Old Writer, New Tricks

Well, middle-aged writer is more accurate. I’m not 103 yet!

I have made a transition in my writing life that I never thought I would accomplish. I have :::gasp!::: finally begun typing in black font on a white screen. It’s almost like typing on white paper. Amazing. Why didn’t I think of this before?

Back in the Blue Ages, when WordPerfect was the word processing program of choice, I became used to typing white font onto a blue screen. One day My Liege came home from work and announced that his employer had converted to this strange new program called Word. We were getting a new computer, and he didn’t want to have to know how to work two word processing programs (plus, back in the Blue Ages the hard drive on our computer was so small that it didn’t have room for two word processing programs). So it was decided that we were moving to Word. I wailed, I gnashed my teeth, I believe I even pulled out some of his hair. I LOVED WordPerfect. For a writer, it’s amazingly simple compared to Word. The Reveal Codes alone was enough to keep me committed to WordPerfect for life.

However, then I learned that not only had my husband’s employer moved to Word, but Word was the program of choice pretty much across the publishing industry. Teeth ground down to gums, I made the transition. But one thing I refused to give up was typing in white font on a blue screen. Typing in black on a white screen hurt my eyes. Plus, it didn’t look pretty. It looked business-like, not creative. It stunk.

Lo and behold, Word has a “white font on blue screen” option for those of who were dragged kicking and screaming away from WordPerfect. I used that option religiously until this year.

Two things happened. (1) My eyes are older and weaker than they used to be, so suddenly the black font on white screen doesn’t seem so harsh; and (2) as my frequent blog readers know, my desktop died. I had a full manuscript request, so I was forced to work on My Liege’s and Youngest Son’s laptops. They both type black on white. Afeared of screwing up their laptops somehow, and noting that the laptop screen wasn’t as big (and therefore not as blinding) as my 19-inch desktop LCD monitor, and rationalizing that I was only editing not creating, I boldy went where my fingers had not gone before and typed black on white. And after a few days it wasn’t that bad.

Then the weirdest thing happened. I loaded Word onto my new desktop, opened a document, cursed that the default was once again black on white, went into the options panel and changed it to white on blue, then…decided the blue screen was too bright. Yes, finally, finally, after all these years, I have made the conversion. It will be interesting to see if it sticks. Having submitted that requested full manuscript, I am now returning to revisions on my single title. Revisions I can manage typing black on white. I do most of my revising with pen and ink, anyway. But when I finish those revisions and finally start crafting a new story, that will be the real test.

Have you forced yourself to learn new writer tricks? The other biggie for me was going from two spaces after a period to one. When I finally decided to make the move, it only took my fingers three or four days to become accustomed to not typing that extra space. I thought it would take forever. Not so.

Maybe there’s hope for me with the tiny keyboard on my new netbook, after all. It’s replacing my old AlphaSmart, and if I could type on that, I should be able to type on the netbook keyboard. But I did order a mouse to go with, and I can’t wait until it arrives. I still absolutely abhor touchpads. Maybe someday I’ll get used to them..but not now.

New Toys!

I’m back on-line!

I’m in the process of setting up my new Dell (named Dylan, a unisex handle). When I finish that, I have to set up Daisy, my new netbook. I’ve never even had a laptop before, so I’m excited. Daisy is purple. She’s a Garbera daisy. 🙂 (Not sure of the spelling there).

I like Windows 7, but I need to familiarize myself with it—badly. Today I mainly installed my virus software, then figured out how to update the license so Daisy can use the same software. Then I got a handle on my overflowing in-box. My local geeks (I’m not insulting them—their business name has Geeks in it) initially told me I wouldn’t be able to run Eudora on Windows 7, but when I went to pick up the computer, lo and behold, Eudora was installed. I don’t know if this is because Eudora CAN run on Windows 7, or because I purchased the Professional edition, which allows programs that aren’t compatible with Windows 7 to run on a Virtual XP thingie.

The first thing I need to do tomorrow is change the screen resolution. It’s too tiny for eyes “of my age.” And then begins the slow, laborious process of installing programs. I figure, between two new computers, I should be all caught up by the weekend.

Okay, I just hit some weird button on this crappy entry-level keyboard that is changing all my apostrophes into è. I donèt know how this happens, but I made the same thing happen on the full size keyboard My Liege has hooked up to his old laptop. Itès irritating. I have to restart the computer to get it to stop happening.

Ièm not used to a regular keyboard. I use an ergonomic keyboard. However, lo and behold, when I went to hook up my old ergonomic keyboard, I realized Dylan only accepts keyboards with USB connections. The nerve! My old keyboard had a circular connection. With Dylan requiring a USB connection for the keyboard, I realized that 4 USB slots in the back would not be enough for my purposes. I need 5: scanner, printer, modem, keyboard, mouse. The nerve! So, seeing as I needed a new keyboard anyway (I was told I could buy a thingie to convert my circular connection to USB, but half the letters are worn off the old KB anyway), I had to decide between buying a new, wired ergo keyboard along with a USB pod so I would have more USB connection slots OR buying a new wireless ergo keyboard with wireless mouse that only requires 1 USB  port between them. I opted for the latter option. Ièd better set it up first tomorrow, because I never accidentally make my apostrophes turn into è on ergo keyboards.

The nerve!

RITA Books!

I received my RITA books to judge today, and I’m a happy camper. Last year was my first year to judge, and I was sent 9 books. This year I was only sent 6 books. That’s much more manageable. Last year, even though I signed up to judge 3 categories, I received 8 books from one category. Not an ideal situation. This year, I have books from 3 categories, and some are different categories than I judged last year, so I’m greatly looking forward to it. 

I’ll dig in this weekend. I’ve ordered my new computer, but it won’t be here for two weeks. I also ordered a netbook as a belated birthday present from My Liege. He wanted to take me to an electronics store and help me pick one out, but I already knew what I wanted and it was just so easy to buy the netbook while ordering the new tower. I got a better deal by ordering both from the same supplier, too.

Now M.L. has to go out and buy me a little something extra, because it’s just not right that I should buy a birthday present for myself. Aren’t I clever?  

I’m back to editing the requested full manuscript. Today I’m on Youngest Son’s laptop. Yesterday, I was on M.L.’s. Y.S. has Word 2007, so I’m experiencing a learning curve, that’s for sure.

Delbert December 2005 – January 2010 R.I.P.

It’s official—my computer  is dead! Delbert needs a new hard drive (on top of the virus issues which first sent him to the shop), and now that Windows 7 is out (Delbert had XP), My Liege and I decided it’s time I get a new tower. I don’t need a monitor, speakers, etc., so it shouldn’t be too much damage. The cost of replacing the hard drive is too high to seriously consider for a 5-year-old computer.

So now I’m researching new towers while continuing editing/polishing the requested full manuscript on M.L.’s or Youngest Son’s laptops. The computer dying lost me a good two days on the manu request, which was further complicated by the fact that I went to Mexico to celebrate a milestone birthday in the company of my parents. I had a wonderful time and just returned Friday night. Will post pictures once I have my new computer. I’ll probably get another Dell. This will make our second Dell desktop purchase and we’ve also made two Dell laptop purchases in the past. M.L.’s job offers a discount that is usually too good to pass up. The computer techs who looked at my hard drive told me they see the fewest hardware failures on Dell above all other brands (no, they don’t sell them),  so that gives me good incentive to be a repeat customer.

In Mexico, I was able to check on my email using my father’s laptop, but somehow couldn’t find time to research Delbert replacements or work on the requested manu in nice, sunny weather. Instead, I read a ton of books, spent quality time with the ‘rents, and visited an out-of-the-way beach (IOW, not the beaches in front of the hotels). I haven’t gone somewhere in the winter for 13 years, so it was a nice change. Unfortunately, M.L. had to stay home for business considerations, and it was a good thing he did. The weather is wreaking havoc in my part of the continent, alternately freezing and melting. We had a huge melt while I was gone, and M.L. spent my birthday attempting to protect our basement from flooding. He did a great job, but the old detached garage that houses his motorcycle suffered some damage. Better that than our house!

If he had gone to Mexico with me, I can’t imagine what a mess the basement would have been in when we got home.

Anyway, this is my convoluted way of saying that I’ll be scarce on-line until I have my new computer all set up and files transferred, programs loaded, etc. I do have a guest blogger visiting next week, and luckily I scheduled her posts before I left. So that guest blog and book give-away will still go ahead. I won’t be visiting blogs, etc., myself until I’m on my own computer again, but I promise I’ll catch up with my blog and Twitter and Facebook (Scrabble!) friends when I can.

Kaput

Popping in to say I’m kind of here…in some format. I’m in the midst of editing/polishing a full manuscript request, which has been made more difficult by a pleasant circumstance and also a very unpleasant one—my computer is “deaded,” as Allie McBeagle would say. I’m posting from a borrowed laptop.  You’ll all have to carry on without me. More on the pleasant circumstance when Delbert (the computer) recovers. Please keep him in your thoughts. :::sob:::

Kindles for Canadians! At Last!

Yes, you heard it here – probably last. The Kindle is finally available in Canada. Well, we have to buy it from the U.S. Kindle store, but the point is, we can finally buy it. And, depending on where you live in the Great White North, we can use the wireless technology to download books, too.

I checked the service area for my town, and the wireless technology IS available. You know what this means, don’t you? Anyone who wants to buy me a Kindle and ship it to me for Christmas can now do so. Feel free!

In other news, only two days remain in my 2009 BOX ‘O BOOKS HOLIDAY GIVE-AWAY. For details on how to enter, click here.