Technology, or rather the lack of!

I've taken my time in getting here I have to admit, but I think you can forgive me as I've been settling into my new job over the past couple of weeks! I thoroughly enjoyed my little role in our Christmas craft fair and met a lot of interesting people either exhibiting their goods or just visiting for the day :-) Hopefully I made myself useful and contributed to the running of the day!

Back at home I said a difficult goodbye to Jessie Bengal kitten last Monday. This had to be one of the most difficult litters we've ever had, Jeanie had three kittens in total and losing the little boy at a day old and then Fidget at 7 weeks was heartbreaking. So I grew very attached to little Pudding, she is a very special girl, but luckily she has found a lovely home with our close neighbour and I will be visiting when I can!

Anyway, I wanted to put my thoughts down about the abundance of technology surrounding our lives and the comparative lack of it in this house! We have a very old computer, by the standards of today at least, and the fan makes such a racket it's a distraction. The poor processor is getting slower and slower and I'll be surprised if it lasts into the new year...the big decision now is to get another desktop or replace it with a laptop which would suit everyone being portable with a bigger memory?
The interesting point here is that no one else has offered to replace it, they seem able to put up with the noise and sluggishness but it's driving me mad! So anything new will be brought under my own steam which is fine, I can finally start giving something back to my long suffering parents (hehe!) I may well "donate" this laptop which is very reliable to the use of the family or whomever gets their grubby mitts on it first, and look into getting a Lenovo Yoga for myself - I worship the design, size, portability and reliability of Lenovo and the Yoga just stands out of the crowd for me! I love how it can be folded open like a book, used as a tablet form and then back to the standard laptop; dynamic is not the word :-) The only downside is the price tag but I shall keep saving and see what happens.

In the mean time I am also attracted to an iPod as my MP3 player isn't up to much these days and my music collection has vastly outgrown the memory space. The debate this time is which iPod do I choose? Decisions, decisions! I think it's narrowed down to an iPod Touch 4th generation, 16gb suits me just fine and I like the fact it can download apps so I can still get radio channels on it *happy dance* and I have just placed a bid on ebay as I type so we shall see what the outcome is over the next few days. Still working on quite a tight budget especially in the run up to christmas and buying presents for friends and family.
And then of course there is the iPad. I resisted for as long as I could but the more I see them being used the more I really like the design and convenience of them. The iPad 2 is rather heavy for my liking but the screen size is perfect, so am thinking about the first iPad mini for size and weight. It's been recommended by a few friends so will be keeping a beady eye on good ol' ebay!
I had been looking at the iPad, Google Nexus and Galaxy Tab to start with, but came to the conclusion that the Nexus is a little limited in use and the Galaxy has mixed reviews and a much smaller memory than the other two tablets. For quality then I think Apple still reigns supreme but it does come at a significant cost to the purse...watch this space!

bless me kitten, for I have sneezed!

It's been a while, I am still alive in case you were wondering, just very tired and sniffly. It would seem I either have a summer cold or a sudden and very strong reaction to my cats...I'm sticking with the cold theory as I don't relish dwelling on the possibility of an allergy to my pets!
Not much has been happening recently hence the lack of an update, work has been hard with long hours which has pretty much wiped me out but I am getting back on track with the writing and work in progress.

The muse kicked in at ridiculous o'clock last night and handed me a new plot twist on a plate which I am very excited about but at the same time finishing this manuscript is looking like a daunting prospect. It is already at 60K words but is not finished and with additions could be stretching the 100K mark...is it jumping the gun to look ahead at novel lengths which are popular with agents and publishers, or would you call it being prepared? Either way I know it needs to actually be finished, edited a lot, re-read, edited again and polished to really show it off at it's best before I can even think about kicking it out into the big wide world...I'm not going to lie, the prospect scares me. I read once that each novel should have a little piece of your soul buried within it's depths and it is this which makes it so frightening to send it out there for other people to pick apart, enjoy or loathe it. It is the fear that they are picking holes in oneself.
That said, I have a lot of respect for authors of any written work, be that an article, novel, short story, poem, song.
I truly believe that anyone can write, but embedding a piece of your soul and belief into that work takes courage, skill and time.

And breathe.
I might get there one day, looks like NaNoWriMo will be getting my manuscript finished this year!

Anyway, happy news about Jeanie's two kittens...they both have lovely new owners who have been visiting recently :-) So I am very pleased, both going to be very loved and spoiled! Funny story this morning hence the title of this post - A rather violent sneeze on my part made both kittens jump and stare at me with a look of awe and wonder, as an apology and humorous pun I simply said to the pair of them, 'Bless me kitten, for I have sneezed' they were less than impressed with my apology but happily accepted their breakfast and purred contentedly!

On a tangent and much more interesting note than my ramblings, have a look at this article about Egil Skalla-Grimsson, a Viking with an extraordinary history! Egil's Bones

Distractions

Having a struggle on my hands today to get words down, or rather the right words!
Did an intense double session of circuit workout today and I think I needed it after being a bit sluggish for the past few days followed by a brisk walk for a bit of shopping...verrry cold but it cleared the cobwebs out!
It seemed to do the trick and got me thinking about the plot of my work in progress and I even came up with a new scene! Whether or not I can work it in to fit the story is another matter but I've written up a fair amount this evening. I also managed to reconstruct some of the plot outline, shakes the story up a little bit which will do it good I think :-)
That is when the problems seem to crop up. I get some decent ideas, get excited about them but when it comes to expanding and actually writing it down I come unstuck. Distractions, whether it be the tv or the internet or general household noise can play havoc on the muse! Hence why I prefer writing during the evening from about 10 til 1 when everyone is asleep, including the 9(!) dogs, which is great for writing but not for getting up early for work >.< Still, I must press on or it will never be finished.
End.Of.The.Year is my goal to get at least the first draft done...bit more discipline required me thinks!

P.s a lovely surprise this morning - Jeanie has a one-eyed bandit, her little girl has one eye open! They are two weeks old on Wednesday, still doing really well and growing every day...more piccies tomorrow hopefully :-)

Closing the door

It's snowing. Need I say more? When the clouds converge and the flakes descend this country tends to spiral into melt down so I highly recommend staying within, turning the heating on and closing the door - whether that be on the world or in my case the family - get some peace and quiet and just think.

However, this can be mistaken for procrastination which appears to have befallen me today, oops! I've been pretty good with my writing these past few days, scribbling words whilst travelling to work, much to the annoyance of my poor mum *insert ebil laugh here* but I do plan to get some words down today. Listening to Classic tends to help, particularly the more melancholy pieces or soundtracks which I adore!

Onwards into the fray and I promise some more very cute kitten pictures at some point, they are growing so fast ^.^