Wednesday, January 27, 2016

ROW80: Order out of Chaos

We leave Sunday at 4 am for Corpus Christi. Nothing like a month-long trip to bring order out of chaos. Way too much time spent the last several days trying to get my new HP Stream ready for the road.

HP Stream Pros: Ultra light. Cute. Bright blue. So portable at 2.3 pounds. 

HP Stream Cons: Limited memory with 28 out of 30 G used for hidden programs!!!! Slow on the internet. But I only want this for writing and e-mail and blogging (maybe only once a week for ROW80), so I don't need supercomputer. Did you know that if you're using Windows 10 and deleting programs from one device, you can actually delete the program from all your devices IF you don't click that little button that says, "This PC only"? 

I'm starting to feel like a computer guru because my little Kindle Fire now has Skype AND Xfinity login available everywhere (so Skype came off the Stream). And I'm starting to use 'the cloud' -- although it feels nebulous (taking flash drive too).

But did I get any writing done? Well, yes. I actually printed out 20 pages and worked over sequencing, transitions, editing, and new scenes. It's hard to measure progress when word count goes down.

This Week's Goals & Progress by Sunday, January 31: 

IN PROGRESS: 1. Edit Rivers of Stone, 5 out of 7 days each week. On track 3/3.
2. Complete 2 new marketing steps to alert folks re Rafflecopter giveaway on writing blog (newsletter, e-mail). 
3. Blogx3 and READ x10: Steady progress here, but guilt, guilt, guilt when I don't read everywhere: ROW80, Poets on the Page, WIPpet Weds, Insecure Writers Study Group. 
 Declutter office. Amazing progress here.
4. Keep e-mails under 100.  OK, hovering at 98.
5. Clean up WSQ projects. DONE: Bid for printing programs, report to board. PENDING: Library project & call Linda.
6. Packing. Yep. What will be forgotten? We use a packing list but still I end up asking: What is essential? Brings me right back to that HP Stream.

NOT YET: 
1. Work on poetry book. 2. Read 50 pages of The Frugal Book Promoter (to page 165). Oh, I'd really like to finish this one.
3. Exercise 3x week.
4. 
SASP project: Media Kit questions.

WIPpet Wednesday. Last week, I read only two participants. So once again, I'll post with hopes of doing better. This week's excerpt finds Cat on the Saskatchewan River, alternating between portages and white knuckling past rapids. The excerpt, based on the date somehow, equals 10 sentences (1 for January + 2 + 7 for the 27th).

Mr. Lane, as short as any of the boatmen, stood shadowed by the campfire. “I’m hoping it stops raining,” he said. “The next bit is only three miles long, one mile of which runs with great rapidity. Boats can descend, but as we are going upstream, in the morning, we portage.”

For the next three days, the men ran and stumbled along barely visible paths along the portage trail, bent under the weight of two 90-pound packs. Below, as if they were animals, six oarsmen dragged the two York boats over the portage path of logs, with two men on either side lifting the boats slightly. 

At the end of the portage, the men cheered, clapped each other on the back, and drank the rum tots that Mr. Lane handed out. Then they reassembled the brigade in a small eddy by the Saskatchewan River. Cat had carried one of Kane’s small backpacks, feeling she was not of much use. She gazed at the river’s white water ahead of them and wondered what Dougal had done here.

Voyageurs' Portage (Source nps.gov)

I love the picture above for it shows the head straps, the barrels and those 90-pound packs of furs and supplies the voyageurs carried. Sometimes the men would compete to see who could carry the heaviest load. Rough humor.

Now why not visit ROW80 to see what we're up to this week or drop by WIPpet Wednesday to read other snippets. And have a great week!





15 comments:

  1. Great picture It really puts the scene into perspective with the difficulty of what they're carrying and having to trek through the nasty weather.

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    1. I've only carried a 30-pound backback, and that seemed more than heavy enough. Thank you for visiting and commenting.

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  2. Looks like you're making steady progress.

    It's amazing how much work it takes to go portable. Whenever I go camping, I bring my Ipad with me to write. And I usually have to get the files in order (b/c no wifi) and make sure I have the charging cable and the keyboard charged beforehand. And any notes/outline/etc. Crazy! But we need what we need!

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    1. I've got those power cords, and I'm trying out "the cloud" (with great uncertainty). Your Ipad must have some kind of keyboard; I'm slowly adjusting to that onscreen keyboard (on the Kindle). I don't know how we wrote before all this technology! Thanks for visiting and commenting.

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    2. Yep, it has a keyboard. ;) Before all this technology, I used a typewriter. Scary thought.

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  3. Exciting to hear what a techie nerd you are becoming. Me? Not so much. Finally installed Windows 10 on our desk top, but haven't been able to install it on the laptop - it just plain won't let me. I don't know why.

    Here's hoping you have a safe trip and relaxing month in Corpus Christi.

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    1. Thanks, Chris, for your good wishes. My laptop was so old that it wouldn't take Windows 8, let alone 10, thus the new HP Stream, which I do like in spite of its memory limits. But we'll see. Let's hope for an early spring everywhere.

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  4. have resisted Windows 10 - having been forced away from XP which suited me just fine I resisted 8 and went for 7 which after a year of frustration have almost as I want it - haven't heard anything which tempts me to 10 - why cant they just leave us be for a while!!

    keeping e-mail down umm a big problem I find every now and then I have to take a few hours away from everything and just delete delete delete:)

    all the best:)

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    1. Hello, Alberta. Kudos on your delete, delete, delete. Sometimes that inbox just gets full too fast. And I delayed so long in adopting Win10 that I'm worried they'll roll out Windows 11 pretty darn soon! I hope you get to keep your Win7 ;)

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  5. Looks like you've been making progress so far this week. Hope you have a good trip.

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    1. Thanks, Fallon. The song that keeps echoing these last few days before we leave is: "Hit the road, Jack . . . " Let's hope for continued progress for all the WIPpeteers and ROW80 writers!

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  6. I don't quite understand the first sentence, and Mr. Lane's instructions sound like they came out of a textbook. *g* The details of the portage itself are great!

    Have a wonderful and productive trip. :)

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    1. Thanks for commenting, Ruth. I'm not happy with that first sentence either. I can see Lane, standing with his back to the fire, but the words don't yet reflect what I "see." Edit, edit, edit. I'll keep working it and thank YOU for the comment.

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  7. Amazing you are keeping up and getting ready for a trip. Have fun in Texas.

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    1. Thank you, Caren. It snowed today. I'm more than ready!

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