This explains my work processes (and why my blogging is so erratic) so much better than anything I could write.

http://hyperboleandahalf.blogspot.com/2010/06/this-is-why-ill-never-be-adult.html

One of the benefits of having your computer take a crap on you is that in many ways you get to start over.  Most of my life exists in digital format at this point.  I back up the important stuff.  i lost some unimportant stuff, and the process of reloading files from the backup gave me the opportunity to sort out shat should stay and what should go, in addition to creating better organization.  I start off with good intentions, but after a while all my new files tend to just get chucked in a couple of places.

In short, my digital world looks largely my my physical world.  I am not a neat freak, but periodically I go through my stuff, reorganize, and throw out the unneeded.  The fact that my husband does not is one of my great pet peeves, not just because it clutters up the house with things he hasn't used in 10 years, but because of the sense of being overly anchored to the past, accumulating nothing but burden which you have to drag forward indefinitely.

Periodically, we need to let go.  Not everything, of course.  There are important things in our past, good or bad, that should continue to be embraced.  But one of the things I did, for example, was trash a pile of old emails from a gaming group I have long ago left for the very reasons shown in the emails: disrespect, cattiness, two-facedness, favortism, etc.  For a long while I kept everything just in case I needed to produce evidence of what was going on.  But let's face it: no one is going to revisit it two years later, and I don't even want to.  Just reading those emails is stressful.  So most of them went into the trash.

It's practical in that it makes my email account easier to sort, but there's also a psychological benefit.  I'm accepting that I am past it.  Those materials no longer matter to me, which is why they are being junked.  I'm moving on.  They are no longer baggage.

So I'm actually kind of enjoying this cleaning phase in the wake of the computer crash.  I can re-prioritize, and put those projects somewhere I can actually find them.

I've gotten delinquent with the blog again.  I'm very bad at this.  Too many projects.  To much work.  yada yada.

On top of which, my computer spectacularly died last week, so as I hastily prepare for the new semester (and an entirely new course, which is part of the reason I've gone back into silent mode), I frantically had to buy a new comp and reload software.  I'm still reloading software.  I'm also cleaning out viruses that my new anti-virus apparently is ignoring.

*gah*

This is of particular note to anyone following this for steampunk.  You may have noticed my forum link now goes to a Mexican site.  Not my doing.  The company running the forum can't even explain how it happened.  So, clearly, I need to at least remove the link.  Unfortunately...I'm still reloading the software for that.  And considering it's part of the hobby side of my life, it's kind of low priority.

But I'm getting closer.

I'm a bad, bad blogger. =(

Llywellyn Publications has decided not to accept my manuscript.  However, they did suggest that I set it up as an eBook for the Kindle on my own, which I will probably do.  They are also still open to other manuscripts.  I have a couple small presses I can also approach.

It will take me some time to set this up.  I've been sick for the last month.  A persistent cough has turned into pleurisy, the treatment for which is Vicodin.  I'm feeling much better now, but not terribly useful ;)  I've also been run ragged by the beginning of the school semester, so I'm going to be pretty out of touch for some number of weeks.

Part of the steampunk website is a section of examples of costumes made by myself and others that I break down into individual pieces to illustrate the relative ease of creating such looks.  It can also provide guidepoints for others.  I've just added two new examples, the Man's Casual Attire and my own Severe Outfit in Black and White.

I've added a new page to the steampunk website, with the rather non-creative title of "My First Costume."  This is geared toward people first coming to the site, particularly because they are wishing to attend a steampunk event but are at a loss who to start costuming for it without spending a bunch of money.  This is a quick rundown of the best resources on the website for such a person to read.

After all, that is kind of the central point of the website, and it's the most common circumstance of people I've been suggesting the site too.  Most recently, it's been for people wanting to attend the steampunk ball in Milwaukee today (Thursday), or TeslaCon in November in Madison.

Today there's a rather mind-boggling post over at patheos.com, entitled "Is Wicca a Christian Heresy?"  I'll just let you read it - and my comments over there - for yourselves.  In short, however, I feel it largely just reversed the tired old "Christianity was stolen from paganism" arguments, pointing to a few superficial things and confusing them for central doctrine and beliefs.