Are books made of paper a dying medium? I think not

Of course, this is the opinion of someone who:

1. doesn't like Apple products (please don't send me emails/comments that start with "You iTouch/iPhone/iOther hating Nazi")


2. doesn't believe in DRM restrictions (if I don't allow Big Brother to come into my house and swipe my paperbacks off my bookshelves, why would I let Amazon?)


3. doesn't really have the money to afford a decent e-reader at about $250 a pop and then electronic versions of a book which can't really be shared with friends easily and are still more expensive than a mass market coupled with a 30% off coupon from Borders or a used copy from Bookman's.

Why am I talking about ebooks? Because I tried to find an e-reader program today to install on my computer so I could read some free ebooks I'd collected. And thus the headache began. I admit, I wanted a freeware version since I don't read enough ebooks to warrant any kind of investment, but I did try many free trial softwares. And I came to an important conclusion: there's too many different formats for ebooks and no program that adequately reads all of them. Even the ones that boasted reading "many different formats" ran into snags. I ended up having to download 3 separate programs. Some were very snazzy, but had sacrificed ease of usability for "oooh aaah" factor, while some were butt ugly, highly easy to use, but only allowed for one or two formats.

So until the day comes with someone makes an ebook reader with an ebook software that's user-friendly and affordable, I think I'm gonna stick to the old school stuff of paper. And boy do I sometimes need my fix...in order to read what happened next in a new series I may be slightly addicted to, I drove down to Borders yesterday at 10pm (B&N changed their hours) and plunked down my money for the next book. Then spent five minutes in my car stroking the cover and going "My precious." (not really...or did I? :P )

I am now a year older...

...but this isn't a birthday post (I'll probably do that Sunday, since I'm going to really be celebrating Saturday).

This is a post to update my last one, which was a bit (*ahem*) depressed and stressed out. I threw off my problems to focus on myself yesterday (sometimes you gotta make it all about yourself) and I had a wonderfully enjoyable day full of friends, loved ones, and celebrations. I also got a helluva lot of writing done. Is it kinda sad I decided to write on my birthday? I don't think so; I had a full day and writing is really enjoyable for me. Plus, I finally finished a major scene, one between Tayce and Dorian, which I had been planning since the beginning of the book. It came out beautifully, I enjoyed writing it thoroughly, and I'm excited to see what reaction it'll get from the critique group. :D

I've also decided that, for this book, Tayce and Dorian's relationship theme song is "What Would Happen" by Meredith Brooks. It's pretty fitting for the romantic subplot they go through.



Anyway, the awesome thing is that with that chapter done, I now know how many chapters are left: three. I have three chapters of "Tayce" left and then I'm done. I can't believe it. :o

And now I'm off to fill out more paperwork (joys), then I might find a quiet spot somewhere and do a tad more writing. I'm so close to the end that I'm really excited to finish!