technical problems – The Writers in Residence

(Blog) Housekeeping & Inspiration

(Jackie Houchin is standing in temporarily for another member.)

Before we go on to some inspiring quotes from a dozen great mystery writers, here’s a little housekeeping to help you get the most from our blog.

1. Have you ever been unable to see or post comments on The Writers In Residence blog? Here’s a trick to try.

When you first open the page, “click on” the title of the post. NOT the site title, but the new posting title. In this case, it would be “Housekeeping & Inspiration.” The page should adjust, and then you will be able to see the Comments section. Try it! PS: You will also be able to see the extended bio of the current posting’s author.

2. If you are curious about the rest of us bloggers, you can go to the top of the site and click on “About.” This will give you the complete list of bios by author.

3. From the sidebar, you can also search past postings by typing in an author’s name in the “Search” box and clicking. Recent articles by that author will appear. You can also type in a topic. If we have covered that, you will see them as well.

4. If you came upon our blog via social media and like what you see, you can enter your email address in the next box and click on “Subscribe.” Then you will receive an email every Wednesday with a link to the new post. We’d love for you to join us!

5. Further down the side bar, you will see “Recent Posts,” and under that, you can search by month and year in the “Archives”. We go back to 2009!

6. If you have any other questions, you can use the “Contact” feature at the top of the page, but (blush, blush) I’m not sure at this point, whom that will go to! Eek! If all else fails, and you are SERIOUS, you can email me. Photojaq@aol.com.

And now for the INSPIRING QUOTES! *

“The mystery story is two stories in one: the story of what happened and the story of what appeared to happen.” Mary Roberts Reinhart

“There is nothing more deceptive than an obvious fact.” The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes by Arthur Conan Doyle

“Another dead body. Every year it is the same. Every year, another dead body…” Lion in the Valley by Elizabeth Peters

“All things are poisons, for there is nothing without poisonous qualities. It is only the dose which makes the thing poison.” Paracelsus

“The best crime novels are all based on people keeping secrets.” Alafair Burke

“Revenge is sweet and not fattening.” Alfred Hitchcock

“Conversations are always dangerous, if you have something to hide.” A Caribbean Mystery by Agatha Christie

“People are straightforward enough, on the whole, till one starts to look for crooked motives, and then, oh boy, how crooked can they be!” The Ivy Tree by Mary Stewart

“Truth will come to sight; murder cannot be hid long.” The Merchant of Venice by William Shakespeare

“There simply must be a corpse in a detective novel, and the deader the corpse the better.” S. S. Van Dine

“The great advantage about telling the truth is that nobody ever believes it.” Dorothy L. Sayers

“Very few of us are what we seem” The Man in the Mist by Agatha Christie.

*This collection of quotes is from The Bookish Sleuth, Mystery Reader’s Calendar by mystery writer, Sara Rosett

Technology Blues

by Linda O. Johnston

Those of you who are reading this are most likely writers and readers. And some of you are also techies. You know what you’re doing when you sit down at the computer and write. Well, that part also works for me.

But not much else that’s technological.

I use two different desktop computers for different things, although one of these days I’ll retire the older one. Not sure when, though. My newer one is in a different room and has an array of windows behind it. Undraperied windows. Windows that therefore produce a glare on my computer.

No problem most of the time. But when I use Zoom, even though I use an assumed background, it’s really hard to see me on the Zoom screen at times of the day when the glare is worst. I’m gray and fuzzy!

I’m working on figuring out a way to deal with that, such as by adding an additional backing to head off the light. So far, though, I’m best on Zoom when I’m observing and listening to others but not participating much.

So how about you? I know some of you do quite well dealing not only with Zoom, but other technological things as well. But if you have a technological issue of any type, what do you do?

For some kinds of issues, I ask Geek Squad. You too? Or do you handle them well enough to figure them out on your own?

This week, my Facebook account was hacked, but I figured out how to change the password. A friend told me that she also received a message from me from Instagram, and I don’t have an Instagram account. Not only that, but when I tried to figure out even how to delete the false account, or let someone at Instagram know and have them delete it, you apparently had to have an Instagram account to make changes or communicate with them! I didn’t want to apply for one, so still don’t know how to get that false account deleted.

Okay, enough griping. But would you believe that, years ago, when I was a practicing attorney, I was one of the first in-house lawyers at my company to start using a computer on my own at my desk? Thanks to my writing, I knew how to create and edit contracts on a computer by myself so I didn’t need a secretary.

Photo by Chris Montgomery on Unsplash

I AM NOT A ROBOT…. by Rosemary Lord

Actress and author Rosemary Lord shares many characteristics in common with her character Lottie Topaz, including an indomitable spirit. So, when she stepped off a plane from England the other night, her body was exhausted and jet-lagged, but her wit and determination were intact. She brings the Writers in Residence blog her thoughts on a topic that will cause many heads to nod in agreement as they read her latest post. Enjoy!

I AM NOT A ROBOT

Okay, so I have to copy that squirrelly lettering to prove I am a person and not a robot. I can do that. But the rest of all that trickery appearing on my computer leaves me cold. Well, more like frozen with panic.

I am a writer. I like to write – and have done so since I was about 4 years old. I am most content with a large legal pad or exercise book, a selection of well sharpened pencils and a good eraser. From there I can happily write away the hours.

So when our fearless WinR techie Jackie Vick sent our group a carefully written explanation of how to participate in the new blog, I almost had a case of the vapors.

But I gritted my teeth and followed her instructions. And so, in those early days, for 1-2 hours every day I determinedly followed these instructions to the letter, attempting to send a literary contribution. But Google was one step ahead of me. “Not so fast,” it seemed to say. “Password not recognized” and other phrases that stopped me going further, kept popping up on my screen. I did as bid and changed my password so many times that many, many days later, umpteenth new password added, I ran out of ideas and used a rude word. Google was not shocked, and repeated “Password not recognized.”

I considered chucking my computer through the window, but thought better of it and spoke with Jackie. My new un-techie system is to simply send my words to her and she does the rest.

But why won’t my brain grasp this new knowledge? Why am I so resistant? Is it just me? Admittedly, my writing is usually of a world one hundred years past: quill pens and an abacus. Ah, that’s what I need – a quill pen and an abacus. But I seem to have developed an allergy to this brazen new world of MAC versus PC, Twitters and Blogs, Excel Spreadsheets, Quick Books, Drop-Box and such.

Now if one is writing a journalist piece with photographs, I can understand all that trickery. And I can actually do that stuff, too, from my journalism days. But it’s the submitting bits of text and the passwords and not really knowing how to get it there. And “what ever happened to that page I just spent 2 hours writing, that has now vanished from the screen?” that stumps me.

Now I’m not a stupid person. In fact I have several GCEs and other clever things from my English Education at Tiffin’s Girls’ School (consistently in the top 3 best schools in England, my family remind me) to prove it – sort of. So I can’t be that stupid. But it’s all this new techie stuff that is my down-fall.

“It’s simple,” my 18 year old Australian friend Maddi tells me as she taps away on my i-pad. “There: done,” she hands it back to me – and I am none the wiser. So I feel that I’ve become really stupid… “You’re thinking too hard,” Maddi tells me. “Don’t try to work it out – just do it.” Easy to say.

But then, when I start writing about Hollywood one hundred years ago, or trotting out facts about my travels in various countries and my adventures through the years, I comfort myself with the recognition that I can do some things. Plenty of things. Just not the techie stuff. I really am not a robot – thank goodness…