I’m trying to get untracked on this new book. Wrote 6 pages Monday, was going great guns, had lots more that I knew where it was going. Tuesday was a bust, because Monday afternoon, the computer died (more on that in a minute) and I had to cart the computer into Amarillo to the fix-it shop to get it fixed. Today, when I went back to write, I got a whole page and a half out of all that stuff I knew about. Then it was time to switch POV, and Phhttbbbttt! Nada. Everything I thought I had I didn’t. No clue what needed to happen next. So I quit and went to play on the internet and let the brain percolate.
The reason the computer died–apparently the garbage truck driver (this is a small town. There’s only one. Only one truck–there may be two drivers) was either hungover or–well, something, because a block or so down from my house, he clipped his second power pole of the day. This time, instead of just leaning the pole over on its lines, the power lines snapped. He was lucky he didn’t electrocute himself. (I have it on good authority–from the mother of a young man who did this to himself and didn’t die–that you just ain’t the same after.)
Anyway, even though the electricity just blinked off for a few seconds, my computer wouldn’t boot back up. At all. I had all my story stuff backed up, but I hadn’t backed up things like website bookmarks or e-mail addresses, or things I needed to reply to, or notes for articles. ACK!!
So, I’m doing this on the backup computer. Because it lives in the son’s bedroom, he thinks it’s his, but it isn’t. I miss my split keyboard (if there are typos, it’s because my hands feel all squished together and I keep sticking them on the wrong keys) and my trackball mouse.
And I’m still not writing.