Alas, Due to a confluence of planning, I had assumed that I would be here for about a year. I was in Milton Keynes for about six months, while the company said they were trying to get me work and residency permits for Germany (Munich). Given their inability to make that happen in the short term, I decided that I would move to Edinburgh, and once the permits were in place (next Fall sometime), I would move from here to down there.
>From Edinburgh, the flights to Germany cost about the same but the cost of living is about 70% of what MK is, and it doesn't take hours to get to the airports (Gatwick or LHR, although sometimes I could use Luton). Turns out they (the company) weren't actually getting the permits, indeed they decided that it would cost too much, so instead they made me redundant, just before Christmas. Eh. Such is my life. So instead I will be here for about 60 more days, at which time I either need a new corporate sponsor to remain (Tier 2 visa), or I need to leave the country. https://www.linkedin.com/in/aentity :) in case you or somebody you know are hiring. Actually, Ray, if you have any friends down your way at Northrop Grumman ... :D ) I've decided to use the 60 days to do some re-edits on some novellas ("Stowaway" and "Deflection Point"), write another novella in that same universe ("Stale Chips") (all three about 120k words), and hopefully finish the light rom-com thriller ("A Fictional Account") which will come in at around 85k words. Of those ~200k, about 75k will be new and the rest polish, which is almost exactly a Nanowrimo/day rate, so is quite reasonable. As an aside, Charles Stross recently blogged that the Novella is actually making a resurgence in the market, given the ability for writers to self-publish now. His thought is that a Novella (45-65k words) is actually a better length for a self-published work, as it represents a less expensive "buy-in" by a prospective reader, they don't need to spend as much money (or time) to find out if a writer can actually put two words together in order to be entertaining. Anyway, I'll write "Stale Chips" and self-pub the three and see what happens. This is now street address #50 in 50 years. I made a spreadsheet in case I have to apply for a security clearance. rip On Sat, Jan 3, 2015 at 4:22 PM, Raymond Feist <[email protected]> wrote: > > On Jan 3, 2015, at 4:02 AM, Richard Williamson <[email protected]> > wrote: > > Yep. > > I moved to Edinburgh* just before Christmas. This is unrelated to my > enjoyment of the finest thing in life (single malt whiskey). It is, > however, an enabler :/ > > Anyway. A bottle of 18yo Glengoyne at the distillery: gbp 72. At the > local whiskey shop at Northbridge (across from the Prêt if you're here), it > is gbp 77, although I've seen it on sale for gbp 69. in US$ that's around > $110 (using the distillery shop price, at the current www.xe.com exchange > rate). > > A friend can order it at her local liquor store in Branford, CT for $105. > qed. > > rip > > > When I was building my collection, I did a fair bit of online shopping in > the UK (mostly London, which has the deeper discounts (by comparison, deep > is a relative term)) Best prices are US, Japan, and Portugal (not so much > for deep cut, but mostly rarer stuff collectors are selling off—some > surprisingly cheap for what they’re offering). > > The nice thing about getting the collection close to where I want, I could > slow down at get fussy, looking for the great bargains. > > Anyway, love Edinburgh, though the weather isn’t all that, but the city > has loads of charm. How long you planning on being there, oh Wandering One? > > Best, R.E.F. > >
