…And you probably didn’t even notice I was missing!

Eric HoodBehind the Scenes

…hopefully you didn’t, because that would be odd considering I never told anyone.

See, what had happened was this…

I was right at the end of my post-publication period of screwing around doing nothing when my computer crashed. Hard. No blinking lights. No fan. No clicking and whirring. Nothing. I may as well have been pushing the power button on a cinder block.

I did all the usual stuff and quickly announced: “She’s Dead, Jim” (where “Jim” is my wife). Yes, obviously this was most likely a power supply problem and yes I could have probably swapped it out myself and been back up and running pretty quick, but here’s the thing…

I fix broken shit at work all day every day. I’m tired of it. Rummaging around in the guts of a computer on my off time USED to be fun, but now I’m too old and tired and cynical so this was definitely new computer time. This decision was helped by three factors:

  1. I wasn’t worried about my data because I had it all backed up (Remember the Great Hard Drive Apocalypse from about a decade ago? I sure do!)
  2. I still had a smartphone, a tablet, AND spare laptop that, while slow, was still usable for web surfing and general screwing around.
  3. I had already picked out a SWEET computer that I was just waiting for a reason to buy. SOLD!

Unfortunately, what I DIDN’T know was my dream-computer was back-ordered and would be getting to my door after about two weeks instead of the normal two days (Amazon Standard Time). And while I could surf the internet, the special software that I use for writing and editing (no I do NOT use Word any more) was only on my main machine. I could have installed it on the laptop, but activating the software would have involved hunting down the license key that was missing from my email and honestly I just said ‘fuck it, I got video games I can play instead’.   Ditto for uploading those old Book of Dark Places videos to my Youtube channel.

Long story short, those of you who thought I was working on Crusade for the past two weeks will be disappointed.   But I’m working on it now.  (Or… you know… this weekend…)     No publication target date yet, but I’ll keep you posted.

4 thoughts on “…And you probably didn’t even notice I was missing!”

  1. Well, to be totally hones here as a long time fan, having you disappear for lengthy periods isn’t that unusual but I’m glad to see you’re still around.

    Bummer on the computer crash. I can identify. Earlier this year my home PC, built by me somewhere around 15 years ago, finally died. It powers up and all that, but the OS (Windows 95) got corrupted somehow and in the attempt to wipe the drive and reinstall it fresh things really went to hell. It won’t install. It tries to install. Looks like it’s installing. Eventually though it ends up unable to copy files from the install disc to the hard drive, so when it finally completes things don’t work because files are missing. Reformat and try again, same results – different files. If it was the same file each time I’d suspect my install disc is bad, but it’s different files each time. Tried it with other hard drives, same results. Tried another copy (Win 95 Pro) that I have, same thing.

    To really add insult to injury, when first attempting a reinstall I removed the Partition Table from the largest drive on my computer, not realizing that I had my backup external drive hooked up. Yep. Removed it from the backup drive so now I’ve got a brick. I didn’t lose anything valuable to anyone but me. A lot of music files, some movies, all the downloaded stories I’ve collected over the years, photos, and miscellaneous files. I think I can get some software to restore an accidentally deleted Partition Table, but that requires a working PC and I haven’t bothered (or been able to afford) to replace it yet.

    All I’ve got is the laptop from work, and they keep these government issued machines locked down so you can’t install anything on them. Hell, I can’t even install the drivers for my inkjet that I have at home.

    Meanwhile, I finished the Amazon copy of Crusade Volume 1. I am looking forward for the continuation of this series, and particularly the continuation of the open story thread. I was thinking this morning that there was another Wizard of Oz type story that was also left incomplete a while back. I can’t remember if that was you or another author. For now I’m settling with reading Dune. I read it back as a youth but didn’t really understand it. It’s quite a different novel now that I’m older and more capable of understanding it.

    Good to have you back.

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  3. I noticed you’ve been missing again. I might be the only one, but I did notice. Patiently waiting for the next Crusade book, or whatever else you’ve got up your sleeve.

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