Donaldson Mailing List

Post by **wayfriend** » Thu Mar 24, 2016 1:55 pm

For past 14 months, I've struggling with a story called "Seventh Decimate" (the Short Novel Formerly Known As "Meltman's SEVENTH DECIMATE").

Actually, I'm as curious about a guy named "Meltman" as I am about a seventh decimate.

"Decimate" means to destroy 1/10th of something. You have to destroy 1/10th of something 7 times to get it down to below half of the original amount.

Yeah: no.

I did a poor job of communicating why the protagonist holds my interest.

I am certainly glad for the rewrite if this is the case.

But I think this also shows that SRD isn't in a rush. Which is a good thing. If he started trying to get things done in a hurry, I would get worried.

(wait for it) a trilogy. (I don't know whether to laugh or cry.)

Trilogies have certainly gone from de rigueur to cliche.

But somehow, SRD just sees a story in his head and says "3 books". I'm not sure if this is some sort of gut instinct or an analysis of the plot, though.

The second book I think of "The Intersection of Knowledge and Evil," while the third is "Gift of the Ungifted."

SRD is displaying a gift for intriguing titles, anyway.

[I fixed up the picture above.]

Post by **wayfriend** » Thu Mar 24, 2016 7:21 pm

Avatar wrote:(StevieG - an update to the server prevents us from posting anything with extended ascii characters, damn it.)

I started an infotopic about this. See The "406 Not Acceptable" Thread. Point confused people at this.

Post by **Sorus** » Thu Mar 24, 2016 11:18 pm

New SRD is always good news.

New Gap would be better news.

Post by **Avatar** » Fri Mar 25, 2016 5:02 am

These days I look at a trilogy and think "Only three books?"

--A

Post by **wayfriend** » Thu Sep 08, 2016 5:35 pm

Another edition of the mailing list came out recently.

But for the past several months, I've been in the strange position of being asked by my publishers not to announce anything about my current work. Why? you may well ask.

News about T7D, TKJ, TAG, and the movie are included. But that picture of Donaldson sitting at a desk with that fanny-pack is no longer included. Some different pictures this time.

You can view the entire entry online at link.

Post by **Savor Dam** » Thu Sep 08, 2016 6:25 pm

Link is a good solution, thanks. I tried to post the text yesterday, but just didn't have the time to sanitize out all the smart quotes, apostrophes, and other special characters that make the Watch spit 404 errors.

Post by **kevinswatch** » Fri Sep 09, 2016 2:13 am

I guess I should try to join the mailing list again? I'm still a little spiteful that they didn't add me after the first time I asked.

-jay

Post by **Avatar** » Fri Sep 09, 2016 4:21 am

Hahaha, most people have the opposite problem...they can't get off mailing lists.

Yes, just mail them again...it's possible they just missed your mail.

Savor Dam wrote:Link is a good solution, thanks. I tried to post the text yesterday, but just didn't have the time to sanitize out all the smart quotes, apostrophes, and other special characters that make the Watch spit 404 errors.

SD, if you look at WF's "406" thread, you'll find a link to a tool that will do the "sanitising" for you. You just paste in the text, hit "remove diacriticals" and then copy it out again. Most useful.

--A

Post by **kevinswatch** » Mon Sep 12, 2016 7:56 pm

I think I'm finally on it now.

-jay

Post by **Cagliostro** » Mon Sep 12, 2016 8:19 pm

I keep getting his mail to my spam box. I swear, the more you try to teach gmail....

Post by **Avatar** » Tue Sep 13, 2016 4:16 am

Even after you mark it as "not spam?"

--A

Post by **MsMary** » Tue Sep 13, 2016 8:10 pm

Cagliostro wrote:I keep getting his mail to my spam box. I swear, the more you try to teach gmail....

I have that problem with Hotmail. Never with Gmail. Overall, Gmail is fantastic at separating the spam from the real mail.

Post by **Cagliostro** » Tue Sep 13, 2016 8:26 pm

Avatar wrote:Even after you mark it as "not spam?"

Yep.

Post by **MsMary** » Tue Sep 13, 2016 8:34 pm

Use a filter and tell Gmail to always deliver it to the inbox.

I get emails I want in my inbox that way.

(Funny aside: I got some notifications from a bank that come with big warnings that it's only going in my inbox cause I filtered those emails to do that.

Apparently Gmail thinks these bank notifications are spam but still delivers the emails to my inbox cause I told it to.)

Post by **wayfriend** » Tue Sep 13, 2016 8:34 pm

Cagliostro wrote:
Avatar wrote:Even after you mark it as "not spam?"
Yep.

You have to mark it as spam first. Eight times.

Spam. Spam. Spam. Spam.
Spam. Spam. Spam. Spam.

Then mark it as "well, there's not much spam in it".

Post by **Cagliostro** » Tue Sep 13, 2016 9:19 pm

I've tried that as well. I even had some bloody Vikings behind me singing about it.

Post by **Avatar** » Wed Sep 14, 2016 4:24 am

I generally find them pretty good for the most part. Only have to tell it once that it's not spam.

--A

Post by **StevieG** » Thu Sep 15, 2016 9:51 am

Egg and bacon
Egg, sausage and bacon
Egg and Spam
Egg, bacon and Spam
Egg, bacon, sausage and Spam
Spam, bacon, sausage and Spam
Spam, egg, Spam, Spam, bacon and Spam
Spam, Spam, Spam, egg and Spam
Spam, Spam, Spam, Spam, Spam, Spam, baked beans, Spam, Spam, Spam and Spam
Lobster Thermidor aux crevettes with a Mornay sauce, garnished with truffle pate, brandy and a fried egg on top, and Spam.

I have recently (in the last couple of months) been receiving emails that shouldn't go into spam, going into spam... Not sure why but it's a bugger when you find correspondence in there from a week ago and have to respond late.

Never had a problem before then.

Post by **Avatar** » Fri Sep 16, 2016 4:07 am

Same thing happens to me sometimes. Especially at work. I make a point of checking my spam folder every day or so, just in case.

--A

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