A
rather self-focused post, I’m afraid.
Being
a creature of habit, this month has been an odd one. As I said at the
start of February, my main computer - a desktop model - crashed and
died, and took my main email set-up with it.
As
my tax returns had just been done, there was a certain kindness in
the machine’s demise. Besides, I knew all was not lost; the
material was merely inaccessible for a while. So, while the big box
was being mended by a generous friend, my days took on a different rhythm.
The email thing.
I
did have a “travelling” gmail account, so
I could email family,
some of my friends and a few essential contacts when away from home,
but with the desktop gone, I was unable to access my main email
account.
Consequently,
for most of February, my main incoming emails were invisible – at
least to me. All the usual information was coming in and/or being
rejected somewhere but, for this patch of time, there was nothing I
can do about it.
I
was concerned about anyone truly trying to reach me and hoped
they’d try other methods.(Sorry, if the silence included you.)
I
was also slightly worried that the offer of a lifetime might have
been rebuffed but I didn’t, truly, think it was likely.
What, however,
was not arriving was the weight of everyday information, from book
releases and media promotions through to shopping and spam. Day by
day, everything felt lighter – and the silence was strangely
liberating. And enjoyable
There
was another sideways effect.
I
tried using my newish laptop much more but the dainty keys responded all too well to the lightest
touch of my fat fingers. Any mis-tap on the key-board set the
laptop swallowing lumps of text before I'd had time to see what was being eaten. In my technically anxious state, I
dare not trust my WIP to my elegant laptop in case I lots the lot.
Instead,
I read and I pottered around the house, doing practical things, and let
myself think about the WIP too. Steadily, while I was away from the tyranny of my
own blooming wads of words, various ideas and answers arrived and useful
thoughts got thunk. The WIP moved on and that was a second delightful
result of my disaster.
Today
is the first day of March, and a new (but not-yet-tried) desktop is in
place and ready.
I am still not sure how my various email setups will
work out, but something will, though I shall try to be less in thrall and maybe unsubscribe more often.
My time away with my New Blue laptop, partly
unconnected, has been unexpectedly useful and we will be staying better working
friends than we were. So a g.ood and useful patch of time, all in all!
That's it. A new month has arrived, so have a good March yourself, and I will try to write a more outgoing post
for the start of April, if that’s possible by then.
Sigh.
By then, it may be a whole other story . . .
Penny
Dolan
6 comments:
Computers: so useful, so tyrannical. I liked this post.
Thank you, Nick. What I've most missed has been the use of the desktop's big screen. Editing is a much harder visual task when you're squinting at the text, and scanning for errors in tense and grammar a lot less accurate - as you'll have noticed in this post. :-)
Glad to hear the WIP is moving on. And there's nothing like leaving it alone for a month to move it on.
Brains and books - strange things that they are - glad that the enforced computerlessness prompted new thoughts on the tome.
I enjoyed this, Penny! The best thing about going North with my tent in the summer for 3 or 4 weeks is I'm off the grid for most of the time, and I so relate to what you're saying. I love all the online social and info - the friendship and buzz of it - but I always feel a bit reluctant to re-engage after I've been away from it for a while.
Sorry I came to this late, Penny, but hope all is well by now. Good luck with both the new desktop and the Big Blue laptop - and, of course, with the WIP!
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