Happy Friday, everyone.
First things first, the editorial meeting for Maggie 2 went great. We are given green light, but we do have a ton of work to do before September 1st.
They are not asking us to cut for length. ::pauses:: They actually ask for more stuff. This book will be the size of the Subterranean Innkeeper edition.
We will be starting tomorrow with a short story that will kind of lay some foundation, and then we will be moving straight into the edit. But that’s tomorrow.
Today I have a cup of the delicious Sencha tea, and I have time for a short personal post.
Have you noticed how the things that make you happy change in adulthood? When you are an adolescent, a cool outfit can make you ecstatic. But when you move to adulthood, you get excited by things that make your life easier. Sometimes they just have to work and that alone is enough for a dopamine hit.
When we started filling the vellum orders, I asked Gordon to bring the printer from the office into the house. If you are new to our blog, we have a separate building on the property, which has a garage and our office room on the first floor and a tiny apartment above it. The apartment was a huge plus for us, because at the time we bought the house, our kids were old enough for their own space but not quite ready to move out completely.
Anyway, Gordon went to get the printer. It is HP Color Laserjet Pro MFP m283fdw, which is huge, and it weighs about 45lbs. I made the mistake of offering to help and was given the official Man Look of No.
The massive printer was installed in the study on a side table sturdy enough to support it.
Me: plug USB cord into the giant printer. Plug USB cord into PC. Turn printer on. Access Printers on Windows. Click find printer.
Windows: Nope, not there.
Me: plug into different USB slot.
Windows: Still no.
Me: Turn printer off. Turn printer on.
Windows: Naaaah.
Me: Turn everything off. Reboot PC. Reboot printer.
Windows: What is printer? Does anyone know?
Gordon: Have you tried doing it over wireless?
Me: I have and it constantly loses the connection. It has a damn cable. There is a literal cable connecting to to PC. I don’t understand.
Me: Download HP utility app.
HP app: No printer found!
Me, to Gordon: I swear, this is about to turn into a sequel to Office Space. I’m going to drive to Best Buy and buy a f*cking new printer.
Gordon: I will get the keys.
Me: Give me like ten more minutes.
Me: Reboot everything one more time.
Windows: Oh wait, there it is.
Anyway, after about an hour of screwing with all of this, I was able to print the first batch of labels.
Because we are filling orders in batches, the massive printer had to stay in that spot by my desk. It is seriously messing with my ability to relax. I like to have a neat work space, and the less stuff around me, the better. The study is where we spend majority of our time and now there is a giant printer in the middle of things. To make things extra difficult, Tuna became horribly upset because his raised bed has been moved away from my desk to make space for said printer.
After a week of printing labels, the printer stopped.
Printer: You are out of ink!
Me: Okay, fine. How much is an ink cartridge for this thing… $285? Is it gold? Will it clean my house and make me lunch?
I order the new cartridge, and while I’m waiting on it, I see a video on Instagram. It’s a video of a tiny pink printer and that printer is printing labels. And the caption says, “No ink required.”
What is this sorcery?
I google the tiny pink printer, I watch more videos, and I show it to Gordon.
Gordon: Buy it.
I bought it and 24 hours later, I unpacked it.
Here it is, with Gordon’s iPhone for scale on the corner of my desk.
This is how small it is. This is how fast it prints.
It requires no ink. It prints on special thermal paper. And it connects via Bluetooth.
1,600 regular labels cost me $73. 1,000 thermal labels cost me $24.69.
Look, it prints cheap stickers.
Okay, so the stickers are not of amazing BDH quality, but if I wanted to slap them on the back of an envelope or something, they work. Basically, it prints any black image onto a variety of thermal paper.
Gordon took the massive printer back to the office.
I am so happy. So happy. I know it’s a small thing, but I feel like I have my desk back. And most importantly, Tuna can resume his vigil, hehe. It probably makes me a dinosaur, but I had no idea thermal printers existed.
If you want your own tiny printer, this is Phomemo PM64D. You can find it on Amazon. It’s not an affiliate link.
Now the next challenge will be buying a printer that can actually print small scale sticker batches of good quality. I’m eyeing Epson Ecotank 8550 and a cutter.
Well, I am going to go print more labels. I will see you on Saturday or next week. I had fallen off the wagon and bought yarn, so there will be pretty pictures.
That is too cute for words! I wish I needed a label printer 😎
What, I’m first? Is everyone asleep out there? TGIF 🤣🤣🤣
TGIFF! Thank Gort I’m Friday First 😀 (You are! yay)
I want a Thank Gort It’s Friday mercenary sticker!
I bought a new printer when I retired (2014). It’s barely used but my new laptop cannot communicate with printer …I even got my 30 something nephews to try. sigh, I need to buy a new printer.
When I graduated teacher’s college my brand new word processor was a thermal printer.
Highly recommend Brothers printers.
I just got one of these. The laser is amazing!
This!!!
I will never buy another Epson or HP printer again. I still have my Epson because it has a scanner. I have to fight with it every time I want to scan something because it is out of ink and doesn’t want to scan when it is out of ink. How does that make any sense?? What ink does it need to scan??!!! I upgraded to a Brother color laser printer and love it. It always works.
Aren’t label printers fab?
The “Man Look of No” — and I can totally envision it.
I um . . actually have that same HP printer . . . it’s great when it works, but I felt the “what is printer” deep in my soul. I won’t share what I have yelled at my computer and printer.
That pink printer is awesome.
I know we’re all doing the “lots of Maggie words” happy dance.
May your labels print, your tea be comforting, and all the small happies occur in abundance.
I’m glad you’re happy! You’re right, sometimes it’s just the little things that bring us joy.
So excited to hear about Maggie 2 and the size! Tor sounds amazing and I’m glad they recognize a good thing when they have it and agree with the BDH philosophy of more is better (for book pages at least).
May you have a peaceful weekend of tea, yarn, and all the happiness you can get! 🤗
Printer issues are a huge issue for all IT-related people (guilty). So happythat you found one that works AND is cheap. I am in awe. Congratulations.
I mainly use my printer for scanning documents nowadays. I have a printer that works (well most of the time).
After reading the second paragraph, I stood up, went to my book case, looked at the Innkeeper book and –
*bounce* *bounce* *bounce* Squee!
I have a dainty teacup I drink juice or milk out of in the morning with breakfast because I don’t drink tea or coffee. It still makes me happy.
Congrats on your printer.
LOLLLLLLLLL
I understand your printer trials
Thursday, I needed to print a report… whatever I did, it wouldn’t print… it said it was offline… I went to setting, put it online and saw it connect…
When I hit print, it said, printer not online… I canceled my HP eInk subscription… nope, nothing… I had to spend 50 minutes on the phone with an HP agent walking me through the whole thing.
The printer is printing again, but I keep side eying it…
Now you make me want to go find a cute pink printer… I am p*tiently w*ting for my turn to be on the delivery list.
I am glad you are happy. Have a lovely weekend
Oh wow. At first I thought the I phone was the top of the printer. I was like where is the phone. 😂😂😂 that is so cool.
We switched from inkjet to laser several years ago. Inkjets dry up nd become useless, besides the cost of the ink. Highly recommend. May your weekend, bring knitting, tea and huggy cats.
Any of your books can never be too big!!
What a cool way to print labels and stickers! Glad you found a way to reduce your stress and keep Tuna happy! 🤗
It’s the little things that make me happy in the 2nd half of my life – learned to appreciate them with time and with experience.
My vellums and stickers arrived today and I had the happy task of taking down my Owlcrate edition and figuring out where I wanted the inserts. Such a gorgeous book.
I also took down my Innkeeper volume 1 and tried to imagine Maggie 2. That is a huge and heavy book! 767 pages! Good luck on the edits.
Well the noise is a tad off putting for me, but you’re not running it 24/7. And you can’t beat the speed and not buying ink is great. Congrats! Also oooo new yarn project. Fun!
And congrats on the great book edit meeting. More words? You know the BDH is out here whirling with joy. Hoping all the edits go smoothly!
I don’t even need a label printer and that video made my day – enjoy !
They also have this type of paper/printer for cameras! Specifically children’s cameras. I got one for my 3 year old, and it prints black and white photos! Not amazing quality but I also don’t have to buy ink for a child taking photos of *squints* a cat’s ear?
Laughing at the Office Space refence (while also wincing… all too familiar with printer woes.)
And I saw a comedian say printer ink is more expensive than crude oil or human plasma. “What is IN that stuff?”
Also excited for Maggie 2 words!
Yay! Something that makes life easier!
And new yarn? Winning!
I used to work in IT and printers were the bane of my existence. You have no idea how many times I wanted to throw one down the stairwell or turn one into an artificial reef. I am happy to hear that you will get some down time with yarn and tea. Try to stay cool.
I was recently hospitalized (for ~6 weeks) and I listened to TKWNKM on repeat whenever I could. A number of doctors, nurses, and aides now have it on their reading list! Can’t wait for Maggie2!
I bought a new printer when I retired (2014). It’s barely used but my new laptop cannot communicate with printer …I even got my 30 something nephews to try. sigh, I need to buy a new printer.
When I graduated teacher’s college my brand new word processor was a thermal printer.
I love seeing pics of your yarn. I fell off the wagon too! With Hubby’s encouragement. I am allergic to wool. I keep seeing all these gorgeous colorways, and they all were made with wool. I recently found 3 different companies that offer vibrant color with the softness that usually isn’t found with acrylic (they’re a blend of acrylic and polyester). So as a birthday present, I bought enough to make a sweater and a larger scarf (or small shawl) each from the first 2. The yarn is exactly what I was hoping for, and I already made a large scarf. Then I saw the third and thought I would wait a bit, but my husband said to just go ahead and buy it. 🙂 It’s being delivered today.
Glad you had a bit of happy today. mine was ordering my birthday present ( its next week) a new mia tui bag ( they have a little key thing so you never have for fish around for the stupid keys ) its going to be glorious! I will fit all the kids stuff and even have space for the emergency book, and maybe a snack. Which always is a pork pie.
When I was working at our local community college library, I went to a conference and discovered Dyson thermal printers. Miraculous little jewels! We used them to print spine labels and barcodes.
Don’t know if this is allowed, but there’s a comedian on IG that has a series of skits about her printer. Delete if not allowed, but this 100% made me think of your experience:
https://www.instagram.com/p/DQcvpM7ktGf/
And congrats on your streamlined hot new solution. Happy writer = happy horde. <3 Looking forward to Maggie and crew's next adventure!
My mother always said that simple things amuse simple people and I am a simple person easily amused. Little things cause the most unexpected happiness
Effective tools of any kind are a joy! Printers not working is a special kind of pain… I’m thrilled to hear you found a good solution 🙂
You deserve all the yarn for adulting.
::nods sagely::
It sometimes is the little things that make the world work.
At my office I have a Dymo thermal label printer, it might be around the same size as your’s except higher profile as the labels are on a spool inside the printer. File folder labels, address labels, mailing labels. One only has to change the spool if not already loaded.
I was giddy with joy when I got mine.
Enjoy!!
I am currently ridiculously excited because we’ve been looking into a new cloud solution to handle billing, workflow, document storage, and client portals at our office for months and finally signed a contract today. I absolutely cannot wait for implementation, I feel like a kid with a new Lego set. The strangeness of adulting joy is real, HAHAHAHA.
(We’re a tax-focused CPA firm and this is going to make SO MANY THINGS SO MUCH EASIER. And for less than the current solutions we have in place cost, because we’re consolidating three different service providers/software solutions into one!)
My toes curl every time I get “low ink” message. Love the cost savings it gave you. I get excited over cutting cost. Going to research thermal printers
I have an Epson Ecotank 8500 that I got recently – I really wish I had gotten the 8550 now because I just started book binding as a hobby and being able to print wide format artwork would’ve been such a big boon. Aside from that though it takes a little (a lot?) testing just depending on what you’re trying to print, or the effects you’re going for, but it does print beautiful artwork.
Serendipity. Happened to have a whole discussion about that movie Office Space at the, well, office this week. Seeing it mentioned here made my brain go “durrr?” I have been told I need to see it. I’m sure I’ll get around that sometime in the near(ish) future 😊
Size of Subterranean press Innkeeper?!? Bring it on 🙂 Off to clear shelf space…
I feel like this printer is a gift from the book gods, bestowed upon you as a blessing for creating Maggie. May the blessings continue to rain down.
Word of warning on printing on thermal paper: it eventually fades. Perfectly fine for a shipping label and a cute sticker on an envelope, but it might not be legible still in two or three months, if you’re ever planning on using it for anything else (or printing anything months in advance).
But for it’s intended use case, thermal paper is amazing.
Maggie 2: This Brick Will Not Bludgeon Me (But May Bludgeon Someone Else If I Throw It)
They always say Rage Against the Machine was probably about a printer. I feel your frustration in my bones. I have an instant ink subscription, I pay a small fee every month and they send me more when I’m running low. its cheaper than buying a cartridge, usually. But my printer never wants to connect to my laptop and now it thinks my credit card doesn’t work (but it works fine) and shut off my ability to print. I want to throw the entire thing out the window and go back to buying my own ink.
I’m glad you’re happy! And I’m happy as well because Tor wants MORE!!!
Also, the pink printer people are going to wonder about the sudden jump in sales.
One of my favorite scenes from the Movie “Amadeus” (and there weren’t all that many), was when the Duke/Patron, after hearing an amazing composition, tells Mozart that there are too many notes. And Mozart (probably paraphrasing here) replies, “Which notes would you like me to take out?” Thank goodness that Tor is the kind of publisher that wouldn’t say there are too many words. Because the composition would not be as good with less words, or notes.
I’m very excited to hear that Maggie 2 will be a longer book. Hooray for length. “They are not asking us to cut for length. ::pauses:: They actually ask for more stuff. This book will be the size of the Subterranean Innkeeper edition.”
I have a very similar tiny thermal label printer and it has for sure been a game changer! Financial win, easy to use win, moving fast win!
I am so glad you discovered one that works for you and have relocated your desk happiness!!!
yesss yessss all the words!!! 🎉🎉🎉
That mini printer is incredibly satisfying to watch. Love these little sneak peaks into behind the scenes! Thanks so much for sharing and have a wonderful weekend 🙂
Also I started a book journal this year and bought a canon ivy 2 that uses zink paper that requires no ink to print book covers. It’s not great quality but it serves its purposes and I dont have to buy stupid ink cartridges. I haaaaaate buying/using ink cartridges!!! Especially when they won’t let you print anything when 1 color is low even if the others are full!!!!! So I totally understand the love and happiness that comes with thermal paper printing 😅
Hooray for more words! Subterranean Press thickness? That’s going to be a definite door stopper.
Cute printer! Glad it’s working out for you.
What sorcery is this?!
Y’know, I recently strained my back picking up my Sub Press copy of Innkeepers of the floor, so Holy Cats!!!😉
and it’s PINK!!
This is so cute!!! I’ve also found that sometimes the right decision is the cute and easy one
Um, I never heard of a thermal printer. I’m old!
i LOVE office space! i saw that movie back when i was still working in an office and it just hit every single topic i hated about working there. and what they do to that printer, *grins*. i had dreams of doing that to crappy office equipment!
glad you found an awesome new label printer! and YAY for not having to buy more ink and more ink and more ink!
my dad is 80 and has the beginnings of dementia. he used to be the tech savvy one, now he’s asking me for help. last week i had to show him how to select the printer, because his laptop was doing some weird ‘microsoft to pdf’ crap where it’d open a new window and convert your text file that you’re trying to print into a pdf file instead of printing it. why on earth is converting a file to a pdf the default PRINTER selection? when i clicked on select printer, there’s his printer, right there as the second option AFTER pdf. so your ‘what is printer’ story made me laugh in commiseration.
if you have a scrap label to mess with, put a hot cup of tea on top of it. hehehe. heat activated!