Goodnight Server Room Plushies!

One of the coolest parts of my Goodnight Server Room adventure has been seeing the reactions and creations of readers. One reader, Jenny Laaser, designed and sewed plushie toys based on Goodnight Server Room's "bit" characters. You might have seen one of these plushies on TPT's Almanac.

https://www.tpt.org/almanac/video/the-wrap-goodnight-server-31068/

Jenny has now published the instructions for making your own plushies! You can find them on her web page.

If you're not as deft with the sewing machine as Jenny, you can also order one from my Etsy site!

They are fun to throw

How to Build A Tree Fort

This summer my sons and I built a pretty awesome tree fort (technically it's just a fort near a tree, as we didn't want to injure the tree). Before building, I read through the tree fort guide in the Black and Decker Complete Guide to Outdoor Building. I love Black and Decker's guide books, especially their Home Wiring guide.

Supports

Figure 1: Posts and Rim Joists, Side View from the South

Figure 2: Posts and Rim Joists, Side View from the East

I opted to use concrete "feet" rather than proper footings, as the latter is far more permanent. I used Home Depot's cedar-tone treated lumber for all of the supports. I notched the posts to support the rim joists, as shown in Figure 1.

I wanted the fort to feel "up high" to my kids, so we put the deck about four feet off the ground.

Deck

Platform in progress. The temporary diagonals between the joists keep it square.

The deck is a six foot square platform built with a 2x8" rim joist and 2x4" joists. The joists are supported by a perpendicular 2x4" screwed to the rim joist, as shown in Figure 3. I opted to use this method instead of more expensive joist hangers as the span is short and the load is relatively small.

Figure 3: Joist Support, Side View from the South

Figure 4: Platform, Top View, North Up

Enclosure

I stick-built the enclosure from un-treated 2x4" lumber. The enclosure is a four by six foot structure, four feet tall on one side and six feet tall on the other. 

Figure 5: Enclosure Side View (From the South)

Figure 6: Enclosure Side View (From the East)

After erecting the  frame of the enclosure we sheathed it with plywood. For most of the structure I used 15/32 plywood, though for the rock climbing wall I opted for 29/32.

Enclosure with plywood sheathing

Roof

I ran 2x4" rafters from the west (lower) side to the east (higher) side, covered that with plywood, and then used tin roofing. 

Siding

My parents gave us some extra cedar shingles, enough to cover about half of the enclosure. The only place I could find additional cedar shingles was Fleet Farm. We stained them and stapled them. 

Porch

I used cedar boards for decking on the porch and treated cedar tone 2x2" boards for the railing.

Windows

I used 1" pine boards to build box windows, then I use a table saw to cut grooves in them for insect screen attachment.

Window with grooves cut for rubber screen attachment

Nuts and Bolts

For most structural connections I used GRK 2.5" star drive self-piloting construction screws. These are more expensive than most other screws, but the cost is absolutely worth it. Note that as the rim joists sit directly on the posts, I did not need to use lag bolts. 

The best screws in the universe

Writing from Start to Finish

I'm teaching a course called, "Writing from Start to Finish" at Mercy Vineyard Church April 18th and 25th. For anyone in the class, or anyone else interested, here are the slides. I pulled out the references for quick access.

• Class slides
• Critique Target (April 18th)
• Writing Prompt (April 25th)
• Mercy Writers Google Group

References

• Publishing 101 by Jane Friedman
• Describes the publishing process in frank terms
• On Writing by Stephen King
• A guide to writing fiction that digs into an King’s writing process
• The Elements of Style by Strunk and White
• Grammar, sentence structure, clarity. Clarity!
• Query Tracker
• A website that lists literary agents and provides tools for keeping track of query letters
• Reddit
• What makes a good critique?
• https://www.reddit.com/r/writingcritiques/
• https://www.reddit.com/r/DestructiveReaders/
• Pixar tips for storytelling

The Points Don't Matter, Except When They Do

Update: The game is live at gsrgame.smithdtyler.com!

Over the last couple of months I've been doing classroom trials of the Goodnight Server Room app. I've tested the app with toddlers, second graders, middle school students, and even a few college students.  What surprised me most was how quickly the second graders caught on to the concepts in the game, but second most was just how much everybody loves getting points.

300 points, but I'm just getting started

The app lets students proceed through the games as quickly as they want - there aren't gates or levels like you might find in traditional video games. I wanted it that way so that my preschooler would not get stuck on the first page.

Usually when I have a room full of students playing the game a few of them race through it in a couple of minutes.

I see hands go up, "I'm done!"

"How many points did you get?" I ask.

"750!" someone shouts.

"900!" comes the challenge from across the room.

With this exchange the timbre of the whole room suddenly shifts. The activity is no longer about just going through the steps to move on to the next thing. Now it's about exploring. I don't tell the students how to get points, I just let them search. It doesn't take long for them to discover that they keep getting more points by solving more binary puzzles.

Students at Sauk Middle School playing Goodnight Server Room

Now they're not just engaged, they're actively seeking out opportunities to learn (though by now they've gotten that part, they're just having fun).

My changing Facebook calculus

For years I lived in an awkward truce with Facebook. Facebook hosted my family photos, political rants, and updates on side projects. In exchange, I accepted that Facebook would use my profile information to show me targeted advertisements. I even made some of those advertisements myself to help market my books.

This week's revelation that Facebook's lax rules on app developers sharing profile information led to 50 million people's profiles being used for electioneering broke the truce. I don't know if my profile information was shared, but it's clear that millions of people had their information released to a third party without their consent.

Unlike other data breach cases, this wasn't a hack. This was just a clear illustration of Facebook's lack of concern for user privacy. This broke the truce.

I'm not going to delete my account. In an age of identity theft and imposter accounts, Facebook still provides a useful tool for asserting my identity. Quitting entirely would leave a Tyler-sized hole in Facebook that could be used to confuse my friends and relatives. Facebook still provides a useful way for me to foster confidence in my public key on the part of my friends.

What I am going to do is delete the majority of my content. Facebook broke the truce, so I'm taking away the content that helps drive traffic and generate their revenue.

Coloring Pages!

Emily Krueger made a couple of awesome coloring pages for Goodnight Server Room! Click on the links below for high resolution versions. Printing and copying for personal and classroom use is permitted.

High Resolution

High Resolution

How to Print a Board Book

For a self published author, printing a board book is surprisingly difficult. Here's how I made it work.

For most types of books, printing today is remarkably easy. CreateSpace and similar print-on-demand services allow self published authors to print paperback copies of their work in small quantities without destroying their profit margins. Boutique printers like Lulu offer hardcover prints at workable prices. Almost nobody offers board book printing.

My Board Book: Goodnight Server Room

I considered a handful of board book printers that work with self published authors:

• Print Ninja - Print Ninja offers overseas printing with U.S. based support.
• Pint Size Productions - Pint Size productions (printer of Sandra Boynton books) is the only printer I could find that prints in the U.S. 
• China One Printing - China One offers overseas printing with U.S. based support. Their online presence is much smaller than Print Ninja. 

Here's an overview of the key decision points. Note that these values reflect a snapshot and will change over time. I did not have shipping details for all quantities, so some costs are estimates based on quoted shipping for other quantities. Go directly to the companies for an accurate quote. 

Comparison of estimated unit costs, including shipping

Tip One: Shipping will get you

The table above includes shipping in all unit prices. Print Ninja's shipping costs were particularly high. I made the mistake of planning expenses based on Print Ninja's pre-shipping price, rather than their post-shipping price. They charge nearly $900 to ship 500 books, and over $1,300 to ship 2,000 books. Before making a decision, always check shipping costs.

Books are typically sold wholesale at about 50% of the retail price. That means I could expect to sell a board book like Goodnight Server Room to retailers for about $5.00. If I had opted for a small quantity, I would have had virtually no profit margin. Faced with this constraint, I decided to bite the bullet and order 2,000 copies.

Tip Two: Printing takes a long time 

I opted to use China One Printing. While I had hoped to use a U.S. manufacturer, the higher cost of Pint Size productions ruled them out. China One has an outdated web page and minimal staff, but I decided to trust them based on a recommendation from the author of Goodnight Loon. 

Printing took a quite a while (even though everything went perfectly). Here's a timeline:

• August 2nd - Interior and exterior design files transferred
• August 17th - Interior proof print shipped
• ~September 1st - Printing begins
• October 13th - Printing complete
• November 20th - Book shipment clears U.S. customs
• November 27th - Book shipment arrives in Minnesota
• November 28th - I received the books

Tip Three: Get a physical proof

When I opened the boxes of books for the first time, I knew I had absolutely no recourse if the books did not turn out the way I wanted. I had 170 or so KickStarter backers eagerly expecting their books by Christmas and I did not have enough money left over to re-order if there was a problem. Thankfully, I was not too concerned. Why? Because I had paid the extra couple hundred dollars to get a physical proof. 

Printed proof of Goodnight Server Room

China One printed the interior of the book without the board book backing and sent it to me for approval before they printed the real books.

You can buy your own copy of Goodnight Server Room on Etsy!