I’m typing this post with a brand new keyboard I just put together. This will be a prize on the Writing Excuses Retreat. Here is the keyboard:

I think it looks pretty good!

I built it to match the colors in the WXR Retreat logo: black, green, and yellow. I used yellow keycaps last year, but I think this color configuration is better.

It didn’t come together easily. As I told Melissa this morning, one of the main ingredients of these keyboards is profanity. Every time I made some progress, there would be a little setback. This happens with almost every one of these keyboards, but this one was worse than most. Fortunately, once I’m past the setbacks, the keyboards turn out to be really solid workhorses, and I expect this one will be the same.

It took quite a bit to get myself into a position where I could work on the keyboard at all. I needed to clean a space in my office for doing the soldering. I needed to order more parts. Then there was wrestling with my finicky printer to produce a good base. More importantly, I had to get out of my dark headspace

I’ve been in a funk lately. And slowly but surely, I think I’m crawling out of it. Finishing this keyboard is a big part of that.

I need to start drafting the next Mel Walker story. I have a good idea. I have pent up excitement for the project. I just need to get out of my own way and do the work.

In the mean time, I’m boosting myself by getting little things like this keyboard completed. I think the next one I work on, I’ll reach for a higher difficulty. Maybe my next one will be my first wireless construction. We will see.

This keyboard is working well enough, though, so I’ll stop here, but not before reminding you that The Psychic on the Jury is out, and you should buy it. If you haven’t read The Repossessed Ghost and you’re afraid to commit $15 or a few hours into that story, Psychic is a short, cheap introduction to the world of Mel Walker. And if you have read The Repossessed Ghost, well, Psychic is the next story, and it lays some of the foundation material for the next Mel Walker novel.