Deliberately Muddled

 My aim is to write something easy to be read.  I don't want a reader to have to work too hard.  The point is for it to be a hopefully fun  read that takes them away from the troubles of their world for a while.

Unfortunately, being simple and straight forward does not seem to be the aim of a lot of companies now.  Anthropic stole a bunch of my books, along with a lot of other authors.  There is a class action suit that has led to a settlement.  But in order to be part of it, I had to fill out a lengthy document to qualify.  It was tedious, but I did it.  It seemed finished, but then a week or so ago, I  got a new document I had to deal with.  The publishers were claiming half the money.  The instructions of how to address this new document were confusing and overwhelming.  Not just for me.  There were posts on Facebook and a note from the president of Sisters in Crime about how to deal with it.  It was down to trying to figure out what words like default meant in the publisher's claim.

Once I figured out what it meant, I still had to go through a list of books and  adjust my claim.  Instead of clear instructions how to do it, the ones provided by the law firm handing the settlement were confusing and probably deliberately not helpful.  Eventually, I stopped going in circles and figured it out--at least I hope I did, and did it  correctly.  

That was easy compared to dealing with a Chase bank credit card this week.  I went to the online site to get some information for doing our taxes and a screen popped up trying to get me to go paperless.  I won't go into trying to describe how confusing it was.  I thought that I handled to not going paperless.  And then an email came  that appeared to say that I had agreed to go paperless.  What came after was long and boring, but basically, there was no way to tell if I had agreed to go paperless or to be sure that I let them know I still wanted a paper bill.  The so-called help was all not helpful.  So now all I can do is wait to see if  they continue to send a bill or not. If there's no bill, I will call them and we all know how that goes.

It's the intent that is so bad.  We the customers are treated like the enemy and every effort seems to be made to confuse us.   It seems to be the world now and there's no choice but to deal with it.

Back to writing and trying to keeping those sentences clear. 

 

 

Sneaking In

Gee, it’s Wednesday. And…yes, I’m here. I’ve gotten a bit bogged down in my writing, even though I should be doing it even faster right now. But I didn’t plan this post in a timely manner.

Nevertheless, here I am and here it is.

And I had to struggle a bit to get into this blog today. Why? I don’t know, but I didn’t like it!

Well, maybe my lateness doesn’t matter much since I haven’t gotten a lot of comments lately from you who are reading this. So, consider saying hi!

And now, I’ll get back to that writing. Thanks for at least checking in.

Fixing Woes

 Remember when when installing something meant plugging it in?  When something didn't work, it was clear what the problem was and you either replaced it or got it serviced.  You didn't have to figure out what was wrong with it or fix it.

No more.  I was using an old Macbook Air for some exercise classes I bought and then for a monthly subscription for daily classes.  I decided to end the subscription and suddenly I couldn't sign in to the website and get access to my library of classes.

I sent an email to the company and got back a suggestion to sign in using the whole web address.  It made no difference.  It seemed so odd that it had been fine while the subscription was still in force and now nothing.

Finally, I tried the app on my phone and it worked.  I also tried signing in on a newer Macbook Air and it also worked and I was able to access my library.  So for whatever reason, the old Macbook Air would not work for that website anymore. 

Last week, comments on the blog wouldn't publish.  And despite checking  the help tab and looking online, there were no answers how to fix it.  All I could do was wait and hope it righted itself.  About a day later, it did. 

Luckily, there are a few things that are still old school and don't require being a technology wizard.  My washing machine got out of balance and was suddenly wobbly.  My son was sure you had to adjust the legs from the bottom.  Good luck with that since there isn't even access to the back legs unless you can pull the washing machine out from it's alcove.  My son shook his head when I told him the way I had fixed other washers we'd had with the same problem and even Youtube vidoes backed up.  You have to fuss with the washer, pushing it off the legs and they adjust on their own.  It took me a number of times pushing the front, then the back and then the corners, but the washer is now stable.  

 

And More September

Hey, I mentioned last week that it’s now September. The year is speeding toward its end.

And that means that my next book will soon be published-- a December release!

It’s K-9 Evidence, the first in my new K-9 Crime Solvers series for Harlequin Romantic Suspense. It’s got—big surprise!—K-9s in it, as well as humans who are, or become, private investigators.

Yes, I’m once again writing about dogs. I really enjoy that! I’ve mentioned here my fun and issues about the next two books in that series—still working on them.

Will I ever write books without dogs in them? I’ve been told to consider the possibility, and so I am. But I’d just as soon include animals as well as people, so if not dogs, perhaps some other pets. Or… Well, I’m fascinated by wildlife. I love to see what’s visiting my yard—such as the beautiful, red-breasted hawk who sat on a pole for a while a couple of weeks ago, as well as squirrels, and the hummingbirds who visit our feeders-- and in the park where I exercise, and more, including wild animal parks—as well as animals seen on the safaris I was on a few years ago in Africa.

More about wildlife to come? I won’t be surprised.