Computer Scare

Yesterday, I almost cried. I teetered on the edge of throwing myself on the floor, kicking and crying. I had the latest version of my WIP --the one I've been working on for a couple of years now--on a zip drive. Well, when I plugged it in yesterday, my file --only my WIP file and none other--is corrupted.

I tried all kinds of things to recover a version with most of my changes. Nada.

I called in favors, drove to the state university computer people and begged. Nada.

Finally, got referred to this tiny computer shop --The Computer Stop -- hidden in a shopping strip of burgers, salons and laundromat and pub. Left my baby with them for an agonizing hour. And the staff retrieved most of it. I don't think I've ever been so happy to write out a check!

Moral of the story: Backup, backup, backup. On a weekly basis.

Accidents can happen, files get corrupted, zips get lost. You don't want all your hard work to vanish in an instant.

Okay, I'm breathing again and writing too! :)

Patting Myself on the Back

I'm celebrating a major accomplishment. On Friday, I sent two contest entries winging off into cyberspace. Woo~Hoo! Let the Cyber Champagne flow, the Cyber chocolate makes its rounds. And, of course, send in the Cyber cowboys!

Yes, I know I haven't WON any contest. Merely entered. However, every time I attempt to enter contests there's major hurdles to overcome.

1) Self-Doubt: Suddenly my wonderful story doesn't seem that wonderful anymore. I obsess over every word choice until the last minute. I can't believe I wrote this drivel. I want to call up all my writing friends and seek reassurance. But I like having friends, so I don't.

2)When upset or nervous, I cook or bake. So I spend precious writing time in the kitchen. This time, it was a Pumpkin Spice Bread, pumpkin muffins and pumpkin pudding. I'm really getting into October here.

3)My computer sabotages me. Really. I'm not making this up. Whenever I'm on contest deadline, my computer acts up: the word processor refuses to do the requested formatting, the e-mail goes down etc. etc. What? Operator difficulties, you say? Nope. It's the computer's fault.

So win or lose, just entering contests is a major accomplishment. And I'm celebrating!

Dangerous Typos

Hey y'all came across this post about how a typo resulted in some very sick people. For a reminder that typos can be serious business check this article out:

http://freakonomics.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/09/03/food-magazine-typo-poisons-sweden/

Okay, technophobe here doesn't know how to make the link live...so, cut and paste it into your search engine or google "nutmeg typos" if you want to read the article.

Nicholas Sparks and writing good info

Hey Y'all I was surfing the web talking to my aunt when she mentioned Nicholas Sparks and a movie with Richard Gere being out. I called up the man's page and look what is there, things about writing. If you are interested here is the link: http://nicholassparks.com/WritersCorner/Index.html Kathy, an asprining author, maybe some day lol.

We have a brand new baby girl!

Today my family added an great niece. Well her grandmothe is my sister, so she has brand new granddaughter. But this is my brand new great niece . This is my sister's daughter's baby girl. There will be another one born next month. Her oldest two sons have girls also. The oldest has a 6 almost 7 (on Monday October 6) and the youngest one is 4. They are named Evelyn and Katie. The second oldest son has a daughter named Cinnamin who was 5 in July on the 8th. She lives with her mom but she sees her daddy and his second wife on a regular basis they all live in Germany where the first ones are at Fort Hood/Killeen Texas area. Now this son and his second wife are having a baby in November. But here is our newest aby born today. Please welcome Lillian Rose Maldonado, born at 2:00 pm central daylight time. She weighed 8 pound 6 ounces (a chunky monkey) and was 20.5 inches long. Lillian's mother says she has her daddy's hair and that she is hungry, tired, and hurting after the birth.

The use of apostrophes in Texas

Okay I had to share this, since we are the TXTypos!


I recently got this question:

I have a friend in Alabama who's trying to tell me the difference between "you all" and "ya'll." But I'm still unclear. I thought "ya'll" was for addressing one person (you) and "all ya'll" was for more than one (you guys).


Is that right?

Followed by:

Okay, disregard. LOL. After reading my friend's e-mail THREE times through, I finally figured out what she was trying to say. She was trying to correct my placement of the apostrophe. Hence, "y'all" vs. "ya'll." Apparently, she sees that error all the time in books, and it drives her crazy.

My response:

Yes the apostrophe placement is very important in Texas as in y'all and fixin' to.

Such as Y'all are fixin' to get into a heck of trouble for misusing the apostrophe! :P