Dear Friends, I haven’t blogged since last month because I have been busy getting my latest novel The Hanalei House ready for publication. That’s going well but it always seems to take longer than I expect. There are always unforeseen obstacles that get in the way.
I had to buy a new laptop because Windows 7 is no longer under support. I waited until the new year to do that. After much research and price watching from before the holidays (the price on one computer actually went up on Black Friday), I decided to buy a Lenovo laptop. They are made in China. I wanted to buy something manufactured in the U.S. but for what I wanted the price was more than I budgeted.
On January 2nd, I went online to Office Depot, who had the laptop at a price I was willing to pay. I ordered it and went to my nearest Office Depot store five minutes from home. I took it home and it didn’t take long before it was up and running with some of my old software. It was so much faster than the old computer and I was happy.
After about two days, I noticed a thin green line down the middle of the screen. I thought to myself, oh, that’s nice they divide your document in half. I went along with the green line a few more days because I was busy editing my novel and I didn’t want to stop that task. When I finished the edit, I went on Google and asked about the green line. Lots of hits came up indicating it was a known problem and Lenovo was replacing the laptops with green lines.
I repacked it in the box and took it back to Office Depot. They advised me to reset it to its original factory settings which would remove all my proprietary software. If you’ve ever done this, it takes a long time, almost three hours. I brought it back to the store and they had another in stock. This time I didn’t reload all my software for a few days. But now, I am happily typing away on this new computer with no green lines.
Most new laptops today, don’t give you more than two USB ports. A friend recommended an inexpensive four-port USB interface. That solved my need for extra ports. Many of the new laptops don’t come with CD/DVD drives. This one has a drive.
I also switched to Microsoft Office 365. I like this new version of Word. It has a feature that will read your text back to you. I love that—being able to hear your book read to you. I found it to be an invaluable tool for editing. I’m still not sure what they are charging monthly for the product. It has some other nice features too—like a symbol table containing accents for words and lots of other useful symbols that you can insert into your document when needed.
Another setback came when I called my editor/cover designer and found out she couldn’t work on my new book because of a move to another state. I think I have finally found people to perform those tasks and will be moving towards designing the cover and proofing the novel in the following weeks.
Most recently, I’ve come down with a viral infection that is knocking the heck out of me. It seems like as you get older these things are harder to shake. It has certainly slowed me down.
I'm happy that the early reviewers of The Hanalei House have enjoyed it so I’m looking forward to getting it out there.
THE FOLLOWING IS AN UPDATE ON THE ALBATROSS AT THE NONI FARM ON KAUAI:
Howling wind, torrential rain, and monstrous surf… crashing into the cliffside home of our Laysan albatross. Although albatross choose Hawaii to escape the North Pacific’s extreme winter, this paradise has challenges of its own. Kauai, being one of the wettest spots in the world, is a tough environment for these dedicated parents to raise their young.
Mom and Dad must endure blustering winter storms for their exhausting 60-day incubation. Both share the responsibility of keeping the egg warm, their tummies full and a watchful eye for predators. We are very egg-cited for this unique eggs-perience of observing these egg-cellent parents!!!
