Happy Calkins Day! (Amid Frustrating Technology Woes)

I could spend this post grumbling about the time I lost this past week to a technology issue that just won't resolve itself, no matter how many hours of lost time trying and the large amount of in-house expertise we've thrown at it.

I'm behind in "life" tasks, housework, responding to social media, and my own personal fiction writing goals.

So now that you know why I've appeared to recently "ghost" any of the above, I'm moving onto something happier, cheerier, and with a tone that I hope is close to your heart, too.

Happy Calkins Day!

And what does exactly does this mean?

Despite the multiple posts I've written this week about the BryonySeries holiday that Ed Calkins, Steward of Tara, invented for himself before the series existed (here, here, here, and here) the heart of Calkins day is not about attending any event or a ploy to market books.

If Ed Calkins (a real person turned Irish vampire in the BryonySeries turned author for the series) can "steal" my characters for his writings I can "steal" his holiday for the sake of positivity.

Calkins Day, which is celebrated every year on Feb. 13 (by us), is Ed's birthday.

It's the day after Lincoln's Birthday and the day before Valentine's Day.

Ed thinks it should be a three-day holiday. And why not? 

Here are three good reasons:

1) No matter how anyone in 2023 considers Abraham Lincoln, few people would argue the world today needs strong leaders.

2) Calkins Day represents laughter, imagination, and generosity. Few people would argue the world needs all three today, perhaps more than ever.

3) Valentine's Day represents love, all love, not just romantic love, which is capricious by nature. Do you know anyone who doesn't need to give or receive more love? No? Me, neither.

So to those points:

1) Let's resolve to be worthy examples of people who follow us.

2a) Let's laugh a whole lot more and smile more often than that. 

2b) Give yourself permission to imagine and create without expectation that the result isn't "good enough" by some expert's standards. I mean, you can't bake a delicious cake without spilling some flour.

2c) Adopt of spirit of generosity, first with yourself and then with others. If you're generous with the time you need for yourself, you'll be more happily generous with the time you can give others.

3) Finally love a whole lot more. 

Love yourself with all your flaws.

And love others in the same manner.

Happy Calkins Day!

Just Don't Attach a Photo

So it seems whenever my computer goes through an update during the night, it has an issue with attaching and uploading photos.

Attaching and uploading photos is a big part of my early morning routine, since I'm answering emails, scheduling social media, putting photos into the system for stories due later in the day, etc.

So when I randomly have this issue in the early morning when I scarcely awake, I wind up having to troubleshoot and restart the computer (sometimes a few times), which puts the whole day behind.

This morning, I had an idea.

I'll just have emails ready to go (draft form), social media posts ready to go and just NOT attach any photos.

Then while I'm making breakfast, I'll put the computer through a restart. And then I'll attach photos and press "send."

This only took me half a year to figure out.

It's not a solution. It doesn't fix the issue (I really need Christopher for that). And it's certainly not the blog post I wanted to post today.

But it does keep the morning on track. As long as I keep making a conscious effort to not attach or upload photos (It's amazing how much I do automatically. Good habits are great - until you have to change it up).

So if you're reading this post and see a photo, you'll know the problem is resolved for today.

A 'Throwback' of a Different Kind

A few mornings ago, through a bleary brain as I sipped my coffee and signed online, I mused on how we've had no internet woes at the house for awhile.

Bad thought to have. Because yesterday, after a very short night of sleep (when I could have been sleeping except I had work to get done before working offsite for the day), I had no internet.

After multiple resettings of the system, I learned outages were reported in the area. Estimated restoration time: 8:30 a.m.

By now, I'd been up over thirty minutes. And restored service was four hours away. Too late to get any significant work done, too late and too wide awake to go back to sleep.

Once again, block from what I needed to do by technology.

There's no doubt about it. Technology makes many aspects of our life easier. 

I don't miss the days of typewriters and correction tape (or fluid).

I don't miss the days of staying home because of the need to "wait for an important call."

I don't have to wait to go to the library when I need a question answered or want to research a topic. Social media allows instant communication. Email makes communication happen without playing phone tag.

And yet, how quickly all those things shut down when the internet does.

Without the internet, I can't do many aspects of my job.

Having lived in the "good 'ol days," I can tell you they weren't any better than the ones we have today. They had different opportunities and different challenges.

Technology is here to stay, and I'm glad.

I just wish it was here to stay everyday.

Only Throwback Today is to a Simpler Time

Meaning I woke up this morning to no internet.

I did what I could, then I woke up Rebekah to do what she could. Then Timothy woke up understandably annoyed that we had no internet. The kids have work and school stuff to do online, so it wasn't just me panicking.

After much time and aggravation later, communication with the online world was restored.

Running behind today, vampire fans. Somedays, I really dislike my dependence on technology.

Some days.