Writing, etc.

As I last reported, my beloved old Dell Monster Machine gasped its last breath. Within two days, the delivery guy brought my new computer, Dell Monster Machine version 2.0, to my door.

That was a week ago. One week, more money than I want to think about, days of file restoration, and a variety of curse words later, I'm back to where I was before the old compute went kaput.

I liked how my old machine was set up. I liked the software I had installed on it. I didn't have to think about how to do stuff on it. I just clicked and tapped and things happened the way I wanted.

My first victory (of sorts) was installing my ancient Office 2003 software. Yay! It installed! Boo... all the updates to make it compatible with newer versions are no longer supported. This means I can still use it on my WIP (work in progress), but I can't open documents from other sources. Okay, I can. I download them onto my laptop, save to Dropbox, and then open them on the new machine. A lot of work. So I…

Most of us, myself included, have a love/hate relationship with our electronics. Some days we wonder how we survived without our smartphones and our tablets. Other days, we want to throw the blasted beasts out the window.

I've lost track of how many computers I've owned over the years. Laptops and desktops. My first was a Gateway running Windows ME. I didn't know about computer bugs, so every time it blue-screened, I assumed I'd done something wrong. It ran slower and slower. I added memory. It still blue-screened and booted up like a slug. By the time I'd decided to move on to something else, I was thrilled to see the thing go.

Each new computer arrived bright and shiny. And FAST. And each computer, laptop and desktop, eventually became bogged down by all the programs I installed until they limped and crashed.

Almost six years ago, I got fed up. I decided I was going to splurge on a computer with more memory and a bigger hard drive than I would ever need. My compu…

Better late than never, here is my photo journal from last month's Writer's Police Academy.

This has to be one of the coolest hotels I've ever been in. While I didn't get to see much of Green Bay, the hotel and its decor definitely gave me a feel of the area.




First, we got to practice some hands-on police techniques. 








The drone demonstration was fascinating. I had no idea what these things could really do. Or in some cases, what they can't do.
Did I mention how awesome the hotel was?
There are always a few surprises when you get off the bus at the training facility.

The entire month of August got away from me! First, there was Writers Police Academy. Then I had an August 29 deadline for revisions to Uneasy Prey. So I have excuses.



I turned in my manuscript on time and now I'm catching up.

I should have a blog post ready by the weekend about my experiences at WPA, complete with photos. So check back!

Three years ago, I attended my first and only (so far) Writers Police Academy. At the time, the conference was held in North Carolina. Four of us from my Pittsburgh Chapter of Sisters in Crime piled into my Subaru Forester for one of the wildest road trips I've ever taken!

What happens in the Subaru STAYS in the Subaru. Just ask Martha Reed, Susan Thibadeau, and Mary Sutton. You won't get a real answer, but I bet you'll get a big reminiscent smile.

Writers Police Academy is a crime fiction writer's Mecca...a weekend of high intensity workshops and hands-on training sessions led by experts in law enforcement, EMS, and fire, among other emergency responders.






The weekend is like meth to this research addict. I learned a LOT, much of which went into my books.

Next week, I'm going back. WPA is now held in Wisconsin, so there will be no road trip. I'll be flying solo to Green Bay where I look forward to participating in the Shoot-Don't-Shoot Scenario Training, t…