Return of my computer + Yarnival!

My primary mail-and-web computer’s hard-drive lost its coherence last week (the second drive failure on that computer in four months . . . not good) and that machine has been in the shop. I just got it back, although I haven’t rewired the entire office (again, yet). The good news is that I think I have found a better shop to take it to. I used to do my own repairs, but have no patience for it any more, especially when the diagnostics are complicated, as they were this time. I’d rather use my time writing and knitting and making knitting books happen.

Because of the computer problem, however, I have photos and thoughts and other things that should have already been posted here but are as missing-in-action as the technology was. Fortunately, I have a second computer so can maintain the baseline even when one is fritzed. But neither computer alone has everything I need for full functionality. That’s intentional. I am never completely stalled. Sometimes, however, I am half-equipped.

GOOD NEWS JUST IN: Moments ago, just after I carried the fixed computer into the office and set it back down securely in its rollaround stand and checked the mail, I learned that the blog tour post where author Donna Druchunas interviews editor/publisher me about the making of Donna’s book, Arctic Lace, has been selected for inclusion in a blog carnival called Yarnival!

A blog carnival is organized by a dedicated soul, in this case Cara of January One. The person in charge selects individual blog entries on a specific topic and collects them in something like a web-based anthology. The Yarnival! topic is knitting, as you might imagine but it’s dangerous to assume, and here’s the new Yarnival! collection on the January One blog. (If this mention simply introduces you to January One, that’s good. . . . show up for the changing and gorgeous banners, stay for the words and contemplations . . . and occasional rants.)

Because of computer fallibility, I am behind on everything: editing/design of Donna’s next book, reading other blogs, posts of my own, and so on . . . and now the Yarnival!

However, it is quiet here today and I have my computer back and if I allocate my minutes wisely and keep breathing calmly, I should be able to make progress on each of these possibilities. Today.

I haven’t had a chance to mention that I am also participating in National Novel Writing Month (also known as NaNoWriMo). NaNoWriMo only lasts a month, and as I write this only 15 days, 12 hours, 36 minutes, and 16 seconds remain in that month. I participated last year, too. I write before the sun gets up, so it doesn’t count toward my quota of hours in the day, right?

It’s nice to do something that does not take years to complete . . . and
where the goal is not excellence (as it normally is for me) but simply crossing the
finish line. In NaNoWriMo, form is nothing, performance is everything. In most of my
activities, both require equal attention.

Back to work. . . .