Not a lot of news.
Ridan says I’ll have edits for Double Share soon and they’re going to work on getting the last two books out by April-ish. The backlog is working out. I know one of the books ahead of me in the queue has been released. (Congrats, Todd.)
I hired a cover artist for the first Tanyth Fairport trilogy and I’m hoping a fresh face on that book will help over the holiday buying season (which, for ebooks, starts after everybody gets their shiny new Kindle for Christmas, so there’s time).
A regular influence around here, Debora Geary, has released the last book in her first trilogy — A Reckless Witch. I was a beta reader on it. It’s good. If you’re a fan of her work, go grab it. If you’ve never heard me talk about her before, go grab a sample of her first book and see if she has something you’ll like.
NaNoWriMo has been good to me. It’s not over yet, but I’ve finished the rough first draft of Tanyth Fairport’s book two — Call of Zypheria. I’ve started on book three – The Hermit. I’m hoping to get a good chunk of it drafted out before December starts on Thursday. Word counts were not what I had hoped for, but the stories are better than I’d imagined so it was a good trade.
Last, I’ve been threatening to do this for weeks but I got a bug in my ear today and decided it was time to put a desk on my treadmill.
Here’s the before – Just the basic treadmill:
I went to Lowes and got a 36″ long 1 1/4″ stair tread. It’s rounded on one side and has a nice heft to it. I wanted something that would be solid.
Here’s the after – Treadmill with desk installed:
I had a few strips of 1×2 left over from other projects so I tacked a lip on the square edge to keep things from rolling off the table and onto the treadmill.
I used a modification of a design I saw on Instructables that used a pair of runners under the board to hold it steady laterally. These two arms underneath bracket the pedestal snugly.
For safety, I added a couple of screw eyes and a 48″ flat bungee cord to form a back end. It’s only intended to keep the unit from slipping forward off the handles, but the slight tension on the cord makes the runners grip just a bit more than they did with out. The friction fit is pretty good. Here’s how the bungee hooks underneath.
And – voila! Laptop on the desk.
Total cost: $17. That included the stair tread ($9), the bungee ($3), a dollar for a pair of screw eyes, and the rest was the box of finish nails. Took me about twenty minutes to assemble (not counting the time I spent tracking down hand tools).
That’s it for now. I’ll have another update by year end.
I don’t know how you are going to write while walking on a treadmill. :-)
Won’t that be uncomfortable? Or potentially dangerous?
Don’t slip when hitting the delete…
Seems to be a trend. Neal Stephenson has two characters in Reamde that have their laptop/gaming stations on their treadmills.
I don’t know, Michael. I’ve heard from several other authors who use this idea – J. Daniel Sawyer among them – and reports are that it works just fine.
I just gave it a 10 minute spin and, honestly, it works slick. I think I’m going to have to work into it slowly – my legs and hips were feeling the strain after only 10 minutes so I stopped. All in all, I think it’ll work just fine. The height is perfect altho I may change out the laptop for a tower and put an ergonomic keyboard on the desk with a monitor on a shelf on the wall, just to cut down on visual vibration. (There’s not a lot to begin with).
I have met a few people who stand at their desk rather than using sits which seems odd to me. I find the idea of doing anything but sitting at my desk in a chair a little alien… :lol:
The idea of doing excerise while writing does have an appeal… Maybe a sitting bike set up would work for me hmmmm
Now all you have to do is hook up the treadmill to a generator, so you can keep the laptop charged while you’re doing it!
Oh, and Mr. Parry – thank you for the new chapter of Eleanor & Gurt!
Nate – hook up the generator as suggested, and add a side table with a small fridge… And you can walk, eat, and write in nearly sufficient quantity for your fans! (We won’t rest until we harness your sleep as well…)
Thanks for the update. Hate to ask this again, but… Signed hard covers?
I’m not hearing anything new about hardcovers … same story. They’re in the works.
I’ll be doing ravenwood with signed numbered hardcovers, too, but I have to get some new work out ASAP so that’s taking a back seat
This is exactly what I need, if I could figure out some way to keep myself motivated to use it! Tim used to want a computer that he could wear, with a display screen inside his glasses. Well, I should say, he *still* wants one, but he stopped talking about the idea about 15 years ago, to the best of my knowledge.
I’m going to post a link to this tonight on my #WW round up.
I’ve done two sessions on it… a 45 and a 40 minute run. Did 1400 words the first time. 1000 the second. I think that’s probably enough for the first day. I’d like to work into it slowly so I’m not laming myself up for the long haul. I can write sitting down this afternoon, but I think the advantage to the treadmill is that while I’m walking I’m supposed to be writing. The two activities reinforce each other so I ignore twitter, email, phone, everything except me and the page.
It’s a fascinating exercise and one I need to keep pushing on.
It looks like a simple, slick solution. I may have to try it myself.
I so want one of those, but it would cost a bit more than $17 since I don’t have a treadmill…
Good for you! Just don’t go overboard and injure yourself while getting into a writing rhythm!
Too bad Ridan’s not going to have the next book out by Christmas as they previously told you. I do hope they meet the April deadline!
Be careful on that treadmill and good luck!
I will second the rec of Debora’s books. Since Nathan mentioned the first book around Halloween, I’ve devoured the series.
Haha, nice desk. :D I had a stationary recumbent bike pulled up to my desk back in my Everquest days. Apparently you can get chubby sitting at the computer and gaming for 8 hours a day. Who knew? ;)
Why not just use a dictation app like dragon?
a. Because I can’t dictate a story. I’ve tried. My brain doesn’t work that way.
b. It would mean I have to speak aloud in a house full of other people. It’s the equivalent of not wanted to be sitting in a room and having a phone conversation with four other people listening to your half of the conversation. Only more personal.
c. It doesn’t work well enough. My typing is much faster and more accurate.
other than that? no reason.
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Nathan,
Thanks for the congrats on book two – good to see it out there – finally, the fans have The Inverted Cavern for their reading pleasure, sorry it held up your book’s release!
The treadmill configuration is great. Not sure I could pull that off. You must be very coordinated!
I’m not overly coordinated. It’s really surprising how easily I adapted to it.
Add me to those impatiently waiting for the rest of the Solar Clipper series to come out for the Kindle. I finished Quarter Share, Half Share, Full Share in a 4 day period while on vacation this past summer and just today went to go get Double Share because I assumed 6 months later it would be finished. Needless to say I was woefully disappointed.
Please get Ridan to release the rest of the crack known as the Solar Clipper series as soon as possible :-).
What else do you recommend of yours I can buy in the meantime? I noticed you have a couple of new things up on the Kindle store – is the “nibbles” smaller book a new series that is stand-alone to where I can read it before Double/Captain/Owner’s share?
Thanks, keep up the writing you have tons of fans waiting to hand you more money for your work once Ridan gets it up there!
Actually very interested to any long term updates you have on using this setup. I was actually interested in looking into something like this with a walking treadmill. I hate sitting, yet I work in a cubicle. My thought was if I could walk slowly on a treadmill over a long period of time (like 8 hours), it would have tangible benefits to my health over sitting for all that time.
Thanks for the reminder about Geary’s new book and best with typing and treadmilling. At a walk it makes sense – I have serious reservations about aerobic fitness and being able to type but will be happy to be proven wrong.
Sad to see you become another author who sells (eBooks? All books?) only through Amazon. Their business practices are morally a bit less than I am comfortable with (go to other stores – look at the books then order from Amazon with an additional $5US off? Give me a break).
As one of your many overseas fans – my ability to order from Amazon is severely limited where as I can always buy from Smashwords. We may be only 3% of your sales and I can understand the time/money trade off but it does leave those of us not US based with no purchasing ability.
Yes, this exclusive thing is temporary. I’m not happy with it myself, but I felt like I needed to take a look at what was in the works.
So far, only one title is exclusive – Ravenwood – and that’s only the ebook version.
Smashwords may never get the book back at all. I’m just not happy with the way things work in the Smashwords eco-system. It’s not just difficult to get into Smashwords, once there, the books sell very poorly. I suspect that when this experiment is over, I’ll go back to selling ebooks direct on B&N, Amazon, and my website. Kobo, Sony, iBookstore … they just do not have the traffic to justify the use of Smashwords.
Their morality aside, Amazon’s environment makes the most sense from a reader’s perspective. With new stores opening up in France, Germany, Spain, and Italy, much of Europe now has access. The recommendation engine is unparalleled in the ebook market place. If the other outlets would step up their game a bit, I could see getting back into those markets, but frankly, they leave so much to be desired it’s just not worth the work.
My site is a “Life lessons and observations and poetry” musings collection. it’s about the inspirations that have changed my life experience for the way better!
I just love your “stories!” It’s like a tapestry of a young mans travel through life. most Excellent. My Mom gave me “The Swiss Family Robinson” on my 13th birthday and their exploratory family adventure that thrilled me, is akin to my experience “being with Ish as he lifes his life! I just turned 78 a few days ago..and The Thrill Remains!
I have a great book for you to read. It’s Shantaram. it’s non fiction about a young man who has a real life experience on India after he escapes from an Australian Prison. The writer, somehow, like you, transports the reader into the character’s mind and lives his experiences “with him!”
You, like the rest of us came with your unique gift! a storyteller extraordinaire!
Thank You Nathan..!
Stan
Stantheradarman@gmail.com
Stan Alari on Facebook.
Huntington Beach Ca