My Precious

I am no PhilipEmeagwali but I do consider myself somewhat techno savvy. For example, I am the only one in my house who correctly programs the PVR to make sure we don’t miss a single episode of Pawn Stars. Also, I can change the clocks on all 3 family vehicles without reading a manual AND I know how to operate truly obscure programs like Multimate.

What I lack in the area of technological skill is patience. This is the reason why I’m having huge issues with Windows 8. It’s also the reason why I play Pogo Scrabble only against robots and not live partners. Robots don’t say “brb 1cpkg”. Which translates to “be right back number one child is puking”. I don’t care if your kid is vomiting when I’m waiting to put down the word ‘Qadi’ for 50 points!

Windows 8 is trying my patience and this is from a woman with 4 opinionated teenagers who test me daily. I’m sure there’s a reason why I have to look at giant colorful tiles before I can get to my real screen. I’m sure there’s also a reason why it took me half an hour to find the button to allow me to shut down the computer. 

I keep reminding myself that this laptop was a gift to myself; a reward because I successfully wrote three complete manuscripts in 14 months (a personal record). I deserve my new HP Envy dv6. Especially since I got my last laptop using air mile points and it ran as slow as I do after a round with my physiotherapist. But it’s hard to think of something as a reward when you find yourself yelling obscenities and threatening the piece of machinery with a sledgehammer.

Maybe I should’ve purchased a new laptop before Windows 8? The problem is I have a superstition about completing manuscripts on the same computer where I type the very first word. I was committed to completing those manuscripts on my old Toshiba and now my old work horse that allowed me to write Grounds to Kill and also the next 2 Ghost Dusters, has been retired to kiddie corner where it will be used solely to play Minecraft.

Maybe what I need to do is start a new manuscript on this baby. A new story will keep me focused on Microsoft Word and I can ignore all the other new fangled whatchamadingles associated with this new operating system. 

Now if I can only find Word.

Anything testing your patience these days?

Halloween Clean up Crew

We Have a Title - Woot!

I’d jump for joy if I could! There is now a title for Ghost Dusters 4 - YAY!

It will be called DEAD SUITE. 

No release date yet but when I know, you’ll know.

I’ve also finished Book 5 of the Ghost Dusters - double YAY!!

I’m happily plugging away at the edits these days but I’m still experiencing excruciating shoulder pain (boo hiss). After weeks of physio, cold laser therapy, acupuncture and a cortisone shot I can safely say … I’m exactly the same, if not worse. Sigh. Surgery pending but don’t know when.

So in muted celebration here are some random things I’ve learned over the last few weeks:

* We use our shoulders for practically every movement and you don’t know that until scratching an itch makes you want to punch someone in the face.

* It’s possible to name a character Eddy in one book then totally forget him and name another random character Eddy in the next.

* I miss lemon meringue pie.

* Having a vacation to look forward to is one of my most favorite things.

* Having a book release to look forward to is even better.

* Wanting a new laptop is great but doing all the research to find a good one sucks all the joy out of it.

* That also applies to printers.

* When you’re hurting and miserable your dog will become an unruly, attention-seeking pain in the ass.

* If you clean out the vanity in your bathroom and discover a dozen nearly empty tubes of Aveeno hand cream, you may have a hand cream obsession.

* It is possible to love your physiotherapist and also hate her with a white hot fire that makes you want to skin her alive.

* Drinking coffee does not work well with most medications.

* I care more about my coffee habit than my stomach.

* I can read the same page ten times before I find one error but it only takes my editor one time to find ten errors.

So what are random things you’ve discovered lately?