What's Up Wednesday

This week...

My Current WIP (Work in Progress): I accomplished very little in the way of writing last week due to the Windows update that goofed up my touchpad (see Monday's post). Now that I have it working properly again, I'm hoping to get a significant amount done this week.

Quote of the Week: "Nothing is so fatiguing as the eternal hanging on of an uncompleted task." ~ William James.  I'm repeating last week's quote because I feel like this book is taking forever to get ready to put on the market. 

What I'm Reading: I started reading "Fatal Accusations" by Marie Force over the weekend. It's the 15th book in the Fatal series. I'm also still struggling to finish "A Most Unlikely Duke" by Sophie Barnes. I only have about 100 pages left, but it seems like a thousand. I try not to say anything negative about a book because reading is so subjective, but this book just is killing me to finish. 

Random Thoughts:  I made gluten free chocolate chocolate chip cookies last weekend. I don't avoid gluten for dietary issues. (That would be torturous. I love bread too much) I wanted to save the flour I have to make bread because finding flour to purchase is kind of hit or miss in my area right now. The cookies were really easy to make and taste great.

Random Photo of the Week:

                                Here's a photo of the cookies I mentioned above.

Another Update? Argh!

Lately it seems like my laptop is installing another update from Microsoft every other day. Normally, I don't mind the updates. I feel like it keeps things running smoothly and hopefully patches any security issues that may be out there.

However...the last update also updated the driver for my touchpad even though Microsoft swears it only updates their own software. I find this hard to believe since my touchpad was working fine and had drivers installed from the last driver update in 2018 until a Windows update went through on 04/18/20. Once that update installed, my touchpad driver showed a version from July 2019 and scrolling was no longer an option.

Who ever heard of a laptop where your touchpad didn't allow scrolling? There isn't even a tab in the touchpad settings to choose to enable scrolling in the 2019 version of the driver. I tried rolling back the driver to the previous version, but it wouldn't roll back. I kept getting a message that stated Microsoft determined the best version of the driver was already installed. (So much for Microsoft not updating software that wasn't theirs.)

It took me three days to figure out where I could find the 2018 version of the driver on the internet, install it, and get the touchpad working back the way it was before the last Windows update. Now I have to worry that the next Windows update will update the touchpad again.

And guess what? As I was typing this post, I received a message notification that a Windows update needs to be installed.

What's Up Wednesday?

I'm two days late with this week's What's Up Wednesday, but I wanted to wish everyone a happy Earth day on Wednesday. 

This week...

My Current WIP (Work in Progress): I went through 68 more manuscript pages. Less than I wanted to accomplish, but I only ended up being able to work on it three days last week.

Quote of the Week: "Nothing is so fatiguing as the eternal hanging on of an uncompleted task." ~ William James

What I'm Reading: I'm actually reading two books. The first is a short story of about 115 pages titled "A Lovely Drop: A Story of the Netherneath" by Darynda Jones. I started this last night and should finish it this evening. I'm also reading "A Most Unlikely Duke" by Sophie Barnes. I'd started reading this a bit ago and then set it aside. Usually when I set a book aside and pick up something else to read, I don't finish the set aside book, but I'm hoping it will get better so I'm valiantly pushing on and trying to get through it. 

Random Thoughts: I've been doing a lot of baking the last couple of weekends so I'll have plenty of bread, rolls, and such in the freezer. I refuse to bake in 80 degree weather so I'm trying to make sure we have enough to last us through the summer months. I made homemade chocolate graham crackers for the first time last Sunday. They were okay, but not worth the time and effort it took to make them. 

Random Photo of the Week:

                    The homemade chocolate graham crackers I mentioned above.

Happy Earth Day!

Happy Earth Day!

How Many Books?

Like most writers, I'm an avid reader. I usually read a book a week. Sometimes I read more than one a week depending on how engrossing the book is. And sometimes it takes me longer than a week to read a book for the same reason.

I added a few books to my "Want to Read" list a couple of days ago and realized I have 528 books on the list. Five hundred and twenty-eight. I didn't realize I had that many books on my list. I don't think it's an accurate count because I'm pretty sure I have some duplicates on it. At least I hope I do. None of books on the list are writing craft related. There are a few biographies, but the vast majority are mass market fiction.

I am slowly transferring the books on my list to an Excel spreadsheet so I can sort them by genre, author, Ebook only, and the like. As I'm typing them in, I'm also deciding whether I really want to read each book and eliminating those that I probably won't. I'm hoping that when I'm finally done getting them listed in the spreadsheet, I'll have at least 100 less books on the list. But my the time I'm done, I'll probably have 100 more since I seem to add a few books to my original list every week.

This I know for sure...

The romance world is mourning the loss of Donna Kauffman. Ms. Kauffman passed away April 9th from pancreatic cancer. She was a best selling author of over 70 romance and women's fiction novels. Here is a link to one of the many stories reporting her death and paying tribute to her - Donna Kauffman

What's Up Wednesday

This week...

My Current WIP (Work in Progress):  I went through 90 more manuscript pages last week. I'm hoping to do the same this week. 

Quote of the Week:  "When life brings big winds of change that almost blow you over, close your eyes, hold on tight, and believe." ~ Lisa Lieberman-Wang

What I'm Reading: I still reading "Murder with Cinnamon Scones" by Karen Rose Smith. I'm struggling a bit with this book. I think it's mainly because I wasn't able to read the first book in the series, but the pacing is dragging a bit as well. I'm trying to decide if I will read any more books in the series.

Random Thoughts:  I'm going to try and do a lot of baking the next couple of weekends so I have plenty of bread to freeze for the summer months. I bought coconut oil for a Asian chicken recipe and now have to figure out how I'm going to use the rest of the container so I found a couple of new recipes that call for coconut oil that I want to make.

Random Photo of the Week:

      Somebody perked up from his nap when he heard me open a yogurt container. 

Happy Easter/Passover

I realize I'm a bit early for Easter and that Passover started on Wednesday, but I'd like to wish everyone a safe and happy holiday.

What's Up Wednesday

This week...

My Current WIP (Work in Progress):  I went through 90 manuscript pages making a few minor tweaks to make the story flow better. I feel like I'm back on track after not doing well the two weeks prior.

Quote of the Week: "You have power over your mind, not outside events. Realize this, and you will find strength." ~ Marcus Aurelius  (I'm repeating last week's quote as I think it's important given what's going on with Covid-19.)

What I'm Reading: I started "Murder with Cinnamon Scones" by Karen Rose Smith on Monday evening. It's the second book in the Daisy's Tea Garden mystery series. I'm a little lost because I haven't read the first book in the series. 

Random Thoughts:  I don't consider myself a big TV watcher, but now that the few shows I do watch are ending and no shows for the summer are starting, I'm finding I have more free time than I usually do. I'm hoping to get back to working on my knitting.

Random Photo of the Week:

                     A sign spring is actually arriving - our first crocus of the season.
 

Free Classes

She Writes University is offering a number of free classes and webinars until May 31st on a variety of subjects. Even if you aren't a writer, you might find some of the subjects of interest. For example, one of the classes is a deep dive into Instagram. This is one of the classes I want to check out as I know next to nothing about Instagram. Here is the link if you are interested - https://shewritesuniversity.com/free/

This I know for sure...

Even though I still have to go out to work during the week, I was feeling a bit cooped up last weekend. Sunday it was a beautiful sunny 70 degree day so I decided to step outside to get some fresh air for a bit. I stayed on the front porch until I noticed a few flowers trying to poke their way through the left over leaves from autumn that never got raked up.

Since neither of my neighbors on each side of my house were outside, I went down into the yard and pulled some of the dead leaves away so the hyacinths that are just starting to sprout would have room to grow. I also removed the old leaves from a few crocuses that have flowered. These were a nice surprise because I've never planted crocuses in the yard.

Here are photos of a couple of the crocuses I found -

What's Up Wednesday

This week...

My Current WIP (Work in Progress): Last week's progress was negligible. I'm still having a hard time concentrating. I did take an online class about story structure that was interesting.

Quote of the Week: "You have power over your mind, not outside events. Realize this, and you will find strength." ~ Marcus Aurelius

What I'm Reading: I started "A Most Unlikely Duke" by Sophie Barnes this past weekend. I'm having a hard time getting into the story line. I'm hoping it will get better.

Random Thoughts:  I have some apple seeds that I dried and saved from last year. I'm trying to decide if I want to plant them just to see what, if anything, grows.

Random Photo of the Week:

This is my temperature blanket so far. It's from January 1st up to the first day of spring (3/20).