WIL WHEATON dot NET: 1.5

This one time, at computer camp... oh never mind, it's a bit of an old joke...

as corny as it sounds...i really liked todays log. your life is as exciting as mine.

yay, i' near the top...

i have blocks when i write my journal too... sometimes i have lots to write but dont have time or dont know how to wri it and other times i have plenty of time and bugger all to write about! gah!

elias xxx

sometimes the entries where you just sit down and type whatever comes to mind first are the most entertaining, insightful forms of catharsis known to man.

falafel...yum...

Oh, GREEK ... i thought you said "geek"

I dug this entry. I like the random ones people post the best. It makes them seem more real instead of just words on a screen, I guess.

"I have to go make dinner: Falafel, tabouleh, and hummus. How Greek of us."

Thanks. You had to mention that as I sit on the couch watching My Big Fat Greek Wedding.

More Ouzo, please.

Life is not all drama and action. There are slow times and quiet times and even down right boring times.

I like this log because it gives me insight into your life and mind. I find it informative and entertaining but logs like this can also be soothing and reassuring.

You don't always have to have a punch line. Just let me peek into your life and I will always come back for more.

Thanks for sharing.

Sometimes just letting it flow is what you need to do. I'm glad to hear that you are enjoying cons more these days - it makes the experience tons better for the fans who attend when the guests enjoy themselves and aren't just going through the motions. My family is considering coming to the Grand Slam, for Saturday only if we do make it, and we will definitely come to see your part of the show if we are there.

I like to listen to music while I mow the lawn too. But it will be a few more months before it will be time for that again here in Texas. :-)

Looking forward to the book(s)!

>Falafel, tabouleh, and hummus. How Greek of us.

you mean how arab of you? unless they have those things in greek cuisine too?

try fattoush it's the best!

You gotta love the slow times in life.

As for 'experience with a printer', my parents own a print shop. But we're all the way up in Canada. Its a fun place to work. Don't know of any printers down your way. Sorry.

-BW

What exactly is a falafel?

Yay Randomness.

My favourite kind of ness.

I love the feeling of just letting your mind unravel for a time, especially as people seem to be educated to keep a rein on their thoughts

"Dont day-dream, you'll never amount to anything dreaming etc"

I'm glad to hear there will be more Vegaspants. I was re-reading the archives and it remains a favourite of mine. And son of spongebob vegaspants as well....

Would you ever consider doing a UK convention. If you would i'd be happy to gather the UK monkeys to the flag and apply pressure to the organisers.

I find mowing the lawn like a haircut. It's so fresh and open, it always feel like i can start again and shrug things off and i suppose literally it is. Perhaps all of the bad things in life an be put down to hair. Perhaps haircuts and lawn mowings are a kind of cathexis/catharsis where you literally remove the problem, if only for a time until it comes bag. Does that mean bald people are happier? *makes notes*

maybe...

No. No i do not love Raymond.

I love how you love Anne though. I kinda know how you feel, but to hear it from other people is so refreshing.

People dont say it often enough...

My god that was a long and incoherent post that nobody probably wanted to hear.

But

It's 0242hrs here and my mind is wandering....to my keyboard apparently.

Goodnight all.

For the KDE 3.1 upgrade - use the Konstruct tool kit. It's "a build system which helps you to install KDE releases and
applications on your system. It downloads defined source tarballs, checks
their integrity, decompresses, patches, configures, builds and installs them."

http://konsole.kde.org/konstruct/

Happy upgrade ...

...if thats what you write when you cant think of anything to write...I would love to read the book when you have known what to write....somehow I dont think its gonna come to new Zealand..

I'm a bit sad..I think we are gonn lose the Americas Cup...

Wil,
2 feet of snow puts my day in reality. It happens here every 10 years or so. Hearing that howling wind is cool and nerve twisting at the same time but I survived.
I thought you were taking a break from updates. Hmmmmmmmm. Do not be to hard on the bands that you do not like because its only Rock and Roll.

FG

Yea! Did well photoshopping Wil as a Homestarrunner cartoon.
http://cgi.fark.com/cgi/fark/comments-voteresults.pl?439623
It's a play on the cartoon from the store shwag. And I hate Raymond. But Peter Boyle rules.

I love "Animals"! Though it always struck me as odd that, on an album called "Animals", 3 of the songs are about Pigs. (Though if you count "Pigs (three different ones)" as three tracks, the rankings end up as Sheep 1, Dogs 1, Pigs 5. (Which of course reminds me of Monty Python episode 1, "Whither Canada". But enough parentheses).

Glad to see you enjoying some stream of consciousness writing. I've been doing that quite a bit in my "Joe Millionaire Play-by-Play" (yeah, yeah, I actually watched it). I just had a woman write me to ask whether one of my sarcastic comments was for real ("Yes, maam, Zora really /is/ a man!"). *sigh*.

But then, I'm getting off topic, so I'll stop here.

From Spike Jones, the director of "Adaptation," comes an exciting new film: "Being John Malkovich II: Being Wil Wheaton." See the world through Wil Wheaton's eyes for 15 minutes!

Starring Jim Carrey, Halle Berry, Lucy Liu... and Wil Wheaton as himself.

Randomness is wonderful. It's hard to sit and write about *something* all the time. I tried to sign up for one of those web journals and when I finally found one, I forgot my password the next day. So I'm still stuck with pen and paper. (Note: If anyone knows a good online journal that is free, please let me know.)
And you know, sometimes out of those ramblings come the most amazing idea. Not that I have any, but I'd like to say that I just watched Joe Millionaire (well, intersperced [that was hard to spell] with the Senators-Rangers game) and am sad that I did. My life is truly boring. The saddest thing is that I have so much that I should be doing.
hehe.
Sorry, it appears as if I am trying to hijack your blog.
Well life is good, keep it coming!

streaming straight from the mind...unfolding as they will unrelated thoughts from a relative time...there's no better way to say what you want to say if you can't find the words to say...so say everything and the thought is in there somewhere...along with everything else that happened on the way to the show...at the show...and on the way home...the heart of improvisation lives on in the writings of one who just lets it STREAM!...way to ramble wil!

"Hulk smashed grass. Now Hulk greener. Hulk walk dog now."
http://aintitcool.com/display.cgi?id=14496

Awww shucks Wil, you sound so sweet when you talk about Anne like that! Seeing your ramblings is better than not hearing from you at all so bring it on!! Can't wait for your book - hopefully they'll sell it here in Australia but if not, I'll just order it from Amazon anyway.

wil: i was looking at your "blue hair" picture on the left side of the screen...and i thought man...that picture would make a great album cover for PINK FLOYD...of course the yard behind you would need to be covered with ripe bananas and kites...yeah really!

You know, sometimes you do your best work when you are not really trying to do anything at all.
It's funny but you show more of your soul when you "just write".
Something always comes out. :)

Wow, that was quite the different post.
Anyways, keep it up Wil.

Let us know if you get KDE 3.1 working with Konstruct. I'm itchin' to upgrade, and I'm a'fear'd of the instructions... I'll get more gumption if'n you suss it out.

Why'd I go all hillbilly all of a sudden? :-S

No Wil I don't think everybody really does love Raymond cause personally I think it sucks. The way you talk about Anne is so sweet. AAWWW. Your day is about as eventful as mine...went to class...watched Meet the Parents (God I love Jinxie Cat) how about you? We're watching Dr. Strangelove in my International Relations class next week. When my teacher said this I turned to my roommate and said, "Mel, Wil Wheaton recommended that movie!" Amusing stuff. Plus we're watching it on Sean Astin's birthday. Ok, I'm sure that if you read all that you really didn't care anyway. Take Care Wil. Love ya!

Printers... if you're looking at an offset press (which would require some upfront investment on your part, as well as maintaining inventory) I'd recommend DeHarts in CA ( http://www.deharts.com )

If you're looking to go digital, and not have to mess with keeping an inventory, plus have immediate access to Books In Print, and auto listing in Amazon.com and B&N.com, as well as distribution through Ingrams, I'd recommend Lightning Source ( http://www.lightningsource.com )

Buy more than 10 ISBNs, too... it'll help getting into brick and mortar stores.

Yes, I remember MUSCLE figures, the little orange/pink fellas. I think they were advertised as some kinda pro wrestlers. I doubt that I ever would have remembered that Dark Tower game without having been reminded of it. I had a buddy in elementary school who had that game.
And as much as it pains me to admit it, I see a lot of myself in Raymond. I was astonished to learn in the course of my first real relationship that I was the one to say the most boorishly insensitive thing and the worst possible moment and then wish I could go back and redo the previous seven seconds of my life. I always figured I would be more of a sensitive romantic than that.

Great post. It is wierd because I am watching WWE right now and looking at my collection of M.U.S.C.L.E figures on my computer desk.

GURPS is the best RPG ever. Too bad all my old gamer friends live someware else. I used to mow in my old rubber bottomed mud boots they work great and dont stain. Realy looking forward to reading just a geek.

OPA! Anyways I had only five muscle men and the only one I can remember is the one that was just a brick wall. Anyone had that guy?

Everybody Loves Raymond is cr@p. The same people that have made this trip into a comedic juggernaught are the people that made Full House, and Home Improvement such non-comedic mainstays on nineties network television. Does anyone ever want to see a rerun of The Cosby Show? Full House? Home Improvement? The same fate awaits Everybody Loves Raymond.

What's shocking is that a comedian with such a lightweight act like Seinfeld, could create perhaps the most brilliant live action comedy of the television era (MASH, and I Love Lucy aren't quite up to snuff in my view). Seinfeld was rather dull in my view, as a comedian, just as Ray Romano was, yet Seinfeld and Larry David created something that only The Simpsons could rival in its sheer brilliant. The same definitely cannot be said of Everybody Loves Raymond.

To call Puddle of Mudd a shitty band is one thing, but to call POD in the same group is something totally different. There is no, * NO * other band out there that in my opinion deserves respect like POD does. Having seen them before they made it huge (for $1 no less), upon their arrival to super-stardom they have not lost their touch with what made them huge. God. Prayer. Religion. They actively preach at their concerts and let people know that they could not be where they are, without His grace. So I'm sorry that you don't like their sound, but if you would ever listen to the lyrics that come out of that band's songs, I assure you your opinion would change.

Please, judge the book by it's content, not it's appearance.

I like the freeflowing journal entries!

Don't knock the lazy days, man. My life is so hectic right now, I envy the bored!

Gods I HATE Raymond. That is the most inane fucking show on television. Seriously, are Americans really that .... oh wait, we did put George W. Bush in charge...

By the way, cheers to Senator Byrd (from the link in your last post).

I'm a big fan of the random entries, its fun and insightful... To be honest with you I really miss the days of just a bunch of random entries. Too much structure is a bad thing...Keep it up!

Nice to see you're feeling better about writing, I wish I could put into words how reading your blog is a bright spot in my day.
How does one spell baklavah? I've been craving it for a week, but it would mean a trip through Canadian winter to the market, although the comic book store is next door to the market...calling me...calling me...
Speaking of Canada...how about Toronto Trek this summer?
When I lived in Asia I developed a love for WWF/E. When there's nothing on the tv in English, wrestling still works, even in Cantonese dubbing. Shots to the groin work in a universal language....

Hi Wil -- My husband has had six books published and is working on his sixth. He may have more information on the printing stage but mostly from the point of having to edit proofs over and over again. ;-) You can always ask him more questions, you can find his contact information on the web page I included. Good luck, it's a nerve wracking process, especially the first one. When you do have in paper, make sure to have a book party, it's a good way to celebrate! -- Rachel

GURPS r00lz.

One thing I noticed when the, um, first edition came out was how much the GURPS manual read like Inside Macintosh Volume 1. Two totally modular systems put together by geniuses who thought of everything and simultaneously knew it wasn't done yet.

Oh too cool, I thought, and the AD&D Monster Manual retreated to the bottom of The Box of RPG Reference.

Made my friends switch. Drew prerequisite charts for the Magic System myself. And I still have this idea for a Freaky Side of the FBI module inspired by Twin Peaks and the X-Files. "Scully, No! It's the Black Lodge!" -- will Mulder meet Dennis/Denise? Didn't Frank Black move to Seattle.....

I loved the Dark Tower game. We just played with the electronic tower and ignored the bored most of the time. I refuse to give up my old dying cell phone because it is the only one I've heard that uses the sound effect from Dark Tower.

"praise chorus" is definitely an inspiring song- i can see that it might be a good lawn-mowing tune. on a related note, "hear you me" made me cry, and i can't think of another time that i cried to a rock song.
and yes, POD is definitely shitty.

This is one guy who most definately does NOT love Raymond. That's gotta be one of the least funny shows I've seen, including non-comedy genres.

And damn it, Wil! Why do you get the wicked true love deal and I don't? Live it up, man because I've still gotta wait for mine. Bah!

LOL, u just kept writing and writing and this spontaneity really makes a fan like me happy. :)

Why do you hate American food so much? If you hate American food so much, you should just move to

that place where they eat tabouleh

wherever that is

Hmm, what about something like iUniverse.com or xLibris.com for the book?

Or did I miss the part where Wil already has a publishing solution and doesn't fancy print-on-demand or saddling Eager Reader with somewhat scary sticker prices?

Probably. I was napping. Sorry. Is there any more dip?

Have you considered going through a regular publishing house? There are disadvantages of course --having to submit to an editor, getting only a small percentages in royalties, waiting a long time to go to press, not being to control if you go out of print.

On the other hand, you get access to their marketing and publicity machinery, their editing expertise (if it's a project they believe in) and their distribution network, and you don't have to put any of your own money up.

Selling a self-published book can be a full-time job. Of course it will be easier for you because of WWDN & all your blog fans. But on the other hand, as a celebrity, it would probably be easier for you to sell to a publishing house than for most people (particularly if you chose one with a ST connection...).

Stay away from RedHat Linux 8.0 - not because it is bad, but because RedHat 8.1 is about to be released over the next month, and it includes KDE 3.1, besides fixing a huge number of other issues (and introducing a whole lot of new ones ;). I am using the 2nd (and probably final) beta, and it rocks.

Note that RHL 8.0 is a .0 release, and it shows - more than a CD's worth of updates released so far. ;-)

Great post Wil!

Try mowing your lawn in odd geometric patterns, like maybe a whale or a person, or a mule. Thousands of years from now people will think the people of Nazca took vacations in southern California like the rest of the world did hundreds of years later.

On second though, mow the Apple logo into your lawn.

I really don't love Raymond either. I don't even get why my wife loves Raymond. "There's something about Raymond".

Tony

Hey. RPG playing guy. Come play in our Saturday night game in Santa Monica. We have a regular group that plays all sorts of things, from GURPS to SaS to D&D3e to White Wolf stuff to Legend of the Five Rings.

We also happen to have two professional designers in the group, which is nice, because we like to think that we know what we're doing. ;-)

Drop me an email, and come on down some night.

Wil,

You may want to check with Meisha Merlin for publication - they picked up a couple of my favorite authors and are publishing their new stuff and keeping their older stuff published (and on the shelf at my local B&N).

The site: http://www.meishamerlin.com

Hey, Wil--

I'd checked the Creation site recently and found out you and your improv cohorts would be performing--am very much looking forward to it, as I was unable to get to the show in January.

Also looking forward to both JAG and Dancing Barefoot (even though it's the first time I've heard of the latter). I enjoy your site very much, and it's generally the first thing I check when I get online. Your insight and honesty and humor and willingness to take a position continue to impress me.

And don't knock streams of consciousness--follow them long enough and you may come to wisdom...

Best regards to you, Anne, the boys and the critters!

Syd

p.s. I don't love Raymond either.

Syd

Wil, I'm working on my first book and so know the feeling of not knowing what to write. Separate and apart from being blocked, there just doesn't seem to be anything to say sometimes. I do have to say though, your stream of consciousness writing just now... it has some spirit to it. It made me smile. I felt I was dealing with a real man who has beauty in his everyday life.

I always wanted to be a writer too, Wil. When I was a kid, around about 8 or 9, I had these blueprints for the Enterprise from TOS. I used to spread these things out on the floor (there were 14 sheets I think) and sit in the middle of them, attempting to write my own TOS episode in a spiral notebook. I had no idea at the time that TOS was produced back in the '60s. I was such a naive child LOL

I still remember the plotline to my episode. It had something to do with some sort of plague that would make the crew go insane. In my story Checkov was the first to fall victim to this plague and I had him take over the ship from the Battle Bridge. Yep, Kirk's Enterprise had one of those too. it was in the secondary hull, somewhere around deck 17 or 18 or something...not really sure. It was somewhere behind the Main Deflector Dish...

Obviously I never made it into the writing business ;}

> I mowed my lawn tonight, and my shoes are grass stained and smelling like a summer morning.

Must be nice to be able to see your grass. I just removed 18 inches of snow off my driveway and it is still coming down. The last 10 inches came down in 2.5 hours!

Can't wait for JAG to come out. Until then, I guess I'll just have to read your blogs. Keep writing!

I can second Meisha Merlin for publishing. They're good for small press, and they're good guys, too -- I worked with 'em at White Wolf for a while.

Reminds me, why don't you call van Citters at Paramount/Viacom and ask him to put you in touch with the guys who do all the Star Trek novels? Maybe they'll give you a favorable publishing deal.

(I'd offer to help, but my company just publishes RPGs and card games, not novels.)

Dunno if it's still available, but there is a rather nice tome on KDE called "Practical KDE" via Que. Very well written with many details of operation and installation.

Hey Wil

1st. Send some dinner my way, i can use some celeb cooking.

2nd. The hp psc 2110 is the greatest printer of all time. I strongly reccomend it.

3rd. If your lucky a meth lab, or a brothell will move next door to Uncle Willy's house

4th. When are you going to watch my kitty.

Okay, so I'm having 'puter troubles and didn't even get the last part of what I wanted to post in up there in my last post...ARGH!

Anyway what I was going to say was that if you were bored at some point and wanted to read a bunch of useless rants from a real opinionated asshole, you could drop by http://encryptedmind.blogspot.com/

Hell you never know, there might be something in there that might spark a thought for you LOL

How LEBANESE of you!

Hope it was yummy!

GURPS Indeed! Everyone knows that the HERO System is far better. Not that I am anti-GURPS but....nah, I am anti-GURPS. Not to mention Call of Cthulhu. I am just pleased as punch that you revel in your geekdom.

When I tried to use Konstruct, it died with the following errors. Anyone know what this means?

make[5]: Leaving directory `/home/wil/konstruct/libs/qt-x11-free/work/qt-x11-free-3.1.1'
make[4]: *** [build-work/qt-x11-free-3.1.1/Makefile] Error 2
make[4]: Leaving directory `/home/wil/konstruct/libs/qt-x11-free'
make[3]: *** [dep-../../libs/qt-x11-free] Error 2
make[3]: Leaving directory `/home/wil/konstruct/libs/arts'
make[2]: *** [dep-../../libs/arts] Error 2
make[2]: Leaving directory `/home/wil/konstruct/kde/kdelibs'
make[1]: *** [dep-../../kde/kdelibs] Error 2
make[1]: Leaving directory `/home/wil/konstruct/kde/kdebase'
make: *** [dep-../../kde/kdebase] Error 2

Dark Tower by Milton Bradley rocks! My best friend's brother had the game... and he never let us play it. We would wait until he was down the street at his buddies house, throw down our Barbies (The Dating Game was the only thing we'd play with Barbie's... we'd put up a screen so the other player couldn't see if her Barbie was picking the Ken, Luke Skywalker, or Shawn Cassidy doll. The goal was to make them pick Shawn Cassidy with his goofy hair.) and run into his room to play Dark Tower. We always seemed to misplace the Citadel piece. What a great game!

I saw it at an antique shop for $100 today- and I think it costs that much on Ebay for a working tower and board with most of the pieces.

Why don't they make cool board games like that anymore???

I sure do remember M.US.C.L.E figures... I thought that they were weird and wasn't a fan. BUT they're back!!

I work at Toys 'R' Us, and I found them to be hangin in a nice stripe in one of the action figures aisle on Saturday.

They're still weird.

I think that they should bring back Battle Beasts. There's a toy to remember.

I dont' know how anyone could like Raymond.

Nice stream of random thughts there, Wil. Now, for some REAL fun, print out that entry, and run it through the "William S. Burroughs Cut-Up Method" and see what happens.

Okay, just in case you DON'T know what a WSBCUM is:

http://www.legendsmagazine.net/104/william.htm

Comparing Puddle of Mudd to POD are not alike. POD are wannabe rappers and I still haven't decided on what Puddle of Mudd is. I don't care for either :)

Comparing is not supposed to be there. Sorry.

Well, I'm an XP nut through and through but I did try KnoppixKDE, which is a Linux install with KDE 3.1 which boots of a CD-ROM and does touch your installed OS - worth a try, doesnt take long to burn to CD as an ISO and try out
http://www.knoppix.net/docs/index.php/KnoppixKDE
went back to XP of course...

Wil, ya been sparking up a bud, bud?

Wil. Just say no.

Hey, Wil.

Not sure if you'll read this, but I see you wanted advice on a printer.

I am a self-published author and I got a LOT of good tips in a book called "The Self-Publishing Manual" by Dan Poynter.

As for a good printer, I used McNaughton & Gunn in Saline, MI. Why? Because I did all my reseach and finally I called Dan Poynters office and found out who he used.

Hope that helps you.

Not everybody loves Raymond...
Some of us hate his guts, in fact. :)

I have to add my vote to the pile of those that like the stream of Wil's consciousness. Very cool post. I have a tendancy to think like that too, so it made it easy for me to keep up when it switched from thread to thread.

Have a great day!

Last time I published a book we went with the company that printed Tony Levin's "Beyond the Bass Clef". I can't find the name of the outfit right now, but if you'd like I can track it down or shoot Tony an email.

GURPS? Bah! When you're really hardcore you'll spend a few months trying to finish off your Villains & Vigilantes collection, like I've been doing.

Once that's done, time for some random superheroes, baby!

67.75.181.98

We do not love Raymond!!!!
So Australia gets a shitload of American TV. Raymond comes on a couple times a week... and invariably one of us shouts out "i do NOT love raymond!"

To add insult to injury... we also get Becker...

The good bit it we get lots of Simpsons and South Park (free, no less).

But, to re-iterate, veryone does not love Raymond... we HATE Raymond!!!

*ok calm down....*
Tank

I like Raymond and Puddle of Mudd. Sorry about that.

Hi Wil,

Really liked your post - I enjoy "random thought" blogs.

On the Linux issue, I have to agree with the advice to wait for Red Hat 8.1, or even go for the beta.

Funny thing about Everybody Loves Raymond - when I first heard about it, the first thing I thought was that a title like that just begged people to say 'Fuck you, Raymond!'. I didn't think the show would last; I don't understand why it is still around.

Another thing I don't like about Raymond is the way they use the kids; I hate shows where the kids only show up to be cute, to be rude, or because the story somehow specifically REQUIRES them. Too many shows use TV kids like TV pets, and I think that sucks. So I guess I have to say it - fuck you, Raymond.

Good luck with the books.

See ya,

Another Wil

Raymond?!!

*URGE...TO ..KILL......RISING!!!*

Had a flight to the US last month where all they played was friggin 'Everybody Loves Raymond'over and over again!
Now I know what true hell looks like....Its cramped seats with tiny TV's for all enternity with %^%&% Raymond!

*pant pant*

Ok.....I'm better now.....

For those of you who don't speak German, I decided to try out my rusty skills on NYC's post there:

"Wil is the Fuehrer and his decisions are final. He is not to be questioned, or you will be interdicted (squashed, made taboo, whatever). That is true freedom! (This next bit is rather more free-hand) And it's just what the organizers of the "peace" protests in Los Angeles want from you, because they are Communists. Stalin would be proud! All hail Wil, the new Fuehrer."

Some notes: Fuehrer (the extra "e" signifies the dots over the "u") literally means "leader", but in post-WWII German it's *never* used except to reference Hitler. Similarly with the "all hail" bit... That has cultural baggage galore.

NYC: OK, you don't agree with Wil, and you seem to think war with Iraq is a good thing. Heck, *I* don't really agree with Wil on this point. But, well, 1)if you think he's talking crap, then don't read posts about the war. It's Wil's site, not yours; 2)if you're going to spout inflammatory shit, then at least have the courage of your conviction (or, hell, just the balls!) to do it openly -- and since this is a site run by a native English speaker, that means *in English*.

i like raymond...but i definitely don't love him.

Loved the light-hearted post. Shucks Wil, I laugh my head-off at Raymond. I think I have pent-up frustration at my mother-in-law...
Enjoy your day!

Hope you leave the entry up. Random thoughts are fun to read.

Pardon me as I go rescue my husband's mouse from our toddler before he deletes something important...

Wil, sweetie ... WHY are you going the self-publishing route? Do you know what a disadvantage that puts you at in terms of distribution? Don't buy into the stupid "New York Publishing Mafia" myth--try the big houses first. If that prospect doesn't thrill you, try the small press. Meisha Merlin's a good one, and you might also want to try Wildside, which is outgrowing the "small press" label. Their URL is http://www.wildsidepress.com/. Don't spend your hard-earned money when you can get someone else to front the costs.

Don't like Raymond...but can I come to dinner?

Wil,

No direct experience with publishers/printers, but some of the companies used by web comics folks might be an idea - talk to the comics folks and see if they have any horror stories/good tips.

Off the top of my head Plan9 (http://www.plan9.org/) does Sluggy Freelance (which rules) and User Friendly, and also do non-cartoon books. I don't know who Christopher Baldwin (http://www.brunostrip.com/bruno.html) uses, but his books look fantastic.

Good luck, wish I had the talent & gumption to get writing. Nearly did a Doctor Who book once. Okay, perhaps I should keep my "talent" under wraps...

If living in California is like that everyday, I SO want to move there... Been at -20 degrees Celcius and below all month here in Ottawa. And thats not even mentioning the windchill factor. I'm tired of this. I can't wait for Spring... I want to mow the lawn in February too!!!!

Wil,

As I predicted you are a hypocrite. As soon as you noticed the volume of opposing voices to your anti-American anti-war sentiments you censor those thoughts by removing the comments section. I bet you are the first to FIGHT for free speech...unless of course it is speech that is in direct opposition to your own beliefs.

Wil - I got the exact same error. I tried a 'make clean' just in case, and it still did the same thing.

Next, I'm going to try to *shudder* reboot, and try again. I haven't had to reboot since installing my NVidia drivers for X about three weeks ago; which, incedentally, was the same day I finally made the switch from Windows. Yay!

man...i also enjoyed todays post...
kinda quiet, easy going...slice of life type thing..
wow...and to read that you dig pink floyd and were singing 'dogs'?
shit man...i thought you were cool before, but now you've achieved 'SERIOUSLY freakin cool' status...
man..i love that album...been a big floyd fan for years....

do i love raymond...
uh....not raymond so much, tho he does have his moments..and he is a pretty solid comedian...
but that cast is great..
brad garret as his brother robert has an amazing sense of timing, and his wicked deadpan delivery kills me..
and peter boyle is a legend..
loved him ever since i first saw him in taxi driver....

that being said, tho...
the gist of everybody loves raymond was done better when Ray ramano was just doing his voice over on Dr. Katz as one of the patients
it was the same stuff, and obviously still all about his family...but wwwwaaaaaayyyy funnier...and the squiggly cartooning was perfect...
anyhow...
cheers on the book wil....man...i am SOOO looking forward to this...

and by the sounds of it, you're publishing it yourself?...i mean...you're looking for a printer?

wow...how totally cool...
very Ani DiFranco of you!

smart decision...
youre gonna sell a ton of books man...make sure you print enough...
or atleast ask us here or let us pre-order so you don't print to many/ or to few...

later dude...

tyson

Not only do I not love Raymond-
I hate Raymond and refuse to watch that half hour of television.
I'm glad to see some folks share my views

Dark Tower was cool. All I can remember of it was the bazzar and brigands, though. First RPG I played. Very, very fun and didn't take days/game. More like a couple of hours, but it was a long time ago. Maybe it took less time.

#1, I totally agree with the green, mowed lawn shoes. I don't particularly cherish the act of mowing the lawn, but I definitely appreciate that summery/springy smell.

#2, Anything Greek = Good. Just for the record.

Wil, based on your question about publishers I would strongly encourage you to read this article:

http://www.sfwa.org/writing/anti-scam.htm

Celebrities a lot less interesting than you have gotten their autobiographies published by the mainstream press. Spend some more time trying for that before paying a publisher. Having a complete, polished manuscript should be a great advantage to you. Good luck!

What problems are you having with CUPS?
My problems always seem to center around either the printer driver or the config file in /etc/cups

Just use Mandrake 9.0 (9.1 will probably be out in March or April).

Dark Tower rocked. I can still remember some of the sound effects. It *might* still be at my parent's house. I'll have to check the next time I'm there.

I loved Dark Tower. I think I still have it somewhere. The sound of the crypts opening would freak me out at first. I used to get so tense waiting to see if I was in for a fight or not. Oh, yeah, good times.
Thanks for bringing that memory back!!!

..

*GULP* You mean.... the WWF is FAKE ?!?!?!?

..

;)

Wil,

Just this week I'm putting final touches on my own book before it goes back to the publisher. They've had it for some weeks, with a copyeditor who has queried me on stylistic points, clarifications of some things in the text (it's an astronomy book), etc. Now I have one last chance to put in her corrections, any corrections I want to make (plus additional images and illustrations), before it goes to be typeset and laid out on paper.

One thing I've learned after doing a half dozen books myself is to ALWAYS keep a pristine file of the stuff you send to layout and typesetting. When you get back the typeset copy for final approval, go over it with that pristine printout to make sure that every word gets on the pages. Believe it or not, layout folks occasionally miss lines and words, esp. over page breaks. When you are happy with it and approve the copy, then go back and match the page numbering scheme on your personal electronic copy with the layout on the proof pages. When you go to update for a second edition, it will be fairly easy to fix any typoes, etc. that made it onto the page anyway.

It sounds like you're self-publishing, so I don't know much about that. But if you ever need services of a copy-editor, well... I know how to do that. Copy-editors are invaluable as dispassionate "back-up" readers. They help you fix pesky stuff like commas, grammar booboos, and point out where story flow needs to be tightened, etc. It's not the same as acting as the writer, but the CE gives you "real world" feedback from the POV of the reader.

Anyway, be sure whoever you get to do your printing allows you at least one typeset draft to look over and make corrections to as part of the service.

Good luck! You're almost there!

I work(Computer Tech) for a printing company that's pretty cool. A Mid-size printing company in Ann Arbor called Malloy Incorporated. As far as geekness goes we print all the O'reilly books ( and a good portion of Peachpit books too). And it's a family run company, so no corporate bs.

But I'm looking forward to reading your book no matter who prints it.

wow, I can't believe you said that you hate puddle of mudd and POD in one sentence then in another you state that Jimmy Eat World has one of the best songs you ever heard. Thanks for that laugh out loud moment! I really appreciated it.

Whenever I hear that "Everybody Loves Raymond," I immediately think of this National Enquirer cover I saw at the grocery store. It was the lady who plays the mother on the show. She looked extremely angry!

The headline?

"I hate Raymond!"

Guess you had to see it.

Wil, loved this entry! Hope you don't take it down later. It's neat to just get inside your head and see where your thoughts ramble. I do that on paper a lot, myself. This was a fun read!

Tracey

Hey, I still have my old muscle men. Yes, I had the brick wall guy as well, if fact, there were many different guys made out of 'brick'. Most of them has some kind of sun pattern on them as well.

Clear Skies.
W'raa

If Riker would have listen to you in the first place, the Traveller would have never taken you to the outer rim of the universe.

God damn you, Riker....

...God damn you

Wil,

Thanks for the stream. It was a delight to read!

"Flubber" was on USA the other night, and you were very cute and smug.

Cheers!

Ahhh, Dark Tower, the goodness of memories. Thanks for that little ride down the stream.

Hehe...sounds a lot like my online journal...Jimmy Eat World rocks, man. I think "Get It Faster" is one of my all-time favorite songs.

I hate Raymond.

For the record, even though I COMPLETELY disagree with your ENTIRE political beliefs system, I still have huge amounts of respect for you as a person, actor, and writer. Isn't this a great country we live in?

Wil,

If you're having problems with CUPS, try the following:

1) make sure that cupsd is running:
/etc/init.d/cupsd start
2) add it to your services if it's not:
chkconfig --add cupsd
3) configure your printer. RH8 is good with its tools that way. Buy you may even try the web utility:
http://localhost:631

Hopefully that works for you.

Oh, and keep on writing man. Journaling is a good way to keep going about it. :-D

Jimmy eats world sound like someone is strangling a cat. Puddle of Mudd and all that sound like them are pretty good to me.

Difference of opinion.

Ultimately very interesting to see what streams from Wil's mind as well as to watch what people pick up on and comment about.

Anyway:
Wil, you might look at garnome. It's supposed to be able to install Gnome or KDE but under a separate directory so you can try it out before installing it on your system:

http://www.gnome.org/~jdub/garnome

Dark Tower runs on eBay for $100? Why doesn't MB still make the thing? I betcha you could get a computerized tower together super-cheap, and still make hella hella profit off of it.

Oh well. I would like to concur with everyone who sings Dark Tower's praises. A better board game has never, but never, been devised.

Well, maybe chess is up there.

And allow me to throw my take into those who thinks Wil needs to take another listen to POD as well. I still remember hearing "Selah" for the first time and being blown away. And since that was two or three years BEFORE "Rock The Party..." well, you tend to have more invested emotionally in bands you knew about way before everyone else.

So I'm biased. So sue.

chuck

Who the hell is this Raymond guy anyway. I never heard of him until the show. I watched a couple of them, GEEEEEEZUZ, what's funny about a bunch of people who get their laughs out of making sarcastic and hurtfull jibes at each other....

Come to think of it, some of my family is like this....sigh.....their not funny either.

Wil:

There is nothing quite like a challenge.

Circular mowing sounds like fun.

Do you start in the middle or the outside?

I may want to try that, but alas.. mine will be oval, darn rectangular lot.

TJ