Basically, my tablet pc died. I do all my inking on the tablet and Black Rose didn’t update this week solely because of that. It WILL return next week – because I already have half a dozen pages inked.
The rest below here is more for readers of the other comics who might miss the news so I’m making sure it’s EVERYWHERE.
I was a bit caught up in the whole, What is wrong with my computer, it won’t turn on! panic. A lot of time was spent on that, getting HP to connect my account to my replacement plan (I had a two year one just in case of such a situation.) I got the tablet sent off yesterday afternoon and it’ll be in their hands tomorrow, which means on Monday they SHOULD start working on it and sometime during the following week it should come back to me … and with luck.. three Mondays from now I’ll have my tablet back.. with luck.
Now, the big issue is that the software I ink on is ON the tablet. It came with it so I can’t install it on my desktop. I have, btw, gone through trying to ink in Photoshop – slooow, unnatural, Flash – smooth, but clunky and Manga Studio EX 3 – not sensitive enough to ink properly, which is apparently a common problem. (I use Painter Essentials to ink… not even an expensive program, can get it for $40, but I intend to get the full Painter 11 at some point and nowhere around here has it for that.) Sooo, I opted to upgrade to Manga Studio EX 4 – which has improved to the ‘right’ feel for inking. Sadly, their order form is annoying. I wanted a physical copy AND a digital download so I could get it and use it immediately. I ordered the physical upgrade and EXPECTED that there would be a link to a digital copy, because anytime I’ve ordered software from anywhere else, you go in and order and you get that option.
Apparently I had a 50/50 chance of getting it right. 9.9 I chose the wrong selection and have had a lovely runaround from their so called ‘support’ which ended in: Most people who order a physical copy don’t want a digital copy.
I am not pleased.
I hope they ship it in time for my next round of inking.
Or sometime around there. I have the first book fully scripted and book two begun. The longer it takes, the better it will be… except that I start panicing the moment anything comes out that remotely sounds like what I’ve concocted. When I originally began updating, it was Underworld (which I did enjoy when I saw it) and now it’s Twilight… which I’ve panned as a sappier Blood and Chocolate. The strange thing is… Black Rose is about VAMPIRES, but in the course of writing it, I fell more in love with the WERES. 
