This is my sketch for the starship in 82 Eridani. It is described in the story as looking like a 16 penny nail flying through space head-first.
You can see some of my notes and adjustments made on the fly. You might also note that this is drawn on the back of a 7th grade History worksheet. A lot of those have been used as scratch paper for story details over the years.
I started off the year with a New Year’s resolution to write 8 pages a day. It’s now February and I am 128 pages behind! Even today, when I felt like I got some good writing in, I’m only on page four. There you go. Now at least I’m back into a groove. Feeling a little better certainly helps.
I’ve been experiencing something unusual for me. I’ve run out of names for characters. I usually keep a list of good character names, but I’ve used them all for 82 Eridani. Some stories don’t require much in the way of names. I use baby name web sites. But this story just calls out for some interesting names. I’m going to have to pour through my mythology books.
One interesting thing I noticed when I switched from Blogspot to WordPress is the amount of spam comments posted. I usually see four or five a week, and dutifully clean them off. Today, I looked and there were 74. I don’t remember how long it’s been since I last checked, what with my computer switch-over and all.
I don’t know what the point is of all the spam. I assume it’s to lure people to some disreputable sites and infect their systems with spyware, but having never followed one of those links, I don’t know for certain. In any case, nobody should be searching around the web without some good anti-malware protection. I’ve used Norton and McAfee in the past, but currently I’m using Kaspersky. When I switched over to my iMac, one of the first things I did was to download the new version of Kaspersky Internet Security. They say Macs are less a target than PCs, but I’m not taking any chances.
You shouldn’t either. There are several good Internet Security programs available online for free or nearly free. Google AVG or Avast, if you have nothing else already. Stay safe!
City of Amathar 