All posts by Mark

Software, StoryBox, Writing

Nothing Ever Goes Smoothly

Not long after that last update, I became ill, and then Thanksgiving happened, and then problems with StoryBox crept up and I had to deal deal with them. What that means is that Moony isn’t done yet, and neither is Questioner’s Shadow. I’m really annoyed they’re not done, but they are getting closer, and that’s all that really matters.

The first two things in that list I could do nothing about. The third thing was, and still is, under my control. I thought the 1.5.126 release was simple and wouldn’t have any real issues. However, I was wrong. I forgot a single line of code, so I had to release 1.5.127. And then there was another bug that someone noticed, where I had again forgot a line of code, which led to 1.5.128. The next build came about when someone had an error which led to the notes being overwritten. That took me two days to figure out because it only happened on her machine.

I spent days working on StoryBox, days that I could have been writing.

And here’s the thing. If I’m lucky, I get three or four sales of StoryBox a month. Yup. Time I spend on StoryBox is not paying off financially. Not even close.

When I started StoryBox, I started it because I wanted writing software that worked the way I wanted it to work, and I wanted it on the PC. At the time, only Scrivener was close to what I wanted, and it wasn’t available on the PC. The key, however, is that I was creating a tool so that I could write. I wasn’t creating it to make money.

That’s still true today. StoryBox is only available for sale because I figure that other people might benefit from it. I’ve never wanted to be one of those writers who wrote some software and then made enough money that they chose to become software developers instead of writers.

I’m a writer who happened to make some software.

So, I am announcing that I am taking the next year or so OFF from StoryBox development. I will still fix any bugs that are found and are critical, but I will not be adding new features in 2012. This is not the end of StoryBox. It still works, and it has all the features I need.

This is an effort to concentrate 100% on writing and publishing new books. I’m trying to free myself from distractions, and StoryBox has become a distraction.

Again, this is not the end of the line for StoryBox. It already has all the features I need for writing and publishing novels.

– One exception to the new features embargo. If/when Amazon releases an updated KindleGen, I will add support for it.

– I reserve the right to change my mind about new features if there is something that I determine I absolutely need to write or publish any particular novel.

Fragments, Questioner's Shadow, Shattered, Software, StoryBox, The Sacrifice of Mendleson Mooney, TrackerBox, Writing

Long Overdue Update

It’s been over a month, and I’m sure some of you are wondering what’s going on. Look to the right. See the progress meters? They’re getting updated finally.

Mendleson Moony is now moving along smoothly. I’ve written over 11000 words this week alone. If all goes well and I judged the final length correctly, I’ll finish the draft right around Thanksgiving (probably the day after).

I’ve started the final edit of Questioner’s Shadow. I’m currently editing about two chapters each evening. I’d like to push that to three, if I can, but at two chapters a day, I should be done with it in a couple weeks. Then it’s time to do the layout, order the proof and do the final proofread. I’m going to try to push that as much as I can because I’d like to have paper copies available for the holidays so that I can give them away as presents.

You may have noticed that the Fragments progress bar has disappeared. I took it down because I’m not actively working on it. However, it will go back up as soon as the draft of Moony is finished. Seeing as how it’s the sequel to Shattered, I’m hoping to have it available for you before the end of March. It’s not a firm date. I have to write the thing, order the cover art and hope the artist can deliver it on time, and get it edited and formatted. And, let’s face it, I haven’t had a track record of finishing a novel without taking a break somewhere in the middle. However, it IS coming, and it’s the next project in the pipeline.

And the last thing. I’m no longer posting software updates here. Bookmark this link if you want to be informed of updates and have the automatic update check turned off. You could also follow me on twitter (@mark_fassett) if you want. I tend to announce them there.

Now, if you’ll excuse me, my cat just vaulted onto my leg with claws extended. I must go tend to my wounds.

Software, StoryBox

StoryBox 1.5.120 Released

There are quite a few changes in this release, but the biggest one is that it now requires .Net 4.0 in order to run. I’ve tried to keep it using .Net 3.5 for as long as I could, but it became impossible with the latest release.

As for other changes, if you tell StoryBox where to find KindleGen on your computer, it will now produce a .mobi file when you tick the “Prepare For Kindle” checkbox in the export options. You can download KindleGen from Amazon.com (the easiest way to find it is to google KindleGen). StoryBox also now lets you insert SB code via the document context menu to link to pictures documents so that they will be included in your exports. This is useful for graphic chapter headers or interior illustrations.

Check the release notes for the other changes while you are downloading.

Download StoryBox

The Sacrifice of Mendleson Mooney, Writing

10 Day Novel – Why I Failed

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Well, I suppose I should report on the 10 Day Novel project.

Of course, you probably know by now that I didn’t manage to finish the book in ten days. There are a number of reasons why I didn’t manage to finish, but primarily, it comes down to a couple simple things.

First, I had this section in the middle where I knew something was supposed to happen, but I didn’t know what. I’ve mostly got it sorted out now, but for a while, there, I had nothing.

Second, there were some life events. My daughter’s first day of kindergarten, football, more football. I should remember to NEVER schedule large blocks of time writing on the weekends during football season.

Third, I’m under quite a bit of stress because of a lack of work in my “day job”. It would certainly help if everyone using StoryBox for free bought a copy today, and would be even better if for some reason Shattered just took off and sold a couple thousand copies in the next week. Then I wouldn’t have to worry so much about a day job.

Fourth, it would have been easier to finish the book in ten days if I had stuck with a genre that I know well. I tried to stretch myself a bit, and it made things harder.

I WILL try this again, but not until football season is over. I plan to finish Mendleson Mooney in the next three weeks or so. I have to be done with it before November. I’m going to really start Fragments Nov 1 (with NaNoWriMo).

Minimalism

Minimalism?

It’s all Zoe’s fault. The other day, I read this blog entry from Zoe Winters (an author of paranormal romance books) So You Think You Know Minimalist Decor? and I had to follow up on it. What the hell is “minimalism”? So I googled it up and found a bunch of blogs. The Minimalists, Becoming Minimalist, and mnmlist, among others. Color me intrigued.

Our house, if you’ve ever been in it, is not a hoarder house. You can walk through it, as long as you can avoid the toys that are inevitably strewn about the room. However, we’re still bogged down with stuff. Our garage has no room in it for anything. My office has more distractions than I can count, and my kids’ rooms have more toys than a typical toy store.

I would love to use the nuclear option on my house. Empty it of crap, and only put back what we really use. It’s not entirely realistic, though. I think Wendy (my wife) is willing to get rid of some stuff, but I don’t think she’s ready to get rid of things that she uses only rarely. I’m not entirely certain I’m ready to do that, either. So we decided that we would just take it a little bit at a time. The kids pick one toy a night that they want to donate. We’re going to work one bit of the house at a time each day, and eventually, we should reach our goal.

We started, yesterday, with a drawer in the kitchen that has been a source of annoyance since we’ve lived in this house. It’s really nice to be able to shut it without having to squish stuff down. I also put some of the more than 100 model railroad cars I collected up on eBay. I’ve wanted to build a model railroad in this house for years, but I never got around to it, and I may never get around to it, so to eBay they go. One other thing I did today was cleared out about four shelves full of books, which will be going to Half Price Books tomorrow.
Pile of Books

I don’t think we’ll ever be minimalists in the true sense of the word. I like my book, movie, and game collections. My wife has things she likes. So we’ve decided to eliminate all the other crap first and see where that leads us.