I joined a writing Group!

Robin and I were on the phone discussing life and the odd little things friends talk about when she mentioned how she’d joined a writer’s group. I asked her what about, and she told me it was based on getting feedback for writing a novel. I stated, “I really wish I could go to that with you,” only because we both are so comfortable with each other that we can half invite ourselves to the other things we do in life. She checked at the group and I received a quick invitation to meet the next round for feedback. This meant I needed to find my novel on the lurking tower Alienware.

So, as usual with my last minute projects, I decided to search for it on the Sunday before my husband started a major work project. I needed the document edited to my satisfaction and submitted by that week’s Tuesday evening. I go to turn the massive Stormtrooper looking Alienware and Windows never opens. It restarts itself at least five times before I asked my computer network engineer, geek extraordinaire  husband to take a look. My USB keyboard wouldn’t respond, so he went in search of another keyboard in his pile of computer paraphernalia. It worked enough that he could tab up to the start-up setting that scans what is wrong. That is all I am able to explain about it since how the insides of computers work when all things are plugged in is beyond me. The Stormtrooper got stuck on the video driver, or that’s what my hubby said it did. At that moment I began feeling the ugly head of an anxiety attack pop up and say, “Raaaaor!” Not pretty.We opened the Stormtrooper up and dusted – a lot! It still got stuck. sigh

Solutions to the Stormtrooper and getting the files from my hard drive:
1. Buy a new video card — CHECK!
2. Buy a hard drive enclosure to make my current hard drive an external hard drive — CHECK!

Finding a hard drive enclosure for a 3.5″ hard drive was not easy. Only one store in our area had it, and we made the error of creating it as a family outing. Our two boys were insane acting and ran all over the store like wild animals. This did not help with my anxiety attack. We did a couple other things that added to my stress level and made me start dreading the week with the boys, but that’s another story I’ll tell later. Once we got home hubby took out the hard drive and put it in the enclosure. He hooked it up to my Alienware laptop. I clicked on my files — LOCKED! YOU DO NOT HAVE THE AUTHORIZATION FOR THESE FILES. Screaming at my computer ensued. I started sounding like a territorial harpy squirrel trying to get to her stored nuts for the winter only to find them locked away with an invisible key. So, hubby tried to unlock the files. He asked me the question, “Do you know which file the novel is in?” I went ballistic, since I wanted access to ALL my files and I knew if I told him a specific file that would be the only thing he would unlock for me. Plus, I needed to get into a file folder, or two, or ten in order to find where I mysteriously placed my novel. I never made anything easy to find in the past. Meanwhile, my anxiety level has reached max capacity and I started shaking.

Hubby finally got into my folders and unlocked them all, but decided to ask me to take a look in the exact moment I couldn’t handle anything more. He gave me a few hours to settle down and then I went to look. I found the novel and just knew I would e horrified at how bad a writer I was before I went to finish my degree. I printed it out, and it wasn’t horrible. In fact, the writing was better than some of the popular novels currently circulating. So, Sunday evening I begin editing and writing sections to add to empty parts. Monday, as my kids are playing, I begin typing in those sections. One sections becomes much longer than expected and I hesitate that I took it too far. Before sending it off, I call Robin and ask her questions about what to expect from the women in the group. I am nervous about sending my writing out. She tells me they only critique to make the writing better and do not judge on the content of the writing. I certainly hope she is right since I sent out my prologue-chapter 2 out to the group to read.