The prompt, wordcount and deadline for 12 STORIES IN 12 MONTHS were all announced/confirmed first thing in the morning, so the first job I did was go to my TickTick and add the details. First of all I duplicated this month’s project and removed any detail for January, then I duplicated a blank version for March going forward. I updated the January project with the details, and checked it was on my calendar. (It was.)
My blog didn’t auto-post first thing, so I had to go in on my phone and do it from the dashboard there, and a reply I left on my blog on Tuesday had disappeared, so I wrote a new one. I’m hoping this isn’t a sign of things to come on WordPress…
The next job I attempted was a quick smart scan of the computer. This is my weekly tech scan I perform every Wednesday. Once again it got stuck at 83% when checking for advanced issues. I started to look for a way to contact support and saw that as this is a free plan, there is no support beyond what is already available online and the only thing the chat assistant could offer was to create an account and join the forum.
I did that, but there were all sorts of associated issues there too. Search can’t be sorted by date and the captcha is almost impossible to complete correctly. (Reported on the forum.) I replied to one post and posted two new topics, and then I had to walk away or I could have stayed there all day. And I joined in with a couple of discussions about a certain writing bursary that’s currently being offered to UK writers. I had to step away from that too in the end.
I used C-Cleaner instead to check my laptop, but I’m contemplating ditching Avast and going back to AVG. The problem with AVG, though, is that it’s a hungry beast and it slows the computer down a lot. Dinner was spent at my desk because I hadn’t spent anywhere near enough time on work. I wanted something warm, so had a hot pasta soup with home made bread and home made cake.
Someone replied to my complaint on the forum, giving me several other ways of finding the latest results in a search that didn’t include anything on the forum. I thanked him for taking the time to reply. No one responded to my other two queries.
Removed 2,737 words from Substack and added them to NOTES FOR WRITERS (working title), bringing that one to 6,452 words so far. But they’re not new words. Typed up the previous day’s handwritten WHITEHORSE FARM and added 60 words to the mix, then hand wrote a further 787 words.
And then I crashed. I wrote 488 words for today’s blog post, and called it a day.
Tech issues don’t just take up physical time, they drain emotional energy. How frustrationg.
I was exhausted, for some reason. Sat down on the settee for five minutes and almost fell asleep, and again later when we settled down to watch a film.