The role of a robotic personal assistant

This is Lisa Burton. Personal assistant to author C. S. Boyack, and spokesmodel for his writing career at Entertaining Stories. This is the text he sent me while I was getting ready to put up my feet and watch Game of Thrones.

Craig always writes his own blog, so he must be pretty tired to ask me. He also never gave me a topic, so I'll just pick one myself.

The writing cabin is a strange place. You would think nothing would phase a science fiction character like me, but the forest around here is filled with creatures of legend. There are even extinct species wandering the meadows.

We've had ghosts and witches visit the cabin, and it happens more often that you might think.

Craig spent the last three days working on his new novel, tentatively called The Yak Guy Project. I kind of think he'll publish it under that title one day, but he surprises me every once in a while.

My day starts pretty early. First I head for the kitchen and put on a commercial sized pot of coffee. Then I have to go downstairs and open the garage door so the yak can graze. I always take my big assed gun with me, because you never know when something might want to eat him. The yak is pretty smart, and he talks to me. At least I get some conversation while he grazes.

Craig wrote a bunch on Thursday morning, and I had to print it all off for Ted, the yak guy to read. We've never worked outside before, but yaks aren't really indoor creatures. I had to set up a Teleprompt for the yak. The yak is an excellent reader, but without fingers, he doesn't get along with paper. Thank God for my internal Bluetooth capability, otherwise I'd have to string wires for the Teleprompt.

Craig gave everyone a break at mid-day, except me. He decided to work on a short story involving his super not-quite-hero, Jason Fogg. This left yak guy to fend for himself in the kitchen. He's a nice kid, but he has no idea about cleaning up after himself.

After Craig finished the section with Jason Fogg, he went back to the yak guy story. This involved printing a bunch more paper, and introducing more characters. I used my internal processors to order more paper, and it's a good thing I did. I also ordered pizza, because a cast of characters goes through a lot of food, as well as coffee.

I spent Thursday night cleaning up after everyone, so we could do it all again the next day. I also ordered a samurai sword, because now the story has one.

Friday was more focused. We worked on the yak guy story exclusively. It was kind of a forced march, and I'm pretty sure there will be even more work in editing. I made voice-prints of all the characters, because I usually wind up filling in for them during edits. I have my eye on some pretty cute outfits to help me during the editing phase. The Lady Kokachin wears silk, and I can't wait.

Saturday was more of the same, but Craig started to slow down. He dismissed everyone about lunchtime, and we wound up with cold pizza in the refrigerator. It was decent timing, because I was down to my last sheet of paper again. Craig decided to read, and I ordered more paper.

The coffee didn't go to waste. Craig drank it while he read. I'm kind of glad he decided to take today off. That doesn't mean I get to though.

Today, after walking the yak, I shampooed the carpets, cleaned the kitchen again, and shoveled out the yak's stall. I thought I was finished when I got the text to write this blog.

That's just a small slice of what goes on during writing binges around here. Now it's time to cuddle with Bunny, paint my nails, and see what Jon Snow gets up to.

XOXO

Lisa