Mene, it probably lapsed for WTF. xD But hopefully it works now? :x

xD According to a walkthrough, you would absolutely have to work the Bodyguard job 3/4 times to complete the ending where you become Emperor... I'm not sure if there's a Prince ending, because I've had my reputation with all three races get Prince or better and still ended up an Architect and so on. xD (I got DAMN close to the good ending last night and then my boy got sent to prison in what I think was a random event and not storyline related and... it didn't end well because I chose to try to break him out of jail and we got caught. xD; I'm so mad. LOL. But I saved a few YEARS before that so at least I don't have to start completely over...) [Also, that ending had a "sexy" end game graphic, so I'm not seriously angry. xD Otherwise, I wouldn't be able to see a half-naked pretty bish picture, right? 8D]

I actually might be able to drink coffee if it were made your way. xD I only have coffee in little bits with lots of chocolate. xD Like, mocha ice cream or mocha iced lattes or something. xD So coffee that's mostly milk and sugar is pretty close. xD

The spoiling has to do with insinuations/rumors about his personal life that made me go, "Omg, there's a bit of that in his books so... It could be true. >_>;;;" But I know it's not really fair to listen to that, since it could be more than half based just on what he wrote and it's not fair to judge an author by stuff in their writing. Especially when it's fantasy. (I know another half of it has to do with people he knows, but I don't know what the rumors against them have as basis. I guess I should really research, but...) Anyway. xD;

Yeah. :3 The first Earthsea book is the one I've read and the one that makes me want to read more. :3 And I like the sound of the sci-fi stuff. 8D

And Stargate is daunting because there's so much to read/watch. xD But I know what you mean about people not letting a series end gracefully. :x After a certain point, all that makes sense to do has been done, so that's when you either recycle a bit too much or you jump the shark and it goes into wtf territories. >_>;

Nah - I'm just being over-dramatic for the lols. xD I'm not really surprised steampunk and zombies met already. I just hope she wrote about why it happened a bit differently than I did. xD

Sooo supertired right now since I've been working on a game and didn't have my midnight snack, so this will be relatively quick. >_>

xD Well, I don't intend for him to get stressed. >_> With the cheat code, I generally make him Study - Work - Play for his three-things-to-do-in-a-month schedule. I can afford it that way... Y'know, by cheating. xD (And the work is really intended to make him rack up points in different endings. I'm sure it must have something to do with the endings you get... though I'm tempted that the next time I play, I never have him work a day in his life. 8D )

Cute Knight games are pretty cheap, at least. I got mine for around 7 dollars usd each. Well, that's what they sell for, technically I may have purchased them for between 0 dollars, 2.99, or somewhere in-between. I spend money every once in awhile at BigFishGames and sometimes set aside enough money so that by buying the 2.99 specials, I can earn a free game by the end of the month. xD But I have to be in a gaming mood and have roughly 20 dollars I can blow to do it. >_>;

No coffee. Coffee is yuk! :talk2hand: ...but tea. Yes I'd want it to make tea. >_> (And I don't mind if my tech is outdated... as long as it's worky-outdated and isn't going to be terminally outdated within a year of purchase. <_<; )

I'm of mixed minds about Piers Anthony... he was really the first "real" fantasy/sci-fi author I ever read. He's certainly not the best, but I used to enjoy him a lot and I still read those two and a book he co-wrote with Lackey (which is how I found her). I'd ramble about my mixed feelings more, but I don't want to spoil anything by bringing in nothing-to-do-with-the-books-really stuff. xD Especially as I do like these books and hope you'll enjoy them if you read the summaries and think it sounds interesting. xD

I've only read one LeGuin so far, but I liked her. :3 Heard a lot about Card, but not read anything by him (yet). I've always been tempted to get into Stargate since it seems like what I'd enjoy, but I've always been daunted by it. xD

Nooo - not yet. But I'm a little sadface that steampunk+zombies has been done before. xD I'm worried about reading it now. My first "officially steampunk novel" is meant to have zombies. (SPOILER. lol.) Miss Greenwood and the Unsightly Horrors, iirc. No, I'll have to read it first. That way I can enjoy it and ditch anything that I wouldn't feel comfortable including. Unsightly Horrors is only a few thousand words in, after all. xD

Yeaaah... Mine ran away once of those three times I played it. xD; He was a bit young to build up more than 50 stress. Later in the game he neither earns stress easily, nor seems phased by just over 50 stress. >_> But he'll come back, just with lowered stress.

I found it easier to play than the Princess Maker game I played, though perhaps not as easy as "Cute Knight" or "Cute Knight Kingdom". (Pay games, those two.) ((Spirited Heart is a similar game I've demo'd and I think it's even more difficult than playing Princess Maker. u_u; )) I prefer playing using the cheat code, though, just because it makes it fun to play rather than angst-inducing. xD

((BTW! The cheat code: Press the R key while on the home screen between months.))

Hahaha. XD Yeah, I know, right? xD I think when I originally priced it, it was 600usd. D: So by the time I can afford it, it'll probably be cheaper still. xD

Hmmm... sci-fi recommendations... What do I have...

Ghost by Piers Anthony
Killobyte by Piers Anthony

...And... that's about it for the sci-fi currently on my shelves, that I have actually read. I have Starship Troopers by Heinlein on my shelf, but I haven't yet read it. And I have the Princess of Mars series by Burroughs on my Kobo. And somewhere I have some Star Wars books (including some free short stories on my Kobo).

And there's the Petaybee series by Anne McCaffrey. (I know I read the first two at least. I sort of was too young for it at the time, so I didn't finish the series because it weirded me out. Now I've RP'd much weirder, so I know I want to pick it up again and see what I think. xD; )

Mostly, I think I'll have to turn to the pulp novels like Burroughs to get the sorts of stories I enjoy. Mainly I see the sorts of stuff in sci-fi I enjoy most as parodies of the old pulp stuff, and the parodies are fun. xD;

Hahhaa. xD The first time I played Prince Maker (this is a fan series, btw, not the official Princess Maker game series xD), we went into debt and my poor Prince became a homeless drifter. xD Second time he became a common soldier. Third he married the pretty blond guy (Ares) and became an architect. xD

Protip: Don't make your birthday the same as his and especially don't schedule a vacation his birthday month if you don't have at least 800 in currency. xD (Just in case you give him an expensive gift and he gets you an expensive gift. >_>; ) ((Or you can use the cheat code and have money come out of your ears, in which case, it doesn't matter.)) (((I have zero qualms about using the cheatcode. >_> )))

For me, each in-game year seems to take a bit less than an hour to play through, depending on how many times I go adventuring and spend trying to get the chick in the marketplace who tells me what my civilian reputation is. xD

ANYWAY. Rambling. xD Though tell me how your play-through(s) for Prince Maker has gone. 8D

The sort of external HD I want to have one day is a "self-repairing" HD. Let me find it.... Ah, here we go: http://www.amazon.com/Drobo-Beyond-F...I3O9AY0957EBBW
Neil Gaiman pimped his in his Tumblr, which made me check it out and go, "OMG MUST HAVE." Because not only does it repair itself if it can, but it also backs itself up. And yeah. :x

Mmm... You see, as to your question, I'm not really a "sci-fi" kind of girl. Not "hard" sci-fi, anyway. I love sci-fantasy (Star Wars, for example) and space opera (original Star Trek, for example) and stuff, so it doesn't matter too much to me if the science is right as long as it's "plausible" within the context of the story.

For example... if they said that geysers happen because of people walking across the surface of the planet. I don't really know one way or another about this sort of thing, I don't study geysers, but I'm pretty willing to guess that it'd have to be a really spongey planet for that to have anything to do with it. But I'm willing to pretend if they say the surface of the world is fairly solid, but it's the weight on the surface squeezing the more spongey bits in the middle and expelling the water.

It goes without saying that the sort of sci-fi I like the most typically has stuff like geysers that occur because people walk on a planet's surface. xD And they'd probably squirt something crazy like hypnofluid or space fuel or something. xD

Maybe ask Strude? I know she's more into sci-fi and I think leans towards "hard" sci-fi.

Letting you know MUSTARD JAR! has a session tonight (in 2hrs) on post mechanics. Feel free to join in.

Yeah - what I want to save up for next is a really kickass external HD. xD It's not like I "need" the space, I just feel safer with stuff I download being on an external. :x (So stuff like games I buy from established companies go on my regular HD and freebie games like Prince Maker: Braveness would go on the external... just in case. Not that I didn't virus scan the hell out of it. :B ) (((PS: Just played it last night and knew I'd have to share with you. If you like that sort of game, it's pretty nice. xD Don't rely on any of the translated walk-through stuff, though. Very little of the information seemed to work. ._.; )))

Yeah - that makes sense, re: rating. :3

Just woke up. Very muddled.

xD Mine wasn't, I know. But I saved up and bought my own and I wanted a big hard drive. xD But my parents bought their laptops on clearance sales when the local office supplies store went out of business. xD (My mom broke hers, so she's on our old family desktop now. >_>; ) And, YES. Parents are so obsessive about viruses and dangerous sites and they're the ones filling theirs up with bad things!!! I even forced them to download and install a few malware scanners and even tried to force them to use Firefox so I could install scriptblockers - but they don't use FF or they just enable scripts willy-nilly and the whole point of protecting them this way is moot! Gyaahh! >_< At least I got my dad to use avast! antivirus. It has to have helped a little. u_u; (Mom uninstalled it from her laptop because she was convinced that it was itself a virus. Now her laptop is dead of mysterious circumstances. HMMM. Wonder how that happened. )

LOL. I do that too, though. I mean, saying, "I need to do this now." And then doing anything but that. xD

I wonder if up-starring movies but not books has to do more with how movies are consumed? They're more often given "star" ratings than books, so people are more used to avoiding lower-starred movies... It may also have something to do with the literal way they're consumed. If someone says, "Well, I rate this book a 3, but I loved it." people are more likely to give it a shot if they trust your judgment on books than they would with a movie, because what makes a movie "3 stars" ends up being different than a book? I dunno - rambling!