Update: The Winds of Change

 It’s official: Extasy Books will no longer be selling directly from their site. This change was implemented on January 1, 2025, and is due to rising costs of publication and more. It was decided after a long and difficult deliberation by the owner, Tina.

Please note that Extasy Books is not going out of business. They are changing their business model to something closer to what we see at Decadent Publishing, where Eternity’s Gamble is published. We’re just not going to have our books published directly on Extasy’s site, only third party sites like Amazon, Barnes & Noble, and Indigo for example. We’re still able to get the print versions of our books if they’re over a certain word count, and in pretty much every format in ebooks.

The amount of new releases will be a lot less than they have been in the past, so it may be a while before some of the authors have sequels and new releases hit the shelves. So please do not get upset if your favorite Ex author doesn’t have a new release for a bit. Edits, revisions, cover art and more take time.

All of the books I have published via Extasy Books will remain under their banner indefinitely. I don’t know when I’ll be submitting another story, due to how slow I write as a rule, and other variables hitting me between the eyes this last year. More on that later.

You can still see the new releases, and find our books via Extasy Books’ site. We’re all submitting our Books2Read or Amazon profiles to be included on the main site so it’s easy to find us and our books on the third party retailers.

Honestly, I’m not really upset about the change in format for Extasy publishing their books. Most of my sales came from third party sellers like Amazon as it is, and I’m used to not seeing a book for sale directly from the publisher, due to being with Decadent Publishing for the last three years (already?!???). I’m determined to strut along as usual, just posting my Books2Read link instead of the Extasy Books one for the six books I have out with them. It’s not a big change.

Upcoming Books… And a New Venture!

In lieu of Extasy Books’ change in publishing, I’ve decided to take a huge leap and do something really crazy…

I’m going to be publishing at least one novel as an Indie author. His Reasons to Fight, the finale of the Feathered Tartan series, will be coming out sometime in 2028 or 2029. It depends on how fast I can write it, edit it, have my friend/editor Jon edit it, and more.

I’m working on the cover now, and I will be doing a cover reveal about a month or so before the release date. This is the happy ever after to my latest book, Could Have Been, which was published in May 2024. I’ve decided to take it Indie so I can publish it when I want to, on my own schedule, and so fans can partake in it being on Kindle Unlimited for a while before it goes wide – to places like Smashwords, Indigo and more.

©2025 V.J. Allison Art. No downloading or sharing without my written permission.

I also have another book in the works, a love story called Thorns of the Rose. I’m not giving away any details other than I have the cover completed, and this has been in the works for a couple of years, but with Could Have Been taking up a lot of my time, and more, it was on the back burner. Now that I have a bit of direction with His Reasons to Fight, I’m working on this one when I hit a roadblock with the other book. It’s slow going but both are starting to come along nicely too.

Again, I’m looking at a 2028 or 2029 release for this one. I’m not sure if this one will be going Indie or not. I have to see how things go with His Reasons to Fight and a third idea I’m working on with my friend Xek. (More on that shortly!).

I did do a promo for it… Have a gander.

©2025 V.J. Allison Art. NO downloading or sharing without my written permission.

The cover reveal – if this goes Indie – will probably be in November of 2027 at the earliest. Otherwise, it may be sooner or later than that. So many variables…

I’m also in the extremely early planning stages of another paranormal-horror romance that was prompted by a chat with an extremely good friend of mine. No, not sharing yet. Let’s call it “Super Secret Project the Second”.

And I have another series in its ultra-early planning stages, one that I hope to get on the go as soon as I’m done the three I’m working on now, including the crime drama one I’m working on with Xek. Again, not sharing details because nothing is set in concrete. I don’t share details with anyone outside of a few people like my editor/friend Jon, a few of the people at Extasy Books, and a few extremely close friends. I’ve always been a bit cautious about sharing things about my WIPs, and I’m even more so now. I’ll update as needed, like on my author areas and in my Facebook group, etc.

Computer Woes

A month ago, my computer started acting strangely, and when I stood up to check something, I accidentally knocked the plug out of the socket, which turned it off. It would not start after that, creating the loud whine of death.

Thankfully I still had the computer that my former Business Tech instructor gave me in 2023, not long before the semester ended. After trying to get the old computer started for two days, I got the newer system, set it up and installed the old computer’s disk in it.

The dratted thing decided it was going to repair the disk. Two days of fighting with it. I finally gave up and decided to skip the repair… Only to have Windows do a forced update, and then I saw it…

The dreaded Blue Screen of Death…

Three times.

It took a lot of thinking, quadruple checking, and more, but after forcing a system restore, I managed to get it up and running again.

If you know me at all, you probably just saw me in your mind, cursing a blue streak so long that it hit the Oort Cloud and returned something like 20 times over that weekend. There was a lot more cuss words bouncing off the Oort Cloud again, after the forced updates f**ked up the computer for a while.

Finally, things were setting up nicely. Then I tried accessing my User Folder on my old drive.

Access denied.

I cried. All of my manuscripts were in that folder, and I had forgotten to back them up in recent months, not since Could Have Been was published. Thorns of the Rose was there, as was what little I had for His Reasons to Fight.

I kept trying to get access for two whole weeks. I was ready to give up then tried right clicking on the dang thing and hitting “open” when the menu came up as a last resort.

Boom! Access granted!

I screamed in victory and almost fainted in relief. I had my graphics, my manuscripts, and everything else again.

I immediately backed everything up on the external drive as well as my Google drive to be extra safe. The incarnations of those stories and others that were there when the old system croaked will stay there, and I’ll be putting backups on that drive too. Triple backups, not double, to be extra safe.

Remind me to never be that negligent again…

*Note: If you laugh about anything you think is “bad” or “karma” for me, you are one of the worst people on this planet. It shows the world the kind of person you are, not who I am. Keep that in mind before you think it’s only fitting I’ve had a few issues, your karma may wind up biting you in ways you’re not realizing, or you’re blaming on others.*

Other News…

Son is still at his transition school but this is his last year. He’ll be graduating from there in June, and we’ll be sad to say goodbye to his friends and teachers there. He had a good two and a half year run with them, and he’s come a long way since he started there in 2023. He’s become so much more independent, from cooking his own meals in the microwave or the toaster oven, to purchasing his own groceries and more. I’m so proud of him. He’ll probably be living here for the rest of my life, and I’m okay with that. He’s great company and such a good person. The best out there.

He’s also participating in a work placement that teaches him skills like stocking shelves, shredding papers, using various things like cash registers and so much more. They also have a lot of recreation like trips to museums and more included in the program so he’s always on the go with them too. He’s there three days a week at the moment, while he’s at his transition school only twice per week until graduation. This is a year round thing, and we started doing the work placement over the summer, so I’m able to work more during July and August instead of taking those two months off like I had been during his full time tenure as a student. Bonus!

My art has picked up a bit, notably after hitting Michaels’ crafts for the first time this summer. To say I can spend hours in the art area alone is an understatement. It is so relaxing to walk the aisle of art supplies, from acrylics to watercolors and pastels, to the pretty wooden cutouts and the beautifully huge canvases they have in stock, and so much more. I always wind up going somewhat broke after hitting that store, and it’s become a running joke here. Don’t go to Bayer’s Lake Shopping Park without stopping into Michaels’, or else V.J. will lose it. Since I get my occipital nerve blocks in another part that park, there’s always time to make a short – read two hour – stop into the store… And to their location of my favorite national thrift store chain. I’m always looking for a bargain, and I’ve found a lot – from a leather fall/spring coat to art supplies, and from a full length (read down to my ankles) leather winter coat with a hood to a designer purse I didn’t realize was one until I got it home. I only picked it up because it has purple roses on it, my signature as an author, and its colors are my signatures too – black, purple, white and silver. It’s a Betsey Johnson original, and it’s so pretty! I love it.

Inside of the Betsey Johnson purse. So pretty!

Outside of the purse. Purple roses!

I do have a lot more on the go, but I’ve rambled on too much as it is. I’ll drop another update when I remember to… Hopefully before summer rolls around in six months!

Happy 2025, everyone. May this year be gentle for all of us.

I leave you with “What About Love” by one of my favorite bands, Heart. Nancy Wilson is my favorite female guitarist of all time, and she rocks circles around most of her male counterparts in my opinion… Anyway, enjoy the song! Have a great first weekend of 2025, everyone.

AWAY TO ME on PREORDER - And an Update!

I finally have a Release Day for Away to Me – September 20, 2019 – THIS FRIDAY!

You can preorder it at eXtasy Books website – it will land on your bookshelf the moment the book goes live. If you don’t know how to set things up for you to download from their site, check out their EREADER INSTRUCTIONS page. Once you have things set up, all you have to do is click on “DOWNLOAD” and tell the site where to send it. Easy, right?

I’m so excited about Away to Me being released. It’s a great story that covers a lot of issues, and has a touch of humor in it. Raising a teenager isn’t easy, and we all know how life tends to throw you out of whack sometimes. Toss in old feelings resurfacing with your troubled past, and it’s sure to be one heck of a wild ride.

Away to Me is about family, overcoming one’s troubled past, and finding that one special person to love forever.

Away to Me

Tagline: Sometimes you have to go back to move forward.

What would you do if you found out your late spouse wasn’t the biological parent of your stepchild as they had led you to believe? Would you let it go, in hopes the child wouldn’t go looking for their birth family, or would you help them in their search?

This is the dilemma Neil Falcon faces when he first discovers his late wife, Rita, wasn’t the biological mother of his teenage stepdaughter, Rikki.

His decision to look for her roots puts them on a path that leads them to a part of Neil’s past, one he thought was locked away forever.

Kelsey Wagner is shocked to see the man she once adored appear on her doorstep with claims that Rikki may be her biological child. After finding out her daughter wants her to be a part of her life, she agrees.

Amidst the confusion of raising a teenage daughter, the old feelings resurface. They know their daughter wants them to become a family, but can they make it work?

* * * *

EXCERPT Available On eXtasy Books Website

(You must have an account to see it)

Coming September 20, 2019

* * * *

UPDATE: COMPUTER WOES

Things have been so out of whack here, I’m about three weeks behind in promos, revisions, and everything else!

First of all, the power supply unit on my Windows 8 system fried itself on August 31, 2019. I was posting something in Romance Divas when we heard a loud POP, and my computer turned off. We tried everything we could, but we could not get it started again. It was really hot, especially around the power unit. I said it sounded like the power supply. The diagnosis was seconded by our local computer tech and a good friend of mine who is also a computer tech.

It was fully confirmed when Hubby took apart the PSU. Sure enough, it’s all fried and melted inside. WARNING: If the sight of fried electronics makes you weep, look away now! You can clearly see the melted diode and other areas that are fried:

It’s toast. Hubby and discussed things and after seeing the price for a PSU designed for a slimline/smaller tower computer (NEVER AGAIN!), we decided to get a refurbished system. It wasn’t that much more, and I’d get a computer I liked – something expandable, none of this “low profile” stuff. It’s an HP that was rebuilt with Windows 10, and had a larger hard drive added to it, plus extra RAM. It’s so PRETTY! I managed to install my old system’s hard drive into it, so I have all of my documents, photos and music. I didn’t lose a damn thing and I’m able to go back to work on Play with Me (Book 2). It’s HUGE, big enough for three hard drives (I have 2 in it now, I’ll be adding a third eventually) and I can soup it up with more RAM and another DVD drive if I want. I love it! Hubby is happy to have the laptop back. I had confiscated it while I didn’t have a system of my own. I still had to work – I’m a master host for Silver Dagger Book Tours, and I was doing promo work for Away to Me – so he was without a computer for almost 2 weeks. Poor bugger. LOL

UPDATE: HURRICANE DORIAN and ITS AFTERMATH

Hurricane Dorian hitting the Bahamas made international news. They were completely devastated by the storm, which was one of the slowest moving things I’ve ever seen.

My province also made international headlines when Dorian, at that point only a Category 2 hurricane, came up the coast and walloped us. It started Saturday morning, and was done by that evening in my end of Nova Scotia. By the time it hit Prince Edward Island, it was still a Cat. 1, and did a bit of damage.

Nova Scotia was flattened. Trees were down everywhere, which knocked down power lines, and damaged buildings, etc. Most of the province was dark for at least a few hours. Some got their power back almost right away. Some were a day or two later. Others were several days, and there are still a few spots without power in the more remote areas of the province. Schools were canceled on Monday and Tuesday.

We were in the group that lost power for over five days. It went out about 11 a.m. our time on Saturday morning, and didn’t reappear until 8 p.m. Thursday night. By then, I was fed up, exhausted, and feeling rather icky from no cooling fan during the night. If it hadn’t been for my mother in law, and Hubby’s uncle in Mahone Bay, we wouldn’t have had clean clothing or showers that week. I was keeping in touch with everyone at eX and other spots via my phone – I was burning data when we had service, and we didn't have much for a couple of days – and hoping the power would come on ASAP. I was falling behind on promos, and everything else associated with releasing a book with eXtasy Books. The new system arrived the day after the lights returned. Perfectly timed!

I am slowly getting back on track. I have two or three new promo posters ready for when Away to Me goes live on Friday. I have all of my documents on the new system’s main drive (500 GB, love it!), so I’m attacking Play with Me shortly. I have the full round of edits from where I left off in August. Thank heavens! (Thank you Shanti and Angie for your help with configuring the old drive!) I’m also in the process of scheduling more Tour Stops from Silver Dagger Book Tours, and prepping things for more eX/DD authors to appear on the blog.

It’s been a long, crazy three weeks for me. I’ll be so glad to see Away to Me go live, and really get back into the swing of things with this new baby. Is September over yet? *THUD*

I leave y’all with a song that holds a lot of meaning for me. 9 years ago today, Hubby’s grandmother Noreen, aka NANNY, passed away, three days before her 79^th birthday. We still miss her, a lot.

I dedicate this song to Nanny, and to my best pal, Heather. Have a great week everyone!

Crazy Summer

This summer has been interesting so far...

My mom was visiting my aunt and uncle the first week of July, so of course, we went to see her a few times.

My aunt has a pool, and one of my mom's favorite activities is to go swimming. I finally have swimwear that fits me right - well the top does, the bottoms need to be brought in a lot, more on that later! - so we went into the pool with her.

The one evening wasn't so bad, except the mosquitoes were out something fierce. We were in for about half an hour or so before we decided it was enough.

That Saturday afternoon, though............

Stupid me forgot to put on waterproof sunblock or wear a t-shirt like I normally do. It was cloudy, and in my haste to get there on time, I forgot to pack something.

I wound up regretting it later that evening. We had spent an entire hour in the pool and of course, me without protection from the sun meant fried skin. I had a horrible sunburn that went from the top part of my back, around to cover both shoulders, the nape of my neck and the top of my boobs.

I was so sore I was in tears. But, that was my own stupidity.

Thank heavens for a certain kind of skin cream and aloe vera gel. Between that and putting cold compresses on the burned areas, it took away most of the pain and I was able to move without wanting to cry.

It took an entire week to heal enough to start peeling, after it blistered. Yeah, it was a really bad one. The worst one I've had since my early 20s. Normally I'm so darn careful because sunburns hurt like merry old hell, and I don't tan, I fry. Think redder than a cooked lobster after 20 minutes or less in the sun. Thank you Scandinavian genes....

In other news, I've been trying to get some work done on "Dream On" and other manuscripts I have saved on the portable hard drive. I wouldn't mind getting at least another standalone story published somehow sometime soon, and since none of the finished drafts are up to publishing standards period, I have a lot of work ahead of me.

Things would be a lot smoother if I was using my desktop system though...

A couple of weeks ago, I noticed things were slow, and the computer wasn't working right at all. I thought it was a virus, so I set it aside while Son and I went to see my mom.

Let's just say I had a hell of a time getting it shut down once we got home again.

When I went to turn it back on to do some diagnostics, Windows wouldn't load, and it would not let me into the Boot Menu.

This led me to wondering if it was a fault in the hard drive's software itself, not a virus. Like a few files got corrupted somehow somewhere along the way and it messed up the entire hard drive.

It finally tried a repair diagnostic, and I let it go.

Six hours later, I wound up pulling the plug.

Diagnosis: Full system failure, due to a faulty hard drive.

In other words, the hardware itself is no good. Whatever was on that drive is now gone for good, what wasn't saved that is, and that wasn't much... Just a few things I was messing around with on GIMP and a few downloaded photos for various things (desktops) that I got back.

I've been using an Acer laptop a friend of mine gave me a couple of years ago... It was originally set up for VISTA, but now has Windows 7 on it. It's a gorgeous computer. My main problems with it is that it has only 1 GB of RAM and Office 7 on it... I'm used to 8 GB of RAM and Office 2013... And a regular keyboard, not the flat keys on a laptop keyboard.

So...... What's going on with the desktop?

Nothing much right now. I do have a hard drive that works - it's from my old Acer computer, the one that decided it was going to keep frying video cards after the one on the motherboard got cooked during a power outage. That one was retired in 2013, and I purchased the Windows 8.1 computer then. It's only a 160 GB drive - compared to the 1 TB drive that was originally in the current desktop system - but it will do for now... I can easily run things from the portable hard drive if needed.

The drive has VISTA on it - that's what I was using the last year or so I was using the Acer system - so it needs to be rebuilt from the OS up, with  Windows 8.1.

I have a copy of that on disk, BUT there's a problem...

It has a different file system formatted on it. Windows 8.1 needs a GPT file system, while VISTA has a completely different one. Now this drive IS compatible with Windows 8.1, so I'm fine there. I just need to talk to a tech about how to format it... Which I'll be doing early next week. Or I hope to do it at least. Things have been so crazy the last while with everything else going on, I'm lucky to remember to get dressed every morning.

So until things are straightened out with the desktop system, I'll be broadcasting to all of you via the laptop, or if you follow my Facebook Fan Page (link to the left of the blog entries!) via my smartphone as well.

It's times like this that I'm grateful I'm so damn meticulous - (anal?) - about backing up my manuscripts and pretty much everything else on my computer... One never knows when something is going to die on them.

I will be upgrading a few things once this stupid computer is rebuilt... Office 2016, anyone? Drool!!!

Quick note about my wellness journey:

I am up to walking a full MILE each time I hit the track! (6 1/3 laps, or 1.6 km) I feel great! It takes me about 20 minutes to do the entire thing, and that's not too darn shabby. I always carry my phone with me, to listen to music while I'm zipping around, and to keep track of my time each lap on the clock app. It keeps me motivated to keep going!

And...

I was weighed about 2 weeks ago...

I'm DOWN ANOTHER THREE POUNDS! *happy dance*

I can tell I am still shrinking, because my jeans are getting looser, and my capris almost fell down the other day when I reached up to get something from a shelf in the bathroom.

I am feeling soooooo much better than I did even two months ago. I feel like myself again.

I am feeling so much like myself that I even went bowling with the guys AFTER I did my laps at the track! I only played 2 strings compared to their 3 but it was still bowling, and tons of fun.

It wore me out but it was worth it.

I hope all of you are having an amazing summer.... And if you are an author like I am, you do not have the hardware problems I've been having. It stinks!

And please, don't be stupid like I was and get a sunburn folks. It wasn't fun!

I leave you with some photos of Crescent Beach.... Have a great weekend everyone!

Moonlight hitting the water.

Seagull!

High tide... It's so high that you can't take your car on the beach at all without it getting soaked by salt water!

Wild pink rose - my favorite flower!

Information about the birds of Crescent Beach.

A prop job plane flying low over the beach and the LaHave Islands.

The government wharf on Bush Island.

One of the many jellyfish we see washed up on shore on the beach, this happens often.

This greeted me when I came downstairs this morning... Hello MONITOR KITTEH!

Computer Mayhem

The last few days have been interesting to say the least.

A few days ago, my computer started acting weird... All of you out there who read my blog on a regular basis know I had to replace the video card about 16 months ago and well, the drivers for it started acting oddly over the weekend, which messed up the entire system. It was so messed up that most of the time, I was lucky to get an hour or so before the video card stopped working the last going off and it was rather annoying, but did work again for a bit after I restarted the computer.

Hubby noticed it was having a system wide failure on Sunday evening while he was playing one of his offline games. I told him to shut it down and we discussed what to do. Rebuilding it myself was an option but I don't have the driver for the video card installed on the computer at all. Taking it to a computer tech was an option but that would be expensive and possibly only a temporary measure. He asked what are the other options and I told him the cheapest and most secure way to go about it all in the long run...

My old computer was manufactured in November of 2007. It had Vista on it and came with only 1GB of RAM at the time of purchase. It was slow, getting slower and I noticed different things about it that said it was slowly starting to wear out. Don't get me wrong, I loved that system but it was time to lay it to rest and look ahead. I told him the best option for us right now would be to get a new computer, unless he wanted to keep coughing up a ton of money on fixing the old one. He thought about it and said we'd go pricing new systems on Monday, but asked about things on the old hard drive.

Well, you see I'm a bit of a tech hound and do know a little about computers. Yeah, I took my course back in 1997 but am self taught in newer stuff like Windows XP and Vista for example, and a lot of the hardware itself hasn't changed an over amount over the last few years. Hard drives may be bigger and faster but they basically work the same as they did sixteen years ago. They still store data in files, need to be defragmented, and still need other maintenance, as all of us know! So, I told him we can use the old hard drive into the new system or if the connections do not match (which happened when I tried to install a second DVD burner into the old computer) I could try to turn the old 160GB hard drive into another external backup drive. He liked that idea and agreed to it.

We went around and priced new systems. Now, anyone who knows me knows when I get set loose in a computer store with any kind of credit card or gift card knows I tend to go a little nutso because I drool over the new stuff that's out. Needless to say I know what questions to ask, know what I'm talking about and can learn things related to computers, etc very easily. So when Hubby set me loose yesterday, it was almost a free for all! *giggles!* 

Unfortunately, Windows 7 is NOT available on new systems any more, but I think you can still get it if you want to pay extra money for it and feel like rebuilding your system on your own or pay to have it rebuilt. Since I don't have the extra cash for that, I settled with getting Windows 8 and learning it. My mom has 7 and it is TO DIE FOR to be blunt. I loved it, but at the same time, liked the idea of a challenge in learning how to use 8. 

So, I got a new system in the end. It's made by the same brand my old one was made by and since I know it's reliable (for me at least), I was very tickled.

We got the new computer home, I dismantled the old one and we set this one up. I went to add the old hard drive to it and found out it is NOT expandable. You see, this tower is a "streamlined" one... It's narrow and the DVD drive is in it SIDEWAYS as is the hard drive. I don't have room in it for the old dial up modem either. So I'm going to turn the old hard drive into an external drive, once I figure out HOW to do it. Thank the stars for friends who know how to do that and can tell me and show me what to do! LOL 

I had never seen Win 8 on startup and it was pretty odd to see something other than the "acer" screen pop up when I started it. It took me a few minutes to figure out how to get into the desktop and other things but once I started getting my bearings, things were a lot smoother, but I still hit a few bumps, large and small.

For one, Windows 8 does NOT have a startup menu on the taskbar, like Windows 95-Vista does. Seriously. That really threw me off for a bit and I'm still adjusting to that. Getting the desktop wallpaper and theme set up was another challenge, and to get things saved made me a little frustrated. After messing around with it for a bit, I did get it all set up, and managed to figure out how to set up a NON administrator account for our son so he couldn't mess around with things on the hard drive so much. That kid is another tech hound like me and his uncles, I swear! Anyway, once I figured out what to do and cleaned off most of the shortcuts on the desktop (I like a clean desktop with shortcuts on the taskbar!) things started rolling a lot better.

Installing the turbo stick turned out to be a few minutes of "fun" but once it got installed and I figured out how to pin it to the taskbar, it was better. I installed that, MS Office (my paid for version, it's older but works!), a few other programs (slot machines for the guys) and then started the long task of copying things over from the external drive I purchased a couple of weeks ago. All of my pictures, most of what I had in the Documents area and a lot of other things are now on the new hard drive and so far so good. One of the first things I added were the most recent copies of both "No Regrets" and its sequel so I could jump back into the writing ASAP! Hubby laughed at that one, because he KNOWS if I don't have access to my manuscripts at home, I kinda lose it....

I got online finally and started updating things, after I downloaded and installed the updated version of my internet security program that is. Since I had a nasty virus on the old system and the one before it, I do NOT take any chances when it comes to zooming around online. The safer the better in my mind! After that was done, I started getting things like Firefox and Opera and started bookmarking and inputting the PWs, etc, for all of my most frequented sites, like here, Facebook and Sanctuary (where I'm a global moderator). It's been rough remembering all of the main spots I hang out and I KNOW I missed a few of them. I'll get them all back in time, but as long as I have the main ones I'll be okay for now! 

Most of my old programs have been installed too... I burned almost a full gigabyte of downloading on the stick to get things like GIMP, VLC Media player and other things, but after it was all set up, this new system felt more like "mine" and looks more and more like Vista did on the old one with a few upgrades and changes. That's okay, I will adjust but this stupid transition period is making me a tad wonky and I am a little more snippy than I would normally be while on the computer. I think once things settle down and I'm more used to it, I'll be a lot better and will be able to do things without having to think... Or I hope so at least!

It's been one HECK of a journey so far with this new system, and it's not over by a long shot. I still have to get a few more programs installed or downloaded, and still have to configure things a little more to my liking on my end of it and my son's end of it, but that will slowly fall into place over time. I just have to be patient, I will get it!

SPECS: 

1.47 GHz CPU
8GB RAM
1 TB internal hard drive
DVD/CD Burner/player
Windows 8

...And a lot I haven't discovered yet!

Have a great week everyone! I have a couple of writing days ahead of me and I plan on making the most of them. 

"SNAMUs and Other Stuff"

Well, it's been an interesting couple of weeks, I'll say that much...
Last week didn't see me getting anything new added to Untitled #7. Heck, it's been a very dry couple of weeks writing wise for me, period... Stress had me just about ripping my hair out, there was drama all over Facebook by times and I was fit to start shooting people by the time the weekend of the 22nd was over!!
Last Monday, we had a major storm here, a Nor'Easter, that was all rain and wind. Around 8 p.m. or so, my son was playing Rocket Bowl on the computer like he always does if he has a great day at school and all of a sudden, the power flickered on and off about six times... Fast enough that I couldn't get to the computer to shut it down properly before it went out completely for a few hours. We wound up sitting in the living room with a kerosene lantern, the TV hooked up to a car battery via a converter we have for emergencies and a very upset little boy. 
After Son went to bed, I sat in my comfy armchair reading and talking to Hubby while the lantern burned brightly off to my right side for a couple of hours. By 10:30, the lights were back on and I stayed up for a bit to make sure it was going to stay on. The kerosene lantern was put out and put away and we thought the worst of it all was over.
Me and my big yap.........
There were two major repercussions from that night. The next morning, I got up, started up the computer and did my usual thing on a school day morning... I checked Sanctuary, caught up on Facebook and other spots and just hung out with my friends for a while. Around 9:30 or so, I was exhausted so I shut the computer down, went upstairs for a nap, and Hubby did too. 
He came down around 1 p.m. or so and I slept until he woke me about half an hour later. When I came down the stairs, he told me he tried turning on the computer to check his email but nothing was appearing on the monitor screen...
I fired up the computer myself and sure enough, he was right. However I did hear the chimes that Vista makes when it starts up so I knew there was nothing wrong with the sound card or from what I could tell, the motherboard or hard drive... So I double checked ALL connections on the computer and determined that the video card had some problems, or possibly croaked after I shut it down earlier that day. I called various computer stores where they have technicians and after talking to one at my main place to buy techie stuff, they said I should bring it in for a diagnostic just to be sure it is the video card and nothing else.
I decided to run it up that very afternoon... Then the second repercussion from the night before hit me square in the face.
I was putting on my makeup and saw something odd on the right hand side of my eye... There was a huge blister in the membrane alongside of my cornea (not on the cornea itself, thankfully!) and the eye was red in the area surrounding it. The blister was filled with a clear, yellow-tinged fluid. It was gross looking but didn't hurt, it was more annoying than anything.
The computer went in for its diagnostic, which took about 10 hours to do according to the computer technician I talked to, and we visited my mom, who was visiting my aunt and uncle for a week... Mom let me use her laptop to update everyone on Facebook and Sanctuary what was happening and then we let my son play Bejeweled on it while I chatted with Mom and my aunt and Hubby talked to my uncle and my aunt's father who lives with them.
Wednesday rolled around and no computer for me, it felt weird not to have it here. I didn't hook up my old 1993 Pentium because it's a pain to do so... I read a lot that day, went to the doctor and started getting prices on new computers, just in case. The place where the computer was having its diagnostic does have a lot of nice systems but they were kind of priced a little high for what they were. I looked around other spots and found better computers for a lot less and Hubby and I said we would get one from a department store, which was about $100 less than the computer stores' cheapest system, and it was a lot more powerful... It is basically the up to date version of what I have now, and it's a nice computer. I really didn't want to give up on my old Acer just yet and since we didn't have the verdict from the computer store yet, we didn't purchase anything. I did see another, nicer system than that one at the local business supply/computer store for $30 more than the department store one, and I was pretty much drooling when I was reading its specs. I got into a nice long conversation there with one of the gentlemen who works there, and it turned out that with that system, I would have to get another case for it... You see, that particular computer was not only short, it was narrow... Too narrow to have a dial up modem installed into it, meaning I'd have to pay extra to get the guys to install its innards into a new case or even the case I have for my current system, if things would have fit that is. We also discussed various things that can go wrong with computers and this gentleman was impressed that although I have no formal training, I know more than the average consumer about computers... I've rebuilt several computers from the operating system up, including my own (3 times last year!) and baby my computer along even in the best of times. My computer is my window to the world, and where I spend a lot of my time even if I'm offline... As y'all know I write, and I am hoping that once #7 is finished and polished (a LOT), to send it off to a publisher. Thank the stars for memory sticks and CD's, that's all I'm saying! LOL They do data transfers at this place for a small fee so I would have been able to get ALL of my documents, etc put on to the new system, even if I purchase it from another store, so I would have it all even if I didn't have all of it on memory sticks and that would have saved me a lot of work! LOL Hubby said we would go there for it and to heck with my regular computer place... Except for diagnostics, their fees, prices, etc are a little too steep and the computer techs there get really defensive if someone without formal training like me comes in and tells them they know more than the average computer user out there.
Thursday dawned without word from the technicians about my computer. Hubby was working and Son went to school so I decided to veg on my armchair with Noelle on my lap and have a CSI on DVD marathon. I was ticked because I couldn't write, which I was really looking forward to, but decided to just wing it and hoped the news would be good for a change. 10:30 a.m. rolled around and I got a call from the computer technician... Seems I was right all along, it was the video card! Turns out that even though the card is internal (meaning its integrated right into the motherboard), I could get an external one installed (one that is a full sized card like a dial up modem!) and it would be an easy fix for the guys to do. I told them to do it and that my husband would pick it up. All in all, everything included, it was under $70 which is a LOT cheaper than it would have been to purchase another system and get it set up!
I was back on the computer and back online before 5 p.m. that night. My mentor, P, was very excited to see me back online and everyone was happy to know that I didn't have to get another system!
So far, things seem to be working good... The video card is working perfectly, according to my own mini diagnostics here at home, nothing has been corrupted, etc from the computer techs' diagnostics and they even went and updated my antiviral program for me, free of charge, so I wouldn't have to spend hours downloading three days' worth of updates on the dial up connection. (Thanks guys!) I'm zipping around my usual spots as always, having fun with my friends, and just savoring having my computer back.
My eye is back to normal too, there are still one or two bright red vessels showing up in the corner of my eye but they are fading fast and my vision is perfect (with corrective lenses that is!). I don't have any pain, nor is there anything irritating it. I'm just glad it was nothing serious!
Looking back, I'm now wondering if this was the universe's way of telling me I needed a break... You see, this all started not long after a bunch of drama and other bull funky started up on Facebook and it had me VERY stressed out. I was told by Hubby and others I needed a break, several times over the last few weeks, and it just seemed everything fell into place for me to take one... Even though I really did NOT want one! LOL By the time I returned on Thursday, everything had settled down and was peaceful, thank the stars. There has been a little drama here and there but not like there had been, thankfully.
I'm hoping to finally get some writing time this week... Hubby works one day shift during the regular school week so you KNOW I'm going to be buried in Untitled #7 that day! I'm pretty much taking chunks out of the monitor from wanting to write so badly, I'm chomping on it that much! LOL
Have a wonderful week everyone... I'm hoping this week is much better than the last two have been!
If any of you out there celebrate Beltane, I hope your celebration is peaceful and wonderful!
Blessings,
Veridian