Lightning Strikes and Journals

We had a storm last night. The kind of lightning crashes that make a person cringe even when she's safe inside. And that might make a smart person get up and unplug her computer. But the deadline for my edits on Angel Sister loom, so I kept on working through the lightning flashes. Until - and of course, you guessed it - until the lightning popped into my computer somehow and knocked it dead. That's sort of a sick feeling. Pushing that on button on your computer and nothing happening. It's happened to me before. Not lightning hits, but just where the computer decided it had computed long enough and gave up the ghost. The last time that happened, I bought a new computer and a laptop too. I wanted backup. So it wasn't a terrible thing last night. I did have backup. It just took time unconnecting and reconnecting and I kept pushing that button on the new computer thinking surely it just needed a few minutes rest. Not.

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You know that Bible verse that says tribulation worketh patience. I think that's why the Lord gave us computers. He knew we needed more patience. So He gave us computers to drive the less technical of us bonkers. But computers aren't all bad. They also let me talk to you and you talk to me even if some of us have never met face to face. It's fun having reading friends and I appreciate those of you who follow the goings on in my writing life and family life here on One Writer's Journal.

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What would you write in your journal today? A lot of us here in KY and all across the country might start out saying, "Wow, it's hot" or maybe "Record breaking heat." The Shakers loved journal writing. And in their journals many of them talked about the work they were doing or the weather or who had come into or left the Society. I got an e-mail from a lady whose grandparents - maybe great grandparents - had grown up in a Shaker village in Maine. She remembered going with her parents to visit the village. Of course her grandparents left the village or she wouldn't have been born. I talked to another person who said all her great uncles and aunts when to the village and only her great grandfather left. So that family didn't have the continuing spread of second cousins and more. Interesting e-mails. I enjoy hearing from readers and potential readers too.

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Got a busy week ahead. Still staying half the time with Mom who isn't improving a lot. And a couple of my granddaughters are to come for their promised overnight visit with Grandma and Pa before they start school. That's a treat for them and for me. Then Thursday I'm doing a booksigning at the Sam's Grand Opening for their store in Nicholasville. That should be a lot of fun. And a new experience for me. You think they'll let me go in and look around without buying a membership? Then Friday my daughter and son-in-law are back in town for a tennis tournament.

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All that's why I was working late last night during the storm to finish my edits on Angel Sister. I really like my characters in this story and I hope readers will too.

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Stay cool and remember to send me an e-mail or leave a comment if you want to take part in August's giveaways. Details are on the Event page of my website. annhgabhart.com

Necessary but Troublesome

~~These wildflowers aren't troublesome. Necessary for the spirit and for the bees. These are Dutchman's britches, my mom's favorite wildflower. For my favorites, I think the trilliums are hard to beat and of course the Jack in the Pulpit is fun to find in the woods. If you look really closely at this picture you can see the little spider that's spinning a web onto the middle flower. I didn't even notice that until I loaded the picture on the computer. Last fall I took my camera out and tried to find a spiderweb for a post I did on how a story line is like a spiderweb with all the interconnections and couldn't find a good web anywhere. And now here this little spider was spinning right in front of my eyes and I didn't even notice him. Or maybe her.

~~But no, the troublesome but necessary thing is my computer. It had a major glitch last night and today. Spent an hour talking to this one troubleshooting guy. He couldn't fix it. Had me punching this key and that key and going into Safe Mode and to the C:/ prompt. I don't know why something called Safe Mode makes me so nervous, but I'm sure my computer will never be safe again when I go into that program. My son would be laughing at me now if he saw that. He's a computer techie. Anyway I finally called the right guy and he had it all working in five minutes. Just goes to show you got to know what's wrong. The first guy didn't and the second guy did. Shame I didn't call the right guy first. But the best thing is I can read my e-mails again. And there was more work on there, but good news too that if I can come up with a nice blurb for my new book, The Seeker, it might get some nice pub. That's the necessary part of the computer and internet. You've got to have it these days. So you put up with the troublesome parts. And if you're like me, wish you knew more about why it gets in trouble.

~~Another necessary but troublesome thing is my titling questionnaire about my book in progress. The one I should be writing more words for right now to meet that looming deadline. Can you believe they actually want me to tell them a title when I have no idea? I mean just because it's only a couple of months until I'm supposed to have it finished. This one is my fourth Shaker book and the others have all been The something. The Outsider. The Believer. The Seeker. But I have run out of ideas to go with The. At least anything that fits with this story. I'm hoping the perfect title will pop in my head before I finish the questionnaire.

~~Then there's that place where they ask you to come up with a couple of snappy sentences to say what your book's about. Two sentences to describe a 100,000 word plus book! If I was good at snappy sentences I'd be writing ad copy. Oh. I guess that's what I'm needing to do. Write some copy that will help the publishers sell my many more words. As you can probably tell, I'm not crazy about filling these things out. I don't know if any author is, but - and here's the not only necessary part but the very welcome part of this troublesome task - but it means I have a new book coming out in the future. And that's not troublesome at all. That's exciting! So I'll keep brainstorming on that title and strain my brain to come up with those snappy sentences.

~~Hope all your necessary tasks are no trouble at all for you this week. And maybe even fun.