There's a new version of Puppy Linux, which is very exciting. I'm trying it out now, and so far so good.

I've been using Linux for twelve years, as near as I can figure it. I use Puppy for most things. For the few things that Puppy can't do, I use Mandriva and PC Linux.

paper and pixels

One thing that I do use Mandriva for, Open Office to be precise, is laying out books. That's how I did A Sane Woman. I've been working on a second book, of the Jan Sleet mystery stories, but I've put that project on hold.

I do believe, as is talked about here, that reading on paper is different than reading on the screen. Everything I write (well, all the fiction) is written by hand first, usually with a fountain pen. Then I put it into the computer and edit it and edit it, and then (as with the writer of the article) I print it out and immediately see everything that's wrong with it.

When I was working on the book I made a lot of notes of corrections and changes (mostly very minor), and my thinking was that I would make the corrections in the book, which would be the definitive version, and I wouldn't try to make them all on the web as well.

But that doesn't really make sense. The fact is that most people who read my stuff read it on the net, or by printing it out (hence the convenient printable mysteries), rather than by ordering a copy of A Sane Woman. So, once "The Sister Mystery" is done I will start to go back and make those changes in the online version. And, since both the blog and the printable mysteries draw from the same database, both will be updated.

I will do the book at some point, but I want to wait for another reason, too. Since the mystery stories have, rather unexpectedly, turned into the story of Jan and Marshall adding Ron to their family, I want to see a bit more about how that's going to go before I put it on paper.

Oh, and speaking of "The Sister Mystery," more is posted, starting here.