Mash Up Blogging

I've been thinking about how fun it would be to write in collaboration with another person - then I read this tandem story and am now convinced my life wouldn't be complete without trying it.  :)

My laptop appears to be dying a slow death which is unfortunate because it has lasted longer than any other piece of technology I have ever owned.  And it is one of the cheapest laptops I have ever bought.  I have a small netbook but I'm not fond of it.  It's pretty but less convenient to use.  Typing is fine once you get used to the smaller sized keyboard but editing is harder on the small screen.  Plus, using the Internet forces the thing to slow down so much it belongs to 2005 rather than 2010. 

Speaking of editing, I'm doing a minor rewrite at the moment.  I can't stop myself from nitpicking but it definitely needs to be tighter.  I've read a lot of comments recently about clean first drafts but I doubt that will ever happen for me.  There is always something to improve.  Or is that a sign of a bad writer?  Either way, I'm hoping I'll know when to stop.  My OH made me take a break for a few days because he reckoned I was working too hard and stressing myself out.  (In fairness, he has seen me burn out before from writing too much.)  He put a guilt trip on me by saying it wasn't good for the baby.  That just made me chew up everything the instant I got back to writing.  He also recommended I keep editing until I'm completely happy with something but I don't think that's even possible.  Is anyone out there ever truly satisfied with their work?

There is still a lot of discussion on Agency pricing.  One thing I've noticed is that big name authors, or well publicised books are no longer being looked at as examples to strive for.  On Amazon in particular, the reviews of books seem to be harsher than before.  It seems like everyone is tired with the lazy writing from some popular authors.  That can't be a bad thing.  I'm thinking critical reviews are going to help sway the outcomes of the pricing changes.  One of my previously favourite authors has noticeably declined over the years yet they are still producing a book a year.  My choices are a well promoted, expensive book that contains poor writing guaranteed to disappoint but is fronted by a well known name or a variety of cheaper books by unknown authors that have the potential to be good and are low enough in price to be less of a regret if they aren't.  I know what I'm going for.

By the way, Smashwords have distributed to Sony in the last day or two.  They are quietly yet steadily moving along.  It's good to see.