The first sentence I wrote today…

…was for Blue Fire:

Amlinn gestured at her grandfather and the departing messenger. “They’re not coming.”

Words today: 1,697

Total thus far: 36,799

IMG00064-20090722-2324

Made some good progress today, and what was particularly exciting about it had little to do with what I wrote, which was mostly of the people talking variety (though there’s a big action scene coming up next), but rather with what I used to write it: my new netbook computer, a Samsung NC10. I bought it with birthday money, and so far I’m very happy with it. Quite a decent keyboard–93 percent full-sized, which means I can still type on it comfortably, and it has nice full-keyboard-like raised keys with the tactile electric-typewriter sensation I crave. I do have to wonder if anybody who designs these keyboards is actually a touch typist, though, because, as with almost every keyboard, there’s an oddity: in this case, the right shift key is smaller than usual, which means you have to reach further with your right pinkie than normal to hit it. As a result, I type a lot of capital letters that first show up like this: \a, instead of A. I suppose I could just leave them and do a search and replace later, but still, a little annoying.

On the plus side, the Samsung NC10, almost alone among netbooks as far as I can tell, has a matte screen. Glossy screens are annoying for writers–at least, for this writer, and I think I’ve heard Robert J. Sawyer complain about them, too. So that was a selling point.

I’m planning to get by with just the netbook on my trip to WorldCon. All I ever do when travelling is write, surf the net and maybe store a few photos, and that’s exactly what the netbook is designed for. Why take something three times its size?

In the afternoon I worked on Magebane, but I don’t have a “first sentence” for it today because I finished up editing a chunk of old material. Now I really am ready to move ahead, although I’m still struggling with finding the right POV characters and a few other things. This is turning into a harder book to write than I’d thought, but I really want to get it right, since it’ll be “Lee Arthur Chane”‘s first novel! (He’s going to WorldCon, too, by the way.

I need to devote a good chunk of time either tomorrow or Friday (or both) to my new duties as editor of Fine Lifestyles Regina, but I’m determined to keep both books moving ahead at least a little. I’ll keep you posted…as always.

Permanent link to this article: https://edwardwillett.com/2009/07/the-first-sentence-i-wrote-today-84/

2 comments

  1. Glad you like your netbook – did you find it locally, or order it online? My wife has an Acer AspireOne, which has the glossy screen, and I can see why people find it annoying. I have an EeePC, which has a matte screen, so I can read it in sunlight. I think Apple started the trend of glossy laptop screens, and many PC manufacturers followed suit. I’m with you and RJS… I find them irritating.

      • on July 27, 2009 at 1:09 pm
      • Reply

      I researched online, decided on the Samsung, checked out some retailers, found that Best Buy had one in stock in Regina, went down to the store, and surprised them by a) knowing exactly what I wanted and b) knowing that they had it in stock (since it wasn’t on display, the first person I spoke with thought they didn’t have it). They went into the back and found it.

      For writers, especially, I think the matte scree is important. I suspect the glossy screens are considered better for watching video, though I’m not sure why.

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