I just finished writing Year of the Dog ! It had a massive plot hole that I had to fix which turned out to be more work than I expected. Here’s a snippet: “Hey, Auntie Nell.” He wrapped his arms around her, bussing her on the cheek and breathing in pikake flowers and shortbread cookies. And suddenly he was nine years old again, and her solid presence had made his chaotic world stable once more. “What are you doing here?” He usually took her to dinner on Wednesday nights, but today was Tuesday. The edges of her smile faltered a little before brightening right back up again. “What, I can’t visit my nephew?” She angled around him to enter his home. “Is this your new house? Looks lovely.” Which was a blatant lie, because the fixer-upper was barely livable, much less acceptable to a neat-freak like his aunt. She also left four matching pink and purple floral suitcases on the stoop behind her. Only then did Ashwin notice the cab driver standing slightly to the side of the walkway. “Can ...
Captain's Log, Stardate 01.27.2009
Okay, that title might be a slight exaggeration, but as a writer, my life is in my hands. And my computer keyboard.
Those of you following me on Twitter know that a few weeks ago, I accidentally spilled water on my keyboard.
Captain Caffeine oh-so-sympathetically said, “Well, you shouldn’t have been drinking near your keyboard.”
But I always have water when I’m working! I drink about 10 glasses a day, more in the summertime since I sweat like a horse.
Well, I did the correct thing—I unplugged it (electrocution is not my preferred way to die) and turned it upside down. And shook it a little.
TWO drops came out.
I also tried compressed air to try to get some of the water out. More drops came out that way (but this might have caused damage—see below).
Then I called Captain Caffeine in a tearful panic, which is when he uttered the wonderfully encouraging words above.
I dried it upside down for three days, then plugged it in. It still didn’t work—several keys wouldn’t work.
Then the Captain told me to try setting it in front of a fan to evaporate the water.
So I did that. For 24 hours straight.
I plugged it in again. The C key still wouldn’t work.
I dissolved into tears.
My friend Tina’s husband worked in IT, and when the tragedy first occurred, he commented on Facebook that most of the time, the keyboard won’t last long after such abuse, and it’s better to just get a new one since they aren’t that expensive.
My shtick was that I had just bought this one! Like a few months ago. Sigh ...
So I bit the bullet and ordered a new one, which finally came today!
My life is once again complete.
This is what I was doing in the meantime:
And this is the new keyboard:
Okay, that title might be a slight exaggeration, but as a writer, my life is in my hands. And my computer keyboard.
Those of you following me on Twitter know that a few weeks ago, I accidentally spilled water on my keyboard.
Captain Caffeine oh-so-sympathetically said, “Well, you shouldn’t have been drinking near your keyboard.”
But I always have water when I’m working! I drink about 10 glasses a day, more in the summertime since I sweat like a horse.
Well, I did the correct thing—I unplugged it (electrocution is not my preferred way to die) and turned it upside down. And shook it a little.
TWO drops came out.
I also tried compressed air to try to get some of the water out. More drops came out that way (but this might have caused damage—see below).
Then I called Captain Caffeine in a tearful panic, which is when he uttered the wonderfully encouraging words above.
I dried it upside down for three days, then plugged it in. It still didn’t work—several keys wouldn’t work.
Then the Captain told me to try setting it in front of a fan to evaporate the water.
So I did that. For 24 hours straight.
I plugged it in again. The C key still wouldn’t work.
I dissolved into tears.
My friend Tina’s husband worked in IT, and when the tragedy first occurred, he commented on Facebook that most of the time, the keyboard won’t last long after such abuse, and it’s better to just get a new one since they aren’t that expensive.
My shtick was that I had just bought this one! Like a few months ago. Sigh ...
So I bit the bullet and ordered a new one, which finally came today!
My life is once again complete.
This is what I was doing in the meantime:
And this is the new keyboard:
Comments
Glad you got your keyboard, oh, and keep drinking that water...just maybe from a glass with a lid that snaps shut. **LOL**
And Captain, you be nice or you'll sleep on the couch tonight.
Camy
Camy
Love the new keyboard. I totally relate to not being able to write. In my last job, I was doing a Master's online and when they forced me tover to 3 AM, I work work on my weekly papers. Once during a finals week, I had the "e" key die on me. Can you imagine? Luckily for me, there was a guy there with an electroncis degree adn he was able to pull the keyboard apart and fix it. He got a huge bacth of chocolate chip cookies he next week.
I am glad you are back to deciding what a character can say or do and not be bound by a missing letter.
Enjoy the water in a big girl cup ;)
Jendi, yes, I do stand up to type. I switch between standing and sitting--the boxes are empty, so it's easy to move my monitor and keyboard down.
Camy