Old, older, oldest

The days, they blur together.

Today, I discovered a problem with the letter 'y' on my laptop. Do you know how many times you use the letter 'y'? More than you'd think. And now, the next time you go off a'typin' you'll be thinking about the letter 'y'! :)

The laptop isn't that old either, just old enough to be out of warranty - of course. I may have to fire up the old laptop I bought in 2005. I have nothing else and I refuse to buy a tablet - anyone's. I happen to like having a full sized keyboard to play with.

Old fogey that I am, I learned to type on a typewriter; a manual typewriter, with keys that need firm pressure to cause the arm to slam against the ink ribbon and print out a letter on paper. None of this namby-pamby 'touch' typing which has led to so many developing RSI. As an added bonus, we could be selected to try out the new fangled 'electric' typewriter' - that had a daisy wheel. I thought it was pretty 'wow' at the time. Actually, I still have an old portable typewriter my parents bought me after I wrote my first short story on my mother's old 1950s Remington (we still have that one, too.)

It's remarkable to me that the tablet is the latest iteration of communications technology. It hasn't taken long, in the scheme of time. We've had typewriters since the 1860s, but in my lifetime, typewriters are now antiques, I've not seen an electric typewriter for years, even desktop computers are being phased out. Now, we have tablets that are not only vessels for our words or art or music, they communicate with the world, with others who share our hobbies or professions.

What more will be invented? In what direction will multitasking communication devices take? More miniaturisation? The old Dick Tracey wrist unit? How will that affect authors or will we all be encouraged to use voice software, like Dragon - maybe someone's about to develop voice software that integrates the emotion in our voices as we dictate our novels?

Who knows? We are only ever limited by our imaginations.

Now, I have to work out how to get around the problem of 'y'.

Where did the year go?

One moment I'm preparing for Nano, the next Christmas/New Year is over and I'm back at work wondering what happened to the past two months. Apparently, there aren't enough hours in the day for me to do any the stuff I'd like as opposed to what I have to. It's all a blur. I probably need to slow down, smell the roses, put my feet up and do something other than be a government worker or carer, both of which take up enormous amounts of time. I should note that I resent neither, but it would be nice to have a few more hours in the day. Even now, the day draws to a close after another ten hours at work - budget constraints have meant no recruiting for positions of staff who leave. From a section of four this time last year, we are now... two - including the boss. Of course, the level of work hasn't changed and it must be done. Some days, I feel like there's so much to do that I accomplish virtually nothing - at least not that I remember. Since I haven't been fired yet, I must be doing something!! But... I've managed to read two books! Two! I know I shouldn't be excited about that, but I am. I've always believed that to write well you have to read, and read a lot; call it 'learning by osmosis'. Reading inspires, something I've been sorely lacking if my most recent Nano project is anything to go by. Next week, I begin two and a half weeks' leave, courtesy of all the extra hours I've worked over the past year. The decision is what to do: write, edit, read, research family history, watch some screen, along with clearing out the garage of the parent's house. Damn, but I'm tired. I guess I'll just wait and see.