A Writer’s Nemesis–an Unapologetic Computer

When I got my hands on my first Smith-Corona H Series Correctable Typewriter, I was in my glory. I was also in control.   Then…along came computers and the word-processing phenomenon.  Writers were thrilled at the technology: Spell-check, formatting, multiple fonts, save options and mailing options,  all at the click of a mouse.   But there was a dark side to all of this, and I have found it; or rather, it found me.   When  something went awry most of the time I was  lost.  The worst part was I did not know what to do.  I was at the mercy of forces beyond my tech challenged brain.  Yes…I had lost control of my writer’s world.

As writers we have all experienced the ‘glitches’ that come along in dealing with computers and the cyber universe they dwell in.  It is as if they do not want us to come into their world.  It is okay to stand in the foyer but that’s close enough.  If you get too close you suddenly have dropped text, lost messages, frozen screens and so on.  Why, one time  Google even blocked the Internet by mistake.  (Maybe there was a mob at the door.)   I think we all have our individual dark sides in the invisible universe. They are  like small black-holes ready to suck you in and devour you before you even know  what happened.

I discovered that my dark side exists in the tech end of cyber world. I have also found that I am just one of many computer users who know very little about computer repair,  especially if it involves  software.   I do try very hard not to open up unknown or suspicious items.  I also do a disk cleanup often and defrag and all of that stuff.   I do that because I know what can happen if I “click wrongly” and, when I do, the result  ain’t pretty.  Finally, I have Norton anti-virus.  Oh well, the fact is, if I do “click” wrong none of that matters anyway.  It is the proverbial ‘two edged sword’.

My two published books have been returned to me because my publisher is going out of business effective June 1.  (Obviously, my  books did not hit the best  seller list).   I have also been given my blogsite to tend to.  I do not know how.  With the assistance of the publisher I have managed to republish the book on Amazon and Smashwords. But I have no idea how to update the blog site with the new editions.  This is what I mean about losing control.  In addition, I had my email account with Verizon for 13 years. I cancelled it 15 months ago saving $50.00 a month by using Bright House.  Verizon told me that was ‘just fine” to keep the Verizon address.  Like an idiot, I believed them.

So (the day after I found out about the books) my email stopped working. I was sure I had “clicked” something wrong and it took six hours to find out Verizon had disconnected it. It took six hours because they did not know they had done it,  and there was nothing anyone could do about it because their computer had done it and that was that, end of story.  Many people apologized but the computer did NOT apologize.

Bottom line: we are at the mercy of cyber forces that can get us at any time.  We need to learn more about that other world before it gets us like it did everyone in “Terminator III: Rise of the Machines”.  In that movie  “Skynet”, the computer system,  takes over control from mankind unleashing worldwide, thermonuclear war. No one can stop it, not even Arnold.  I guess that old Smith-Corona had a very positive side after all.  We were smarter.