Hatrack River Writers Workshop: Scream and smash the keyboard---

This is topic Scream and smash the keyboard--- in forum Open Discussions About Writing at Hatrack River Writers Workshop.

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Posted by srhowen (Member # 462) on :

WOW--I have recovered from a major computer crash with data in tact--if not my nerves. Many hours with McAfee and DOS have restored it to the point where I have not seen the blue screen of death for almost a half hour now. I do believe it is fixed. Crossed fingers and all that stuff. It was not a pleasant thing to have happen.

On top of that, I have not done any writing for almost 12 days now (spent them in the woods playing at primary staff for a local Cub Scout Day camp)---Shawn is a very crabby witch with a capitol B right now. I hope to get to write tomorrow.

I have a new story idea floating around and there is the second book to the Native American one I recently finished and of course there is the next part of my serial for the magazine I work for to get to. I also want to go back to one of the first novels I finished and try writing it from first person and see what I get. I feel like I would be losing tons of info that way but if the story gets smaller and the writing more focused then the rest will be back story or stuff for future stories, perhaps a series with each book being told from a different persons first person POV. I have tossed the idea around of doing the book itself that way from two separate first person POV’s alternating chapters---but then when the two come together I run into problems getting the flow right. I think I need a dedicated reading and critiquing partner. My Hatrack group is a good one this time, but it is so long between my turns that I sometimes feel that some of the info and advice being given is not very effective because the reader has forgotten info from the first go around.

Oh well. I am also finding that many critiques, not necessarily from the Hatrack group, are off base because the reader is not at the same place on the writing path that I am. Arrogant? Maybe. But it is where I am at right now. I am going to try and get to doing some of the stuff from a second group this week, but I must get caught up with my Hatrack group and with my writing and then maybe I will run my new story idea, or the old novel past them and see what I get. Running the Native American one past anyone right now feels like a waste----it’s finished and on an agent’s desk (requested) hopefully being seriously considered. Any thoughts on that? Is it worth still getting crits on it or should I move on until I know for sure if it has been accepted or rejected? If it is accepted I will have an editor telling me what is right and wrong. Then again if they don’t accept it then the crits will help to fix things before I re-send it to the next person.

What a rant! Time to call a halt to this and move on.

Shawn

Posted by IonFish (Member # 1192) on :

Get a more stable operating system; Windows 2000's pretty good, as it's based on the NT kernal (it's a true 32bit OS), rather than DOS.

(or Linux, although it requires a lot more getting used to)

Posted by srhowen (Member # 462) on :

I do have windows 2000--but even with that when things go wrong--i.e. a nasty virus you can still go into the DOS and clear things out. I have worked with computers a long time now, back when Zenith made their first personal computer and all you had was DOS. This last crash just about killed me though.

Computers, love them and hate them at the same time. Next time I take it to the computer shop!

Shawn

Posted by JK (Member # 654) on :

Computers are evil little things. Microsoft software only makes things worse (Bill Gates and his products being the spawn of the devil).
JK

Posted by IonFish (Member # 1192) on :

quote:

do have windows 2000--but even with that when things go wrong--i.e. a nasty virus you can still go into the DOS and clear things out.

Win2K doesn't have DOS.

(it's got a command prompt, but that's just an internal windows thing)

As for viruses, get a virus checker...

My Win2K machine's one of the most stable I've ever used (apart from a Mac), and I built it myself. Computer shops? You can keep 'em. They'll just rip you off.

Posted by srhowen (Member # 462) on :

Win2k does have DOS running in the back ground. Go to run and type in command and you will find it.

I also do have a very good virus protection set up. a disk was infected at my husbands place of employment and that's how it got on the computer.

Shawn

Posted by IonFish (Member # 1192) on :

No, that's just the command prompt.

(it looks like DOS, acts like DOS, but it's not DOS)

How much, if anything, did you lose when it crashed?

Posted by srhowen (Member # 462) on :

I hadn't lost anyting up to that point that was important. Last night it crashed again and was not recovrable as it split the drive into 26 seperate drives that didn't know the others exsisted as far as comunication went. There was no sorting it out anymore so I had to dump the system and start over.

I use the DOS interface because that was how I learned computer programing--and you can get into the registry and see a lot of what is going wrong in there. It's DOS as far as the commands go.

Anyway---I have most of my writing files--I have auto backup to an external 40 gig hard drive. Neat little critter--but some things are gone as I only backed up my documents, my photo files and my corel my files. One story that I was working on slipped through the cracks somehow or was screwed from the fisrt time around---thank goodness I only had about 8,000 words done on it. But I have lost my favorites folders--had a lot of research sites in there---my clipart sites are gone from there as well. And now the drive does not want to re-load correctly---I am more than fed up with it to the point of supream irritation and dog-dom today.

I am goign to go out and drive like a fool on the autobahn and then come back to it that always helps.

Shawn

Posted by Parvo (Member # 1097) on :

If you really want stability, stay away from Microsoft altogether. It's not just coincidence that most viruses target Microsoft products. If you really want to be stable and less threatened, move to Linux.

Sorry, but as an IT guy, this topic is like mentioning dinner to Louis Anderson.

Posted by Kathleen Dalton Woodbury (Member # 59) on :

What Parvo said.

Shawn, if you prefer DOS (as I do), you really might like Linux better than Windows.

(I hate Windows, but I have to work with it.)

The more people who use Linux, the more there will be things that Linux can do. Besides, Linux doesn't use nearly as much space on a hard drive as Windows does, and it is far more stable.

If you haven't looked into it, you really ought to.

Posted by srhowen (Member # 462) on :

I also have to deal with windows--most my programs are windows based even my corel which does work nicely with Linux in it's Linux form. But the company I work for here in Germany uses MS so if I want to take anything home--which I do all the time because I work mostly out of home--they are internet based--then I have to use windows and MS.

I thinkit fixed---knock on wood and all that. I managed to get the 2000 on it last night. It is still having problems loading programs---my sound card is not working correctly due to the fact that it does not want to load the drivers correctly. One of the fat directories keeps blue screening out. What a mess. But I am now backing up my favorites folder as well and I am saving every 5 min instead of 15 min.

We are moving state side soon (not that I want to) I will be building a new computer once we get there where prices are a bit cheaper and I will be using Linux for my own use. I prefer Corel WP anyway.

Shawn

Posted by hastur (Member # 1200) on :

I personally like BeOS. The ease of use of a macintosh with the power and flexiblity of unix.

Unfortunately, with the life span of a fruit fly, since the company seems destined to let it die.