Category Archives: Daily Update
Daily Update: Camping
Last night and today was a camping trip. Having far too much fun to say more at this time. I did get a pic of a duck though.
Until Tomorrow!
Woo Woo!
Daily Update: I’m not the world’s fastest writer
Before I get into today’s daily update, let me first say that today marks the 15th anniversary when I said “I do” to my wife. I love her as much today as I did when we got married. Probably more. It’s been a long time that we’ve been together and we’ve been through so much. I think that’s one of the reasons I’ve been so eager to re-write Of Gnomes and Dwarves. As I’ve said many times this is the first book I wrote. My wife (girlfriend at the time) was the first person to read it. Something about having he read my words and give me her feedback really spurred me on to believe that I can actually do this. Of course there was always the getting a job and doing regular work that prevented me from doing something I’m passionate about, but I’ve tried to make as much time as I can for my writing. She had always supported me and enjoyed it when something of mine saw publication.
I love you baby!
So as the title of this one suggests, I’m not the fastest writer. Yesterday was filled with challenges. Before I started work I wrote my daily update, a movie review, An Unorthodox Writing Tip, and a book review. I posted those throughout the day. My favorite daughter had a volleyball practice right after school. She has all week. I haven’t attended those because I’m usually finishing up work.
Work yesterday drove me mad trying to get everything ready for a major release. I had to make sure I had some database work done and ready. I had to bring my favorite daughter her bag for volleyball. I bought the wife a card and 15 roses (one for each year don’tchaknow). I had offered to interview Mr. Plested for his Get Published podcast because he’s got a book (Mik Murdoch) coming out in August. I had my major release of a large project I’d been working on that ran into trouble and went later that it should have (due to client issues not anything with my code).
Even with all that going on and working until 10:30PM last night I still found 45 minutes so squeeze out 1900 words in Of Gnomes and Dwarves. Yesterday’s total word count was 4694. I was stunned when I realized how busy my day was.
And to top it all off. I’m sick. I won’t bore you with the details, but it’s painful, my head is throbbing, the weather is messing with me big time. I’m not a happy camper physically, but nothing can take away the joy I feel about having gotten so many words written. I know all this will need some good editing, but the story is moving along nicely. I’ve gotten the pacing down so that it’s not break-neck speed right out of the gate and I feel that I’m keep the original intent of the story with its elements of humor, drama, and character interaction.
One of my biggest peeves about D&D related stories is that you either started with a party and off they went on grand adventures, or they met at a tavern, started drinking, and went on an adventure, or they needed to save the world. My story doesn’t do that. At least not at first.
As I’ve said I’ve got a plan for these books. The first is just the beginning and you’ll be able to see a lot of threads that I intend to clean up as I go along in the series. As fast as I’m getting through the words in book 1, the story is just starting to get moving. There’s so much more that I need to pack in there that this will be a good book. Not too long, not too short. I’m shooting for 70,000, but I think it’ll go beyond that. I might bump my goal up to 90,000 and see where it lands.
There’s a lot to get done today. There will be camping this weekend. With all the words I’ve put out in the last couple of days I’m currently 30 days ahead of my annual goal. You don’t know how good that feels. Words are coming easier and easier the further along this year goes. If you’re a writer and not writing daily, I ask you one thing: Why?
I’ve got packing to do for camping, food to buy, words to write, pictures of ducks to download (I should be able to see some while I’m camping) so…
Until Tomorrow!
WOO WOO!
Daily Update: More words than you can shake a stick at.
Had another great writing day yesterday. I’m hopeful for another repeat performance again today, but I’m not sure if it’ll happen or not. Why?
My favorite daughter had volley ball practice (two 2 hour sessions).
I’ll be doing an interview.
I have a major release for work tonight.
I need to get things ready for camping this weekend.
If I can squeeze in a little writing time, I’ll be happy. Maybe I’ll get lucky. Who knows. I do need to get a new Unorthodox Writing Tips written and up. I had written five weeks worth some time back and those have run out. I need to take a fiction break and write a few more so I don’t have to stress about those. I need to get a couple book reviews out. Speaking of reviews…
Recently I had listened to Rendezvous with Rama. It’s a great concept, but he story is told with large data dumps and paper cut-outs of characters. The only real substance is the actual concept. So I’m onto Rama II. I remember reading this book when I was younger (I think 15 or 16) and I had liked it at the time. I’m listening to it on audio now. I’m a couple hours in an… nothing has happened yet. When I say nothing I mean there was a nearly 45 minute data dump on the Earth’s history to get us to that point in the story. Based on my experience this is most likely what Clarke added to the story. He’s great at data dumps and huge amounts of ‘telling’ a story. So far I don’t like any of the characters. There seems to be a great attempt to make them more than what they are. I’m bored with it. Seriously bored. To the point where I most likely won’t finish the story and I doubt I’ll continue on into books 3 and 4.
If you’ve made it through Rama II and the subsequent books, am I giving up too soon? Should I skip ahead? Will the books get any better? I hate books that dump information and drag the story on. So far 100% of what I’ve gotten through so far has added nothing to the story so I feel I’ve wasted my time. This book is suffering from bloat.
Sorry, just had to rant there for a moment. I think I’ll move on to another book before this one lulls my brain to sleep and starts to affect my writing.
Little tangent there. Sorry about that.
Oh, some curious news. I saw I had gotten a couple of hits when I mentioned Jay Lake in a post. My post about censorship. To his post today over at (http://www.jlake.com/blog/) he mentions a post he might not put up or will be censoring. This after I noticed someone came to my page after searching on Jay Lake. Curiouser and curiouser. Did Mr. Lake find my post? The world may never know.
HEY! Quick maintenance question. I have everything set up so if you are subscribed to the blog via email and reply to the email you get it should be adding a comment to the blog. That doesn’t not seem to be happening. If you’re getting these posts via email and have replied, I’ve never seen it and it didn’t post a comment to the blog. If you know how to fix this, please get a hold of me and let me know. I’ve already looked online and everything suggested to have checked in the options I’ve done. So color me confused.
I’ve got work to do and duck pictures to download.
Until Tomorrow!
WOO WOO!
Daily Update: It’s difficult to stop a moving train.
I will be writing as much as humanly possible again today. You can count on that. My word counts for the past few days (blog posts and fiction) are as follows: 1532,2629,1926,2572,2038,3714,3134. I hope to get over 2000 yet again today. I’m on a roll and it feels GREAT! Words are falling out of my head. I’m adding new scenes. I’m a writing fool I tell you. I’m nearly 25 days ahead of my annual goal. This will make vacations a lot easier as I won’t be stressing about not writing fiction each day (I will still attempt to blog daily).
I’ll be interviewing Mr. Plested tomorrow for his own podcast. I’ll be recording Golden West this week. I’ll be recording lines (audition lines) for J. Daniel Sawyer. I’ll be recording an episode of Unorthodox Writing Tips. I’ll be busy as I can be and loving it.
The way Of Gnomes and Dwarves is falling into place makes me very happy. Everything about the new plot lines, the character development, making it fresh and easy to read, I’m just enjoying it all. The original was roughly 60,000 words and it lacked in so many ways. The new version will likely be 90,000 or better, but it’s not feeling bloated as I’m writing it. It’s feeling like a real book. Like an actual epic fantasy story should feel. It’s difficult to describe, but I’m just so happy with the words and I can’t wait to share them with the world.
What are my plans for this story?
Glad you axed. (little plun there, Willie has a big axe and he isn’t afraid to use it).
I’ll most likely be self-pubbing this one. I’ll get a professional cover done. I’ll look at getting the insides professionally laid out. I’ll get great editing for it. I’m going to do this one right. I’ll be reworking Astel sometime this year also. Mostly just getting the editing done better and leaving it out there.
Why am I going to do this one on my own? Because I have so many plans for this one. I plan on writing a lot of books in this universe. Short stories. Character descriptions. I’ll be getting art work done. I’m going to have a lot of fun with this one. I’m going to do this one better than I did Astel (which I kind of let fall flat, sadly). I’ll also look at doing the audio and getting that up on podiobooks once the ebook is out and ready for consumption. This way as people listen they’ll be able to find the book.
I’ll tell you this now, once you get into the story, you’re not going to want to wait and see what happens next. No, really. It’s a fun and fast story. Just you wait and see.
I’ve got some other regular world things to go and do. We’re going camping this weekend. I need to pick up a surfboard and mount it for my favorite daughter’s old middle school. I need to order a new mouse.
OH! New Mouse! I’ve made up my mind. I’m going to get the M.M.O. 7. This was the one I thought might be too pricey, but I figure I spend all day sitting at the computer, why shouldn’t I have a really good mouse? Yeah. Why not? It’ll help me download pictures of ducks faster so I can finally write that duck post and people can stop asking me what this obsession I have with ducks is all about.
Until Tomorrow!
WOO WOO!
Daily Update: Like a new pair of socks in an old pair of shoes.
I’m not a fan of putting anything on my feet. I’m barefoot unless I need to go outside and even in the coldest of weather I’ll be wearing flip flops. I really don’t like having my feet confined. If I do put anything on my feet, I love the feel of new socks. It doesn’t matter if they’ve been washed once or a thousand times. Old socks suck. On the contrary, I love the feel of an old pair of shoes. New shoes are tight and confining. The make my feet feel tired after wearing them for a short time even if I’m wearing new socks (which doesn’t happen often).
But when I slip on a brand new pair of socks and an old, broken in pair of shoes, my feet feel happy. It’s one of the only times when they’re confined that they have that level of comfort. Any other time, if you see shoes on my feet, I’m unhappy. My feet have this need to be free.
So what’s all this about socks and shoes?
I’ve put on a new pair of socks. My writing have changed/evolved/grown over the past 25 years of putting words down on paper. I’ve learned how to tell a story. I have a fairly good idea what works and what’s on shaky ground. I need help from time to time, but my stories and characterization have gotten stronger. When I put down words it’s like slipping on a new pair of socks in that I’m comfortable in what I’m doing.
What about the old pair of shoes? Well, Of Gnomes and Dwarves was the first book I wrote. It’s gone through many iterations, multiple false starts, and more pain ans suffering learning how to write than I care to talk about. But it’s my pain and the characters in the stories haven’t really changed much over the years. They still run around inside my head killing ogres, trolls, goblins and orcs. That’s what they do. It’s what they did. They’re my old pair of shoes that I can throw on any time no matter how ratty they look and be happy with them on my feet. They’re so comfortable that I can walk for miles.
I’ve been writing new words in Of Gnomes and Dwarves. Not only that, I’m adding new scenes. I’m cranking out words like I used to. I’m 5 days in and I’ve written 9500 words thus far. The best part, I’ve cut out a lot and put in so much that those 9500 words don’t even have me getting the first two main characters to meet (that’ll happen in the scene I’m working on and I’m excited about it.)
Now don’t get me wrong. I’m always excited to sit and write. I love putting words down. I have a passion for writing or I wouldn’t have committed to making it a part time job. I would have instead done something else. But Maus, Willie, Reeg, and Dorg are fun characters. Being that I’ve written the first four books (which will serve as nothing more than plot outlines at this point) I know what’s coming up next in vivid detail. I can make references to characters that won’t be introduced until books 2 or 3. I’m adding a level of detail that the world never had before. Sure the characters were fun, the story was a good one, but the writing overall was weak and needed to be greatly improved.
I’m making those improvements. I’m having so much fun being back in that world. I can’t wait to get into chapters where Maus and Willie… well, you’ll just have to wait. Just be happy in the fact that this is a fun story and will be a blast to read.
One of the things I’ve done that I didn’t think I was going to do. My stories were so short in the early days, that I had a story teller. His story had a prologue, interlude, and epilogue. So he would have three chapters per book that would follow his story and my plan was to complete his entire story arc over the entire run of the books. I’m not sure I’m going to include him at all for several reasons. The main reason being that my writing has changed so much that I can now take the same storyline and tell a much richer (i.e. Longer) story with the same story line without adding a lot of bulk that will make the story feel bloated.
For now, my brain is tired. My Favorite Daughter is having two volleyball sessions on Tuesday (today) and Thursday. I’ve got a major code release Thursday night. I lost one of my best programming helpers (Kiran, if you’re reading this, I miss you) and I’ve got so much work on my plate. I need to go to bed, read for a little bit, and then tackle tomorrow.
I didn’t have a chance to get more duck pictures downloaded so I haven’t written that duck post just yet. Soon. Very Very soon.
Until Tomorrow!
WOO WOO!
Daily Update: Censorship
There comes a time when people need to learn about censorship. I’m not talking about networks bleeping out the naughty words on The Soup. I’m talking about people who “put it all out there” and will rant and rave ad nauseum. I know I have a tendency to ramble from time to time, but I’m not going into TMI mode and telling you about my bodily functions, the weird lump I found on my leg, or any number of ailments I might be suffering from. Sure I’ll tell you when I’ve a headache from my sinuses filling due to foul weather, but I’m not going to go on and on about what’s happening to me physically. That’s not where you’re here for.
You’re here for the ducks and I know it. (soon enough)
When I write, there are certain topics I won’t touch just because I’m not comfortable writing about those topics. That’s just how I’m wired. I might talk about these things with my friends, I might read about them, I might watch youtube videos about comedians talking about those topics, but it’s like roller coasters. Just because I enjoy them doesn’t mean I’m going to go and build one. I enjoy a lot of the media I take in, but when it comes to the work I produce I have an internal censor that won’t let me write certain things.
Why?
Am I afraid my mom would be embarrassed if her son wrote erotica? If you read my mother’s day post you know my mom can make sailors blush so no, that’s not a reason.
Am I shy? No, not really. If you’ve ever met me you know I’m not shy about going up and talking to almost anyone. That certainly isn’t my problem.
Am I a prude? Oh, if you saw my reading shelf you’d find Rigor Amortis on there. No, I’m not a prude. (I will review this book one day soon)
Am I just too weak to write about those topics? Heavens no. I don’t look at avoidance of a topic as being weak.
I think it boils down to having a different vision for my work as a whole and though some topics might entertain some people, I just have no desire to write them. When I’m done with a story I look at where it went and it tells the story I want to tell. It doesn’t plumb the depths of what I choose to avoid. My mind censors itself and only the story comes out. It’s nothing that I consciously avoid, it just doesn’t happen in my stories. I don’t have sex, I don’t have swearing. Those things, for me, just have no place in the stories I’m telling. If ever I felt a story I was working on needed something like that, I don’t know if I’d tell that story at all. Like I said, I do see a place for that, but not in my work.
When I write a story I like to think that anyone could read it and get something different from it. I try to add layers in there and when you read there’s more than just what you’re looking at on the top of it all. So if you’re a younger reader, you can enjoy the tale as told. If you’re an older reader and follow along with the many plot lines you’ll see certain threads that will lead you down a path and make you wonder where I’m going with all of this.
When it comes to what you read on these pages or in one of my short stories or even in my novels, my internal censor is busy at work making sure that I don’t produce something that can’t be consumed by anyone. V&A Shipping is about an inter-galactic beer run, yet has been calling “mini-van safe”. That’s just how I roll. I want you to be able to come here and be confident that I’m not going to suddenly have this rant that will make you wonder why you came here in the first place.
I had a point to all of this (and not just the on the top of my head). I guess I’ve been reading a lot of blog posts lately and some of them delve into topics I just wouldn’t delve into and others take on topics of controversy that I don’t feel I need on this site. John Skalzi did this with a post and eventually had to turn off the comments to his blog post because of all the internet trolls posting comments that he got tired of removing. Sure this brought in a lot of traffic to his site, but at what cost? Did he gain a new reader from all of that? To that end, had Jay Lake gained new readers with his in depth chronicling of his cancer?
I don’t know.
Will I gain new readers and followers when I don’t post topics that are overly personal or extreme in the controversy they could cause?
I don’t know.
Time will tell.
That is not to say that I won’t have a thought provoking post from time to time. I mean, ducks can really get the wheels turning.
Until Tomorrow!
WOO WOO!
Daily Update: What a weekend
Yesterday started with going off to the park. We had planned on playing softball. We didn’t have enough players for two full teams, so with multiple soccer and volley balls laying around, we decided to instead play some kick ball. I got a nice little burn, but these things happen. After that we went to the Millicans’ house so we could see their oldest girl off to Prom. She looked beautiful and her date/boyfriend was also dressed to impress. We ended the day having carne asada at my brother-in-law’s house where most of the kickball players congregated.
We didn’t get home until after 9PM, but I still managed to sit down and knock out 2000 words on Of Gnomes and Dwarves. It feel so right to be back in this universe. I had a couple pauses as I renamed a couple locations, but it’s definitely time to write this story.
Today I was awake at 7AM. I’ve been waking up early lately. It’s weird. But I decided to use the time wisely and cranked out 1300 words before I hopped in the shower, rubbed my achy muscles (some I haven’t used since the last time we played softball three years ago) and took my favorite daughter to volleyball practice. Her ankle hurt a little but she’s doing much better now. It’s great to see her playing instead of just helping.
We relaxed for a bit and headed back to the Millicans’ house and the boys went to go see Battleship. A fun movie that I will review tomorrow.
I’m glad I got my words done this morning so I don’t have to worry about getting them done. It felt good and I’m already adding new scenes that the original didn’t have. Scenes that will make the story feel more complete. I always knew the book lacked something and as I said before, I now know what it was lacking.
I’m now coming up on the 4000 word mark with that story already. It’s just flowing off my finger tips and it feels great. I don’t need to think too hard when it comes to these characters. They’ve been in my head for so long it’s like catching up with old friends.
My brain is tired. Lots of food has been eaten this weekend and my brain just wants to go to bed. That’ll happen soon enough.
I’m sad I missed the eclipse, but I will see many pictures all week long I’m sure.
Speaking of pictures, I need to find more pictures of ducks and I’ll get that long awaited duck post written.
Until Tomorrow!
WOO WOO!
Daily Update: The writing on Of Gnomes and Dwarves begins
Yesterday was a good writing day. Almost 2000 words written. I like days like that. I got a tiny tiny start on Of Gnomes and Dwarves, but stopped. As soon as I realized that I didn’t want to main city to be named Wellshire anymore, I got a tiny bit stuck. So I’m going to spend a little time getting the names all in place, but the character descriptions filled out, make sure I have everything in place that might slow me down. I know the plot very well for the story.
Of Gnomes and Dwarves was the first book I had ever written. I started it in 1988 and had many false starts with it until 1997 when I actually got it done. Then I spent a couple years revising that story. It was a painfully long time to write a book, but I didn’t have the level of commitment that I have now. I also didn’t have the writing skill that I have now. I’ve written so many more words and I feel that I can now write the story that I always intended to write.
Maus, Willie, and Slick will finally see life. Reeg, Dorg, Hermin, and the entire cast of characters are just waiting for me to put pen to paper and write once more. When I had written these books (yes books) before I had written them at break-neck speed. I didn’t get them out they way I wanted. The characters took shape, yes. The story took shape, yes. But my voice wasn’t there. My storytelling wasn’t at the level I needed it to be to tell the story in the way that I wanted to tell it.
I feel I’m there now.
It’s not that I’ve run out of ideas. It’s not that I think Of Gnomes and Dwarves will be a multi-billion dollar best seller. It’s that this story is a very personal journey. I know I’ve got a great concept for the story. I’ve got fun characters. The pacing will be appropriate. I’m better at showing vs telling (something I still see in novels that will drive me nuts). I know now how to avoid the data dumps and tell the story that will provide the background of the characters. I’ll be able to get inside their heads as much as they’ve been inside my head over the years.
For 25 years I’ve had them all running around inside my head screaming, yelling, fighting, and waiting for their story to be told. I have a good idea how many books it will span. I have a majority of the storyline already plotted out for the books. I’ve got backgrounds for each character. Each event will build on a past that I’ve already laid out in my notes and build on the future of the characters. It’s all primed and ready for me to go.
So what’s been the hold up?
All these years I’ve listened to the saying “Don’t write about your D&D characters and adventures.” I’m breaking that rule now only in the fact that I’m putting my D&D Characters into a story. Not just a story, but a fantasy novel. The novel could happen with any group of characters. The fact that I already have personalities for my characters will just give the story that little bit of life that it has been lacking. Knowing how to get inside the characters heads and tell third person focused narrative will allow me to let the characters tell the story instead of me telling the story with the characters. I want to become invisible and let the story come through.
To say I’m a little bit excited about this project is an understatement. I’m convinced that I will finally be able to get this story out of my head. After all these years and all this time I’ve spent writing I will be revisiting a world that I left behind and haven’t visited in nearly fifteen years. I wrote four books and trunked them all. They’re now out of the trunk and will serve as notes, a plot outline, a guide. Little else. The writing isn’t terrible, but it’s not the voice I want to use to tell these stories. I can do better. I will be better. And the stories will be better for it.
I’m off to play softball today. I did start collecting duck pictures. I’ll get to posting those as soon as I write my duck post.
Until Tomorrow!
WOO WOO!
Daily Update: Organization
I’m not the most organized person in the world. I let my personal inbox overflow (I think I have over 2700 emails in there). Tools can be found in drawers, bowls, and boxes. My workspace is cluttered with things that I rarely use and somehow just never put away. My clothes rarely find the laundry basket and instead reside on my closet floor (the laundry basket is in my wife’s closet).
But not when it comes to my work files. I’m almost annoyingly organized. I have two hundred emails in my inbox, but only because I haven’t gone through them in a couple months. I could easily reduce this down to 50 in a matter of minutes, I just need to move emails into the proper folders for the given project. All of my programming files are organized into folders for different file types, related sites, and on and on.
I’ve taken some of this organization to my writing files as well and Scrivener has done wonders to help be be even more organized. Rather than have a folder with all my short stories, I have one scrivener file. Rather than have multiple books in a series in a folder. I have one Scrivener file. Rather than have one huge file with all my chapters in it, a separate file for notes, research, character sketches…Yes, I have one Scrivener file.
I’ve said before that Scrivener has changed how I write. I still type like a madman and let the story drag me along for the ride, but I know have an easier way to keep track of characters, places, events, personal items. I can set a word target for a chapter or scene and see if I get there. I’ve had a blast keeping track of all sorts of different things.
I’ve also got my spread sheet that I just love. I’ve organized my daily word counts broken down by blog posts and fiction. I can see at a glance how I’m doing. Where I’m at with my goal. How many days ahead or behind am I. How many words ahead or behind am I (for the record, I’m 20 days ahead of schedule for 2012). I’ve plotted out fiction word counts for JuNoWriMo and NaNoWriMo. I’ve plotted out how many words I need to write a day to hit my annual goal.
I had decided that at the beginning of the year I needed to treat my writing more as a part time job rather than just a “Hey, I think I should write something” and I’ve written nearly 200,000 words so far. I’ve done that by organizing my writing life rather than letting it just be like the clothes on my closet floor; something I’ll get to later. I’ve made myself accountable to more people than just myself. There are a lot more words to come out of me. Not because I want to be a writer or even want to be a published author. That’ll happen in its own time. But because I feel the need to create. And not just create stories. That’s the easy part. But to create stories that people want to read. Stories that keep people coming back. Told in a manner that people can appreciate.
Getting organized has helped me in getting a lot of words written not because I created a spreadsheet or started using scrivener. Rather because I could now see where I wanted to take my writing beyond the story.It’s made me open my eyes and see that I can write a lot more than I ever thought I could if I just got myself organized, sat down, and wrote.
Sure I get distracted by shiny things (like yesterday’s post about a new mouse I’ll be purchasing soon). That’s going to happen. The trick is to try and free yourself of the guilt and know that you have a job to do and you need to get yourself to sit down and actually do it. I also have a job, a kid in volleyball, a wife, friends. I do a lot of other things besides writing, but I make time to get the words out.
I’ve organized myself so that when I sit down to write, it’s as simple as opening scrivener and BAM! Start typing. I’ve got my notes, my character specs, my plot outline all in one, easy-to-reach place. No more looking through notebooks, folders, files, or even scrolling through the WIP trying to find that name, the color of the dress, or anything like that. I know where it all is and it’s drastically sped up the process.
Sure it took some getting used to. Everything does. But now that I’m five months into 2012, I’ve done a little house cleaning every day to get to where I am and now writing isn’t a chore that I do once in a while. It’s a joy I do every day. Yes, I said a joy not a job. I still treat it like a part-time job insofar as I need to sit every day possible ans write something, but it’s not a labor it once was.
Take a little time to get organized. I’ll go find some pictures of ducks to start posting. Then I’ll write about ducks.
Until Tomorrow!
WOO WOO!
Daily Update: Mouse Hunt 2012
As I said yesterday I’m on a mouse hunt. This will be a reward for getting to the halfway point of my goal for the year (225,000 words is the halfway point). Not only that, I’m currently 20 days ahead of schedule. I’m very proud of that. This mouse hunt is to make my right hand more productive. I want/need more buttons than my current mouse offers to allow me more flexibility and to one click tasks that currently require multiple keystrokes and mouse click combinations. As any good gamer knows, the less clicks, the quicker you can get things done.
This will be my initial thoughts on a new mouse I will be purchasing. If you have feedback on any of these mice, I’d be glad to hear them. If you’re not interested in mice at all, you may want to skip this post. There will be more tomorrow on me, my writing, and ducks.
Onto the Mice:
My current mouse is the iHome Five-Button Cordless Laser Mouse. This is a great mouse. I’ve had no complains. The battery life is incredible. It has an on/off switch. It’s got the (now standard) five button cifiguration (actually 6, but one is hard to press on the fly) plus a DPI switch from lots of DPI to little DPI. It also has some nice software to configure all the buttons except for the wheel tilt. I’ve reprogrammed two of the buttons but would like more flexibility with my mouse. http://www.amazon.com/iHome-Five-Button-Cordless-Laser-IH-M827ZB/dp/B0046XVW7C/ref=sr_1_1?s=electronics&ie=UTF8&qid=1337271201&sr=1-1
Fist up (and probably my favorite choice) is the SteelSeries WoW Cataclysm. This thing has a whole lot of programmable buttons. It’s got five thumb buttons, three index finger buttons, three middle finger buttons, one ring finger button, DPI button, and the mouse wheel plus click. I’m not sure if it has tilt click or not. It also allows you to take multiple configurations as well as onboard memory to save the current configuration. That means I could drag this thing from one computer to another and not have to have a profile on each computer. I really like that. Only complaint I’ve seen about this one is the size and looking at the videos I don’t really think that’ll be an issue. http://www.amazon.com/SteelSeries-World-Warcraft-Cataclysm-Gaming/dp/B004GZ2RCY/ref=sr_1_1?s=electronics&ie=UTF8&qid=1337271538&sr=1-1
Next is the SteelSeries World of Warcraft Legendary. This is considered the smaller brother to the Cataclysm. It has a couple fewer buttons, but to be honest, I’m not a fan of the look of the mouse. I’m sure it works great, but the big old WoW logo on it is a turn off for me. I don’t think I’d want to look at that all day while I’m working (like I said, I want this mouse for work AND play). It’s got a similar layout to the Cataclysm and is slightly cheaper. http://www.amazon.com/SteelSeries-World-Warcraft-Legendary-Gaming/dp/B005L38QHA/ref=sr_1_3?s=electronics&ie=UTF8&qid=1337271538&sr=1-3
The Cyborg R.A.T. 7 (or 9 if you want wireless). This one looks to be a highly configurable mouse with so many options, styles, adjustments. I could probably spend a week just getting used to all the different ways to attach all the pieces and weights. The software to program it looks easy to use. It’s got a scroll wheel and a thumb wheel as well. This one looks weird and I love that about it. This thing looks CRAZY! It’s also highly customizable, but with fewer buttons. http://www.amazon.com/Cyborg-T-7-Gaming-Mouse-MAC/dp/B003CP0BHM/ref=sr_1_1?s=electronics&ie=UTF8&qid=1337271735&sr=1-1
The Cyborg M.M.O. 7. This thing is intended for MMO players. It’s got a LOT of buttons just like the Cataclysm. It’s also higlhy modifiable just like the R.A.T 7. The biggest difference? The price. It’s nearly twice the price as the Cataclysm. Other than the price, I love everything about this one. If it were a tad cheaper it’d be a top contender. Heck, it still might be. We’ll just have to wait and see. http://www.amazon.com/Cyborg-M-M-O-7-Gaming-CCB437130002-04/dp/B006LVZEN0/ref=sr_1_1?s=electronics&ie=UTF8&qid=1337271921&sr=1-1
The Corsair Vengeance M90 looks to be good competition for the Cataclysm based on stats alone. The biggest downside I see is that a majority of the buttons are thumb buttons. The layout looks better than other mice with multiple thumb buttons, but I’m a ‘claw’ mouser so I don’t want to have to rely on my thumb agility for every mouse click. It does look like a great mouse though. http://www.amazon.com/Corsair-Vengeance-Performance-Gaming-CH-9000002-NA/dp/B005QUQP8A/ref=sr_1_23?s=electronics&ie=UTF8&qid=1337272045&sr=1-23
The Logitech G500 looks like it could be a good, solid mouse. I’m sure it is. It doesn’t have as many buttons as I’m looking fro though. That’s the only draw back I see. http://www.amazon.com/Logitech-G500-Programmable-Gaming-Mouse/dp/B002J9GDXI/ref=sr_1_1?s=electronics&ie=UTF8&qid=1337272188&sr=1-1
The Logitech G700, on the other hand, has more buttons and is wireless. Both pluses. I’m sure I could get used to the button placement. It’s also a very nice looking mouse. It has five more buttons than my current mouse (possibly six more). I’ll need to read more about this one before I make a final decision. http://www.amazon.com/Logitech-Wireless-Gaming-Mouse-G700/dp/B003VAM32E/ref=sr_1_3?s=electronics&ie=UTF8&qid=1337272188&sr=1-3
On first glance the Razer Naga looks like it’s be perfect for me. It has a 12 key keypad on the thumb. That should be great, right? Like I said about the M90, I’m a claw mouser and I don’t think that many thumb buttons will work for me. I love the grid, it’s be great to program it, but in real world use, I don’t think this would work out for me. I like the G700 and the Cataclysm where the buttons are more spread out. http://www.amazon.com/Razer-Naga-Special-Molten-RZ01-00280500-R3/dp/B004AM5RAW/ref=sr_1_2?s=electronics&ie=UTF8&qid=1337272376&sr=1-2
Finally there is the Razer Naga Hex. Much like the Razer Naga, a majority of the buttons are thumb buttons, but in a much better layout. I like that. This makes it far more desirable than the Naga as I would get confused with a grid layout of buttons. A nice looking mouse as well and I’m sure it’s quite comfortable. http://www.amazon.com/Razer-RZ01-00750100-R3U1-Naga-Hex-Gaming/dp/B006W3ZXEW/ref=sr_1_4?s=electronics&ie=UTF8&qid=1337272376&sr=1-4
So I’ve got a LOT to think about. I know that no matter which mouse I choose, I’ll be getting a batter mouse than the one I currently have. It’s a lot to think about and if you have thoughts, feel free to drop them into the comments. Help me figure out what prize I’ll get for hitting 225,000 words this year.
Until Tomorrow!
WOO WOO!
J.R. Murdock 