Tag Archive for: Writers

What I Do For Love – Of Devices

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What I do for Love – Of Devices by Debra H. Goldstein

Quick.  Don’t take a breath!  Count how many electronic devices you are carrying, wearing, looking at, or have within easy reach.  Do they save you time or are they the source of anger, stress, and frustration?

Depending on the day, I answer that question differently.  The reality is that I am an electronics geek who doesn’t know nearly as much as most ten year olds.  In my old job, I was always willing to be a guinea pig.  New computer – bring it on.  New laptop or network – bring it on.  New telephone system – you get the idea.  Now that I call myself a writer, of course I have toys galore.

So, what was your count after reading the first paragraph?  Mine was five.  I’m sitting in my office typing on my laptop.  Behind me sits an older desktop.  The television in this room is smart as is my telephone and I’m wearing a fitbit that reminds me I haven’t moved too much today.

How much writing have I managed to do today? This blog. Why haven’t I finished revising the

manuscript that I’ve been toying with for weeks?  Because between a scheduled charity meeting (well worth the time I spent there), an hour in the gym (a necessity even though I did work on responding to emails while I was on the treadmill so you can imagine how slowly I was moving), the majority of my day has been spent talking to electronics technicians.

First, I ran a machine to the repair shop dreading how much the cost would be – happily, it turned out that the machine was on the wrong setting (no charge, but I lost an hour of the day).  Then, I spent an hour (the third one) on the phone with a computer technician who was trying to find out why my one week old laptop wasn’t behaving itself.  Systems checked, drivers reinstalled, and what do you know? – he still didn’t know what the problem was.  He is calling me back in two hours for another round.  I can hardly wait.  Of course, I can only give him an hour because I have a scheduled conference call this evening, but no problem, if he doesn’t figure it out, there’s always tomorrow.  I’ll have plenty of time to let him take control of my computer once I take my car, the one that every time I turn the car on flashes “Maintenance Required,” in for service.

Writing Camp or Writing Work in Iowa

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Writing Camp or Writing Work in Iowa by Debra H. Goldstein

Fun – Freedom – Frolic are all things children experience when they attend summer camp.  I recently had these same experiences plus a constant writing high when I spent ten days as a student at the Iowa Summer Writing Festival. Everyday responsibilities and obligations faded and were forgotten while I took classes in setting, conflict, and characterization in genre.

The courses combined limited lectures, writing assignments, and critical workshopping. What was probably the most surprising thing is that as much as I learned from my three excellent teachers, I can’t even begin to explain how much I benefited from hearing my work and that of my fellow students evaluated by my teachers and classmates. Their critiques were kind, but nothing was sugarcoated.

Considering how writers often are often upset by bad Amazon or Goodreads reviews, one would think constant writing exercises and critiques would be demoralizing, but they weren’t.  Rather, they were invigorating.  The combination of learning, translating new knowledge into writing, and being given the tools to improve our work product was exciting.

During the ten days I was in Iowa (which really is flat), I was thrilled Kings River Life published my short story, Exotic, ( http://kingsriverlife.com/07/04/exotic-a-mystery-story/ ), Bethlehem Writers Roundtable informed me that its September/October 2015 issues will contain my short story, That’s Where I Buried My Wives, and Five Star sent me the first jpeg cover of my new book, Should Have Played Poker: a Carrie Martin and the Mah Jongg Players Mystery (coming February 2016).  By the time I finished my three workshops, I realized that the goal of learning was accomplished but better yet, I came up with new pieces – a few of which I bet will find homes in the next year.  Not a bad result from going to camp.