The big Meow

[Buran]

Wolfy, some people don't post much but are hear to read posts. It makes some sense.

I come through from time to time but don't post as much as some do.

It's sad to see that only seven chapters are available, still. It IS frustrating that it seems there's always something happening instead of book chapters coming up. I'm hoping things get going again.

I downloaded the chapters that exist so far so I can build a .prc file of the book (so far) for my Kindle as a single document instead of broken up into seven separate books. (I can build ebooks on my own from HTML files via Mobipocket Publisher). I was expecting nine or ten chapters to be up since I last checked a while back.

With the advent of easy publishing of e-books through Amazon, I'd love to see an official version of the final book available for the Kindle. It's true that you'd need a Kindle or an iPhone (to read via the Kindle app) to read the book, but it'd certainly be an easy way to make the book widely available to lots of people, make a profit by selling it that way, and it's probably much less hassle than other methods of publishing.

And, I'm trying to keep home clutter down by getting as many books via Kindle as I can in the future. I'd buy a Kindle version over a physical version (and I am a paid member of the distribution list for the book; I'm wary of doing the same for Wizard of Mars, if that's what's going on with it, due to all the delays for Big Meow... only if it's all there already will I do it.)

[meteorite]

I must needs be patient; some time ago I prepaid for a dead tree version. I haven't moved recently and have no plans to move at present, but hope I get my copy before I need to move again!

[Lazy Leopard]

I'm probably grasping at straws, but Lee mentioned The Big Meow in this post. I'm looking forward to reading the rest of the story. I hope DD can get back to it soon.

[pdurrant]

The Big Meow will be uploaded soon!

According to a recent tweet

http://twitter.com/dduane/statuses/4174520488

in reply to a question about "The Big Meow", Diane has said that she is "Planning to u/l the rest of the book within the next 30 days."

Excellent News!

[Lazy Leopard]

Thanks for that link. I wonder whether that means the rest of TBM is already written, or whether she's expecting to get time to write it soon. She's started on YW10, so I'd expect writing time for other things to be in short supply... but what would I know.

[Garrett Fitzgerald]

I've been reading her tweets over the past couple of days, but that message went completely over my head. Thanks for pointing it out!

*sets aside uninterrupted reading time*

[Lazy Leopard]

Ah, the mysteries of twitter... I think it must've been one of those "directed at an individual" tweets that don't normally come through to other followers, 'cos I missed it too.

Good to know TBM is still on DDs list of things to finish, but I won't hold my breath waiting...

[Kathy Li]

Perhaps, using tweetree to follow DD might help. It has a slightly saner interface than twitter itself for following someone's tweeting.

And yah +1 on the not holding my breath thing. Remember the last blog entry on the wizcast?

Within the next couple of weeks we're going to start doing podcasts of early chapter material from A Wizard of Mars. Stay tuned...

We're still waiting, and that blog entry was dated Valentine's Day 2007.

Still, it's been long enough for Chapters 8-12 of TBM that I'm hopeful.

[Linnette]

I can't wait for the last chapters of Big Meow. Will have to re-read the first few books and chapters to catch up again!

I know my email address has definitely changed since Big Meow started. I'm not even sure how to log into the Big Meow forum anymore. Who should I contact to update the information so that I get notification of new chapters? In the past I have converted the chapters into Mobipocket format for the Big Meow readers and would like to be able to do that for the upcoming chapters as well.

[Lazy Leopard]

I don't think there was ever a The Big Meow forum as such, but the website is alive. It has an independant access list, though.

Sometimes I wish DD wouldn't tell us what she's planning to do, because it seems this project (at least) is afflicted by a horde of gremlins who de-rail any announced plans before they come to fruition. I'd much rather she took us (and the gremlins) by surprise by (say) uploading new chapters without any warning...

[Linnette]

Hi Rick, I actually remembered my login to the Big Meow site and was able to change my email address there. This is a good thing! Now if only the Dark Power would stop targeting this project I would be happy.

Instead of "Chapter X will be uploaded in xx days/weeks," and then having the gremlins eat it, I would love to find a message in my email saying "Chapter X has been uploaded and is ready for subscribers to read."

[Garrett Fitzgerald]

You know, I think I know what the problem is. When we feed the gremlins in the late evening here, it's past midnight where Diane is. No wonder they're causing trouble....

[Trialia]

Should I take on the gremlin-feeding, then? Since I'm in the same time zone Diane is? *G*

Seriously, I would love to see more of TBM sometime... I already paid for a dead-tree copy, but I'd do it again if I thought it would mean an update.

[Linnette]

I have been converting the Big Meow chapters into eBook format as they were published, sending to Diane for posting on the website. I have recently updated the the cover pages for these eBooks in Mobipocket .MOBI format and created the ePub versions. If anyone wants copies of these files please send me a private message with your email and I'll forward a zip files of the first 7 chapters to you in whichever format you prefer.

[SilveredBlue]

"Remember the last blog entry on the wizcast?

We're still waiting, and that blog entry was dated Valentine's Day 2007. "

Still, it's been long enough for Chapters 8-12 of TBM that I'm hopeful.

Hah, I just started listening to the podcasts, and when I heard that I was like, "WHAT??" I wasted fifteen minutes trying to locate that (nonexistent) AWoM podcast, on the Web, on Itunes, you name it. Sigh. No luck.

Sorry, that was pretty random.