Writing? What's that?

[elfs]

I tried to write today. Maybe it's just that I haven't been sleeping well recently, but I'm definitely under-par in terms of my productivity, both as a writer and as an engineer. I have so many good ideas, but none of the seem ready to get up and go anywhere, and it's been a real struggle every time I sit down in front of the keyboard. I wrote something like eight hundred words yesterday, then deleted them all, then wrote a new thousand words from a different character's point of view, all the time wondering if I can pull of my latest trick: take a character that's not terribly likeable, make the audience like him, then make him fall apart in a rather messy way, then put back together-- all from the point of view of another character.

Having Lain back for the past two days has been nice. I've been able to look over my works in progress and decide what do with them. There are so many scattered fragments, and I really have to get back into the groove and start doing 5,000 words a week, every week, no questions asked.

On a different subject, I tried installing the Linux 2.6.5 kernel on Lain. It did the one thing I couldn't get it to do under 2.6.1, which is suspend to ram and/or harddrive and recover normally. Yay. But now the mouse and the network card don't work. And I haven't even tried to get sound working. Obviously, there is work to be done.

Also, there's a new rev of Gentoo, which tempts me to try again.

Comments

writers block?

[http://users.livejournal.com/dominic-m-/]

I doubt its a case of good ol writers block (since you have the ideas already). This a case of good ol fashioned inability to translate your thoughts to paper(or whatever). I bet you know this already but I am just trying to say I symathize with you on this area. Nothing is more frustrating than having ideas everwhere and not bein able to put them into words properly...ick. Oh and what your writing sounds fun, cant wait to get my mitts on it. Here,s hoping it comes out the way you want it :p

[woggie.livejournal.com]

Is it always this much work when upgrading the kernal?

[elfs.livejournal.com]

If you're going from one minor rev (2.4.21 to 2.4.25, for example), no. That's not a trauma at all; the entire point of minor revs is that they're bugfixes or performance increases, but the interface (the way the kernel and its attendant applications) has not (or should not-- there have been a few 'oopses') changed.

Going to a major rev (2.4.x to 2.6.x, for example) is a big deal. The interface has changed; services have been added or re-arranged. Most people doing this sort of thing wait for some distributor to put together a stable package. I'm just not willing to wait, and figure I'm enough of a geek to recover if things go Horribly Wrong.

[woggie.livejournal.com]

My continuing education in the world of Linux thanks you. :)