a progress report…102000 words, and I’m writing the ending…and CC…
If anything can go wrong, it will, according to Murphy. But we are making progress. We have taken all your input on CC, we put it in a bag, shook it, and came out with a set of recommendations. We were getting going—and then Lynn broke her finger, of all things, walking home after having her eyes dilated for a routine exam. So Jane, who has more graphics smarts than I do, by a mile, has settled down to work on the technicals. We have something just about ready, once Lynn shows us how to make the shopping cart work; we have product. We have files that could be up in a day when we get a page that lets you click and get the catalog page up, and when we have buttons in the catalog that let you buy, pay us, and download. It’s frustrating beyond measure that we are this close and moving so slowly, but our barriers are now down to a few, and we hope!!! to overcome them. We are going to call Lynn this weekend and see if she can use her hand well enough to set us up on the download operation, and Jane will get the front page in operation, and I will handle the technicals of the e-book ‘assembly’ from the e-pieces we have, and the legalities of new copyrights where required. If we had the download operation ready to go, we could be up and running in days: it’s that close. Everything I have to do I could do in one dedicated day, and everything Jane needs to do I think is about three days’ concentrated effort. About the download thing and the shopping cart, Lynn says she knows the bits and pieces and that should also work, if we can agree on the format. Three old friends trying to do this operation, communicating literally from one extreme end of the continental United States to the other, and ending up still good friends—is at least worth a point or two.
squeeeeeee!!!!!!!!!!
woot!
I’m looking forward to the site going live. Bnd don’t forget O’Reilly’s corollary to Murphy’s Law. “Murphy was an optimist.”
I really wish DAW could keep up with you
. Waiting for new books is no fun.
Oh frabjous day!
Calloo! 
Callay! 
Hope Lynn’s finger 
is better soon.
Yes!! And I’m ready,having solved the heat problem of the laptop if I use it for very long. I got a riser made by Rubbermaid for my birthday and got a heavy duty, though tiny (4″)fan and she stays down right icy! Bring on the ebooks.
Azureblu, Where did you find the riser….everything I see looks too flimsy for my laptop.
I thought about one of those table things they make so people can eat breakfast in bed. I’ve seen laptop trays with fans in them, too. (Big-box office supply place.)
It was a gift,but I will check with my friends. This has
a sturdy metal frame and a metal mesh with five settings
for height and angle. I have found that I don’t get the
pain in my wrists at the 45 degree angle.
Yeah,I have seen the ones with built in fans,I just did
not have the money for them. This set up I have now has
been working great and this little fan is just awesome!
I would love one of those tables for beds like you see in
hospitals. Right now I have a little plastic table that’s
a bit wobbly.
Azureblu, we have a University surplus store here in Iowa City; they sell all sorts of things like file cabinets, desks,chairs, office stuff. And also sometimes things from the hospital. Last time I was there they had some of those bedside hospital tables. So it might be worth contacting local hospitals to see if they ever sell them, or maybe a nursing home that is closing? I didn’t look at the price but usually things are very inexpensive.
These are fairly cheap and really work great. I got mine from dell but here is a link for one under $20.
http://www.amazon.com/Eforcity-Notebook-Cooling-Card-Reader/dp/B000GBGPAW
About Closed Circle: Will you have poster copy to download, once you are definitely ready to go? I had a poster some time back, didn’t distribute it because the site wasn’t up, but would be willing to try again. Color would be good. I was going to put them up on available public bulletin boards around my university town: At the supermarket, at the university, at the library, at the rec center, etc. (of course I have to request permission but that should not be an issue at most places). A suggestion, the kind of posters that have links or phone numbers across the bottom for people to tear off seem to be popular, and then people don’t take the whole poster away with them.
Yes, bless you. We are closing in on it. We have a few hurdles. What we have is Joomla! 1.5, and that eliminates a few things we could have used…but we have located some items which may solve our problem, rather than having to invent the wheel ourselves. We talked to Lynn last night, discovered some things, and we’re proceeding, though poor Lynn has a sincerely fractured “a” key finger…she’s typing, but very slowly, and she’s behind a deadline.
on CC: Barbara Hambly has set up a site on which she is selling new short fiction through Paypal. here’s a link, in case it is interesting or helpful: http://www.barbarahambly.com/?merchant_return_link=Return+to+Merchant
NOte that she also has a donation button
Good for Barbara. When we get going we’ll probably link to her. Thanks for that link.
Fantastic Fiction http://www.fantasticfiction.co.uk has added an RSS feed button to the author pages. This will make it easy to keep up with what’s going on out there for all my favourite authors.
Congratulations on book finishing! Good luck to all of you and get well to Lynn.
Great mews on both fronts. Thanks for the update.