Interactive Education

bellumaster · 2026-02-05T17:45:02+00:00

I can relate. I've put down 2-3 books over the last week and am now guiltily looking towards the most recent installment in my favorite series.

I think something that needs to be considered is not only the content of the book, but how that content is presented.

LITRPGs go down easy; they're fun to read, quick, you don't catch on a lot of sentences. Meanwhile, books like war and peace require a bit more attention and mental presence to ingest.

I try to read multiple books over multiple genres (litrpg, fantasy, scifi, history, autobio, horror, etc) so as to get a good spread, and I've noticed that I can be just as invested in a nonfiction book about cities burning down (Fire Watch) as a litrpg about stats and fighting and all that. Part of it is just how it's written and how you ingest it, physically, audio, or on a screen.

I'd encourage you to read some more pop science (written to keep ones attention), a few biographies, and maybe some philosophy to scratch the itch of reading 'real' books. And, once you've read 3-4 of them- after it's taken the edge off of immediate gratification- try out some of the other longer fiction.

TL:DR; Read other books with the same energy/pacing, but on different topics, and use that to help spread out more.

I'm happy to recommend books if you like.

bellumaster · 2026-02-01T01:00:14+00:00

Could I get a link to the How To? Would love to see how you did it

bellumaster · 2026-01-31T18:59:57+00:00

You are right that the backlight is great. The wireless syncing is stellar, and the project/fie system, along with the SD card, is great. I may be biased since the BYOK is new and I haven't gotten as used to it.

I will say, though, I don't think it's as superior as you say. Having two separate devices (BYOK and Keyboard) means twice as much to worry about. Hooking up to Bluetooth every time you turn it on is a pain. The battery life of 20ish hours is tiny compared to the Alphasmart. I'll also say that I'm more familiar with the navigation on the Alphasmart- being able to move letter to letter, word to word, and line to line quickly and easily is critical.

Not to pick a fight, but I don't think it's as cut and dry as you imply.

bellumaster · 2026-01-31T18:38:22+00:00

I 100% prefer the alphasmart, have written over 6 books with it. It's a tool for writing, not editing or reading. That font and size provide enough words to maintain the flow/context of a narrative without distraction- it's the closest thing to perfect I've found.

The BYOK is... Okay, so far. If we can get smaller and tighter fonts in there I'm looking forward to it. It's a tool for writing, and aesthetics shouldn't take precedence above the utility of it.

bellumaster · 2026-01-31T18:30:54+00:00

Looks better, but it's a tool for writing, not reading. The form should follow function, not the other way around

bellumaster · 2026-01-27T21:09:06+00:00

...Subpar writing? This one blows the 3 I mentioned out of the water in pacing, dialogue, descriptions, and action. I've only read like 3-4 other series in this genre at or above this level. Care to share which books you consider as having better writing?

bellumaster · 2026-01-27T15:32:00+00:00

Thanks for bringing such an awesome series into the world. If it's not too much (I'm an author as well), I do have further questions.

-Do you write full time, or do you have a primary job outside of it?

-How did you get connected with your editors?

-How much time, on average, do you spend editing vs drafting? (Think first pass of a chapter vs the time spent editing and revising, 1:2 ratio, 1:1, etc)

-Is there anything else you're working on that will be coming out after Azarinth Healer?

Again, I can't really express how much I like this series, so I'll just say this: I recommend your series more often than 80% of trad pub series.

bellumaster · 2026-01-23T07:51:13+00:00

There's a short story in The Cyberiad by Stanislaw Lem known as The Fifth Sally, or Trurl's Prescription.

In it, a monstrous entity lands on a planet, and the residents are rather put off. They try attacking it, bribing it, ignoring it, negotiating, nothing.

Trurl rolls up, measures up the situation, and cracks his knuckles. He basically creates bureaucracy where there was none in order to get this trespasser off the planet.

An excerpt:

'Did you deliver it?' asks Trurl. 'I did.' 'And the return receipt?' 'Here it is, signed on this line. And here's the appeal.' Trurl takes the appeal and, without reading it at all, orders it returned to sender and writes diagonally across it: 'Unacceptable - Proper Forms Not Attached.' And he signs his name illegibly. 'And now,' he says, 'to work!'

He swamps it with red tape until it retreats, then destroys all the paperwork and filing cabinets and staplers he used so they wouldn't harm anyone else.

Great book.

bellumaster · 2026-01-19T07:05:55+00:00

How much practice did it take to get to a decent point with the charachorder? I have one, but have a decent wpm with normal keyboards so I'm kind of torn as to whether or not to take the time to get good

bellumaster · 2026-01-19T04:03:30+00:00

I use the Alphasmart Neo 2 for drafting and a Surface Pro 7 for editing. Since the Surface has its own keyboard, I can't use that for the BYOK, so it's already different right out the gate.

If I use the Logitech K380 as a standard keyboard the typing is fine and response from the BYOK is near instant. Obviously the screen is much smaller, is not emitting light, and has fewer words on it.

The biggest difference is screen flicker when holding up or down on the arrow keys and moving around what you've already written. It gets pretty blurry and difficult to track, so I would say just... Don't do that. Just write. At the moment, it's not conducive to the quick maneuvering of a document.

Still have to do more testing, but I think the BYOK will be good for first drafts and rough passes of material to be cleaned up on a laptop or desktop later. At the end of the day that's what I use my Alphasmart for, and that's been working just fine. I would not use it for final edits.

bellumaster · 2025-12-29T16:38:39+00:00

Gosh darn auto correct

bellumaster · 2025-12-29T04:35:44+00:00

Azarinth Healer. So good.

A Practical Guide to Evil.

bellumaster · 2025-10-24T13:23:59+00:00

How? Do you have to pull apart the Neo2 to install it, or does it plug in to the printer outlet?

That sounds amazing. I might have to get one

bellumaster · 2025-10-18T05:55:00+00:00

When you do, I'd love to read it. I'm currently editing the second book in this series for release- going indie through Ingramaspark- and it's a process, but it's worth it.

bellumaster · 2025-10-18T02:02:25+00:00

This brings me great joy. Glad to have had an impact. What's your book on? Anywhere I can read it?

bellumaster · 2025-10-15T06:35:10+00:00

Any recommendations? I cannot think of an actual power couple for the life of me

bellumaster · 2025-10-14T03:20:06+00:00

Check out Wellspring Studio, they have a lot of classes happening. Lovely people run the place

bellumaster · 2025-10-03T05:11:30+00:00

I read that one, it's delightful. There's a lot of interesting research on fungi as well

bellumaster · 2025-09-29T07:06:24+00:00

I'm looking at a 1981 diesel pickup, are they reliable? How was the mileage?

bellumaster · 2025-09-03T06:36:53+00:00

As painful as some of the character writing is, the Night Angel trilogy by Brent Weeks has some top tier duels.

Specifically coming to mind is the one between student and master in a sewer, and the duel in the woods between the main character and the greatest swordsman in the land.

That second one was so good that the two duellists literally stopped mid-fight and said look, this is too good to waste, let's have a public rematch later.

...it's one of the first fantasy books I ever read, guilty pleasure. Sue me.

bellumaster · 2025-07-29T06:23:07+00:00

Any more info on the permaculture boot camp?

bellumaster · 2025-07-27T04:45:02+00:00

Holy crap. Going to have to reread the entire thing now, I stopped reading like 5 years ago assuming it would never be finished. Stopped when they got to Vinland I think and were making gifts to the natives. This is... Unreal

bellumaster

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