Friday, May 17, 2024

It's Always Something

 KNOT DEAD AGAIN  is out and my editor said that it seemed like another winner.  I did the podcast and it seemed to go well.  And the overlap of projects continued.  I received my copies of the big print version of KILLER HOOKS and I heard from the editor of CLASSY YARNS.  She was letting me know that I'd be getting the edits soon and best of all said that she loved the manuscript.  Always good news.

Meanwhile I am getting together the story for the next Molly book.  I really want to write more of it beyond the first few pages, but realized it would work better if I had a loose synopsis with who the characters are and what's going to happen before I went further.

Writers Police Academy/Killercon is coming up in a few weeks which meant I finally had to set up the laptop I bought months ago.  My old Macbook Air is around ten years old and some things don't work on it.  The new one was on sale and smaller which makes it better for travel.  The nice thing about Apple computers is that they come loaded with programs, but I still need to have actual Word instead of relying on their word processing program Pages.

I needed to set it up for all my mail programs and get Dropbox to work on it.  I put off doing it because I knew that there would be bumps along the way and I was totally focused on finishing the two manuscripts.  With my upcoming trip, I couldn't put it off any longer and went to deal with it over the weekend.

I didn't remember that I had already done some basic setup like the Internet connection and my basic information, along with a sign in password.  So, when I turned it on, the sign in screen came up and I typed in what I assumed was the password, but it wasn't.  I keep track of all my sign in stuff and passwords and when I checked that file on another computer, there was nothing about the new laptop.

I tried again to sign in changing what I capitalized and still no go.  I worried that if I tried too many times that it would lock me out.  I checked online on how to change my password.  There were instructions, but hitting the two keys they suggested didn't do anything.

I started to freakout imagining that the brand new computer would be a waste because I couldn't log into it.  Luckily,  talked to my son who said if worse came to worse, I could take it to the Apple store and have them clear the whole thing and I could start over.  Anxious to get going on that plan, I tried calling the Apple store to make an appointment.  Instead I got a robot voice asking what I wanted and as soon as I explained the problem, the robot  turned me over to a real human tech person.

He totally helped me reset the password and just like that I was back in business.  I dealt with Dropbox after that and of course, it is different than it was on the old Macbook.  I started to work on getting Word, but after going through having Microsoft try to push me to the subscription, I was spent and put it off.  I shelved the whole thing for a couple of days beyond figuring out that I could get just Word without having to buy Office.  The discs are a thing of the past and now it's all downloads.  The last time I downloaded Word for my desktop there were all kinds of problems and it took a long time dealing with a tech before it worked.  It wasn't anything I did wrong, just that that their codes didn't work and I kept getting a new one.  

Now that KNOT DEAD AGAIN is out and I am ready to deal with whatever comes with downloading Word and then the new laptop will be ready for action.

Fingers crossed it goes smoothly.

9 comments:

Patty Jenkins said...

Good morning -- I'm so glad I don't have to deal with all the computer stuff you do -- sounds frustrating just reading what you've gone through!! I think we used Microsoft in the office when I retired, way back in 1999 -- we used very specific programs for the university admissions process. Give me a crochet hook anytime!!

I finished reading "Knot Dead Again" and am looking forward to the "Classy Yarns" and, of course, the next Molly book.

Drop-off for Project Linus is in a week -- I have quite a few blankets ready. The stripes and the speckle yarns have been great to work with. I started at c2c with the stripes but didn't like the way the color changes were showing in the rows so unraveled that and switched to a moss stitch -- it's always good with the multi-colored yarns. Baby blankets were specifically requested so I've done several in pretty baby pastels.

Enjoy your day, and your plotting and planning for all our "friends" in your books.

Linda D Osborn said...

I wrote last week, but somehow the words never made it. I have so little computer skill--I guess I mostly shop !! I have to do that since I never have made it back to driving.

I did include a note to Patty--she had commented that many of the baby blankets being turned in were really too small. I reminded her of the yarn retreat where a woman had everyone making small squares, and she joined them for larger blankets. There was also the huge afgan made by Molly's group, when everyone frantically made squares and attached them. Mason hung it on the wall. Maybe Patty could offer to join some of the doll-sized pieces for a larger child's blanket.

Knot Dead Again is looking good--I am sewing too, so have made it abour 1/3 of the way so far.

Patty said...

Thank you, Linda -- great idea!!

Betty Hechtman said...

Patty, there are lots of benefits of using a computer and they are more user friendly from when I started with one back in the 80sIt's It's just that there is always some frustration particularly since they keep changing things. I just have to be in the right frame of mind to deal with it.

You certainly keep your hook moving. I am sure there are people all over grateful that you are so generous with your skills.

Betty Hechtman said...

Linda, I'm sorry your comment got lost. That's the thing with computers, sometimes weird stuff happens. It is wonderful to be able to shop online if you can't get to stores. Thanks for the reminder about the squares the group made. It's a great idea for those too small blankets that Patty talked about.

Sally Morrison said...

Knot Dead Again is another winner! Getting ready to head to my lanai for a lovely afternoon of Diet Coke, dark chocolate and Knot Dead Again! Happy weekend to you!

Betty Hechtman said...

Sally, thank you!I hope you enjoyed your afternoon.

chkntza said...

I just got my copy of Knot Dead Again in the mail. I am looking forward to reading it and all your future books.
Apple Support is my best friend. I use them a lot to get help.
Good luck with your computer issues. I hope they all resolve.

Betty Hechtman said...

Chkntza, Thank you and I hope you enjoy it. Apple support was great. I really appreciated how patient the guy was.