It has been more than a month since my last work on Siboot. The number of diversions is frustrating: a long trip, Thanksgiving, a severe cold snap that kept me busy maintaining the house in working order, a bad cold that put me out of operation for 11 days. AAAAARRRGHHH!!!
At last I am well enough that I think I can resume work on Siboot, even though my mind is still a bit fuzzy. That’s the worst part of colds for me: they dull the edge of my thinking, making it harder to concentrate. Although I’m running at maybe 70% of my IQ, I can begin work.
But what should I work on? The obvious thing would be to pick up where I left off, trying to work out the details of lying. That, however, was a particularly tricky problem, and I fear that any decisions I make now will later prove to have been stupid. I would prefer to tackle one of the less difficult tasks.
I could work on the novel. I just added a couple more stories, but one of them has some flaws. I’ll keep them in mind but I would prefer to let inspiration come to me rather than go chasing after it.
Perhaps I should use some of this time to improve my technical skills. I learn software tools only as I need to; there are always great gaps in my knowledge of a tool that cause headaches. These are the tools I use and my estimate of my grasp of their capabilities:
| Application | Usage | Familiarity | why bother? |
|---|---|---|---|
| Sandvox | website editor | 50% | |
| Eclipse | programming | 25% | I'll never learn this monster |
| Pages | word processor | 80% | |
| Pixelmator | image processor | 70% | |
| Numbers | spreadsheet | 40% | I don't use this often enough to need to master it |
| Keynote | slideshow editor | 60% | I don't use this often enough to need to master it |
| OmniGraffle | drawing | 60% | |
| HTML, CSS | web pages | 60% | I've never learned HTML5 |
| Java | programming | 60% | I still don't understand parts of SWAT written by others |
Then there are some programming tasks I should consider for Siboot. So far, my rule has been to get the storyworld functional first and THEN start to think about changes to Storyteller to improve the UI and presentation. I know that this is the correct path, but if I’m feeling becalmed with the storyworld, could I make better use of my time by working on graphics and animation?
I draw no conclusions from all this; I wrote this essay to organize my thinking.