Techno Challenged

As many of my friends know, I may be able to write but I have no technical talents. I recently noticed that my faithful old laptop was getting slower and slower. I did what every good writer does. I pulled the plug, took out the battery and rebooted. That didn't help!

I then started to unload unnecessary data. I deleted my bad attempts at new books, got rid of all the photos that were blurred or just bad, and started to delete the 7,476 emails I had accumulated. That didn't help!

Slower and slower each day my laptop paused, stopped, and chugged along. I had a reason for fear. Years ago, I had an old computer that suddenly crashed. In the crash I lost a novel I had just completed and was left in tears. I called for help and some genius in India managed to find my novel and emailed it to me. I will never be able to thank him enough.

I swore that I would always back up my work but as the years passed I became lazy. Now the memory of my past pain sent me sorting through my files. I found one finished (in the process of edits) middle-grade book and a few first draft chapters of the sequel. I found two finished manuscripts of the Sisters of the Last Straw series that I had just emailed to my publisher. I discovered two half-finished novels that had been sitting ignored for a few years.

I transferred them via email to my new Chrome Book. That is what I am typing on right now. I feel good! That did help! I've decided that I would finish the amateur edits on the finished middle grade book and then send it to my real editor.

The funny thing is that, as I looked at my unfinished novels, I felt as if I had run into some old friends that I hadn't seen in many years. I wanted to get to know the characters in my half-baked novels.What surprised me was that I decided to finish both novels. Maybe that's God's way. He directs my writing in prayer, imagination, and even through anemic laptops.