A comedy of errors ensued when my main little computer went on the fritz. It was pretty clearly a bettery problem and that's what they said at the computer store, though they have still not restored it. Though I didn't back it up, I have most of my stuff on the web somewhere else anyway so could have just lived without it as my wife suggested - she said it's better to get a newer one cheap than to fix the battery of an older one that will be obsolete soon anyway.

Nevertheless under pressure I agreed to have them replace the battery, an expensive proposition. But meanwhile at home other things fell apart.

The one I use that has Word, I use for writing, but it keeps blinking off, much to my great aggravation. It's very old, and has been doing this for some time, and I figure, if all I use it for is Word, writing my book, I'll be ok. But now I can't resist opening up for the web stuff - what's happening on Amazon, book reviews, etc., all this stuff I have going. As I open it more, it blinks off more. It's still functioning but very delicate.

So I open up the family computer, Horse, and start to use it. It too has Word, and also has both Firefox and Chrome, like the blinker (old silver computer). Horse is slow-loading. Someone put a malfunctioning Origin on it and I have to force quit it every time. I also have to force-quit Word itself which opens automatically but seems to get caught on stuff as it opens and messes up the opening of everything else. All I want is Firefox or Chrome, and possibly to work on my book, which is in Word.

The Firefoxes of these computers are getting increasingly outdated and just can't handle what goes on in the modern world. That's partly because the computers have ancient operating systems and the Firefoxes can't be updated on old operating systems. The Chromes are a little better at that. But the Chromes don't have any of my information: passwords to get into Facebook, Goodreads, e-mail, etc. I have to import all those passwords and start out all over.

So I get to work and set up Chrome on Horse so that I can at least function minimally while they are waiting for the battery for my work computer. I have Chrome going on Horse and am importing all these passwords and bookmarks and setups, when it dies suddenly completely and thoroughly. Nothing. No blink, no nothing.

Now I'm totally depressed and start just using my phone, which, after all, has a few of the web things, and is as connected as I keep it. And it doesn't ever blink off for any reason which becomes my main qualification. I try charging Horse to no avail (its charging is apparently a little spotty) and leave it to charge overnight a few times, also to no avail. Though a few days later it actually starts, much to my surprise, which means that though its main battery may be very low at least a charging system works once in a while. Juice is coming through the plugs. Hallelujiah. That was the most recent copy of my book, on Horse. Now I've got it back.

A lot of things are lost when I live on Horse. Immediate access to lots of marketing photos, uploading ability to Instagram and Bluesky, which I still haven't recovered, sound for my listening exercises for my new cochlear implant. Turns out I was doing a lot of things on that little computer and I really miss it. Zoom is another one, did both my zooms on the phone. It was possible but different, awkward, inconvenient.

Back in the battle for now. A new Beauty and the Beast ought to be coming out, any time now. Then it's back to work on something more mundane.

clever scams

When you're a writer you get inundated by people asking you what inspired your writing. They send the same message to thousands of writers, so if it implies they've actually read your writing it's probably a wrong inference. In fact they are rarely specific about what actually they have read though when you ask them they will immediately find something. If you're quick you'll notice that it's total bullshit every time. They haven't read anything.

I have noticed several things besides the fact that talking to them at all is generally unproductive. It's unproductive because I'm 100% indie and they are totally focused on making me a trailer movie, or helping me find my perfect audience and exploit its infinite opportunities. We go back and forth sometimes but generally it's unproductive for both of us. If they want to hear about what inspired me, it's only because they want to use it to get a foot in the door.

Finally one of them found the perfect thing to say to me. It was that they were in contact with a film producer and wanted two works to present to them for making possible movies. Yes! I'd always imagined someone making movies of my book(s). So I answered. Big mistake. Now he wants to know if I have a professionally done film trailer.

Disappointment; he's just like the rest only slightly more clever with the foot in the door. Oh did I mention that the vast majority are from an oil-rich nation in Africa with good internet access but thousands of people with no way to make a living. And did I mention that they have found e-mail - not that my e-mail address was ever a secret, but more that using e-mail seems to them a better way of getting you to talk about what inspired you (this seems to be a hook, to flatter an author's ego), than other methods. It doesn't work for me. I don't really want to talk about inspiration on e-mail.

Apparently the vast majority of them are unsuccessful, too. They are in no better position to find my ideal audience than I am, and are a wide ocean away from it which is more important in terms of understanding it than actually reaching it, which is easy in this virtual age. So they make a trailer, you give them $20, or $50 or whatever, but then what do you do with it? I don't really need a YouTube presence, or TikTok for that matter though I realize that's where millions of young people are hanging out. But these days it's contrddictory: if they're hanging out at Youtube or Tiktok, they're not reading, and probably not looking for books to pick up either.

My default response is to ignore them: ignore the email, ignore the private FB message, ignore their question about my inspiration. Yes I was inspired, somewhere back there, for each book. It's none of their business how, not that they'd even care.