Shenanigans with Keyboards

This week's topic on GBE2 (Group Blogging Experience) is: Shenanigans.
One definition of this is 'mischief' so it's fairly appropriate topic for me this week, after 24 hours when the keyboards in my house were definitely acting like mischievous devils!

It started on Sunday, about midnight. I'd just finished Chapter 12 of my current novel, clicked 'save', then decided to look through it. Immediately I spotted a place where I'd omitted a word. I started to type it, then - huh? Three letters into the word 'Instead' and the whole computer froze - screen, keyboard and mouse. Nothing - zilch - nada.
Maybe I've run out of memory. Okay, crash out and start up again. Look for document - phew, it's still there. Try typing 'Instead' again. Same thing happens. What the ....?
Remember, this is past midnight - definitely NOT the time for computer or keyboard or whatever to be up to some kind of shenanigans!  But time for serious action. Check the keyboard cable - yes, still plugged in. Okay, try it in a different USB port. No joy.  Still can't type the word 'Instead', only the first 3 letters.
So "instead" I go to bed. Maybe it'll have sorted itself out by morning.
Wake the next morning and wonder why I have woken with a sort of dread-type feeling. Oh yes, the d....d computer was playing up. But perhaps it'll be okay now.
Get up, switch on - haven't even had a coffee at this point, I'm so nervous about whether the computer is going to behave.
Check emails - everything okay there, will reply to some later. But first I have to log on to Facebook - and type my email address and password. Now what's happening? As soon as I type the letter 'p' , another screen jumps up that I've never seen in my life before.  It wants to know whether I want Computer only, duplicate, extend, or projector only. What? But I don't have a choice, since whichever alternative I click has no effect whatsoever.
This is getting serious now.  I switch on my old computer - which resolutely refuses to boot up and keeps looping round to the 'safe mode' screen. Next, switch on Netbook, which then runs slow because it has to update the anti-virus as I haven't used it for several weeks. But eventually it's ready, and I try to log on to Facebook. Now something even weirder happens. It won't type the @ symbol, but will only put the lower case apostrophe symbol. A double check on Wordpad reveals more problems with Netbook keyboard - shift, enter, backspace and delete - none of those keys are working.
Now I really start to panic. Have I contracted a virus which is causing my keyboards to go into meltdown?  Only one solution - call in the cavalry i.e. my wonderful computer man. But he can't come until the next morning (i.e. Tuesday).
By this time, the old computer has finally decided to boot up, so I can access my emails etc from there, even though waiting for pages to load is worse than watching paint dry. 
A request on FB for anyone with computer knowhow to tell me what might be happening brings a reply from my American cousin that I might have a keylogger Trojan on my computer.  Eeek!
So, fed-up with watching paint dry, I go and clean the kitchen floor. Yes, well, we're all reduced to doing things like that when the computer's not working, aren't we?
After lunch, I come back up my study, and decide I ought at least to clean my keyboard if my computer man is coming the next day. So I turn it upside down to get rid of the dust that collects under the keys, then blow out any remaining dust, and finally use keyboard wipes on it. I decide to give it one last try before I throw it out of the window.
And - YES - I can now type 'instead' and I can log into FB, in fact the keyboard is cured! Yippee!
I decide not to cancel my computer man - I'm still mindful of my cousin's warning about keylogger trojans, also my 'expert' has never failed to solve a computer problem yet (plus he's a VERY handsome young Iranian guy, so no hardship there!). And anyway, the Netbook keyboard is still misbehaving.
Tuesday morning comes and my handsome guy arrives.  Checks for malware, trojans etc etc - nothing. Phew, sigh of relief.
So what's caused the keyboard shenanigans? How to diagnose the problem when it now seems to be cured?  Well, I told you he's never failed to solve a problem yet, and he eventually worked out that the MS Windows key on the bottom row of the keyboard must have stuck down, so the letters I typed were forming Windows shortcuts to different screens.  So simple!!!  When I'd cleaned the keyboard, I had 'unstuck' this key and everything was fine again. Problem diagnosed and solved!
What about the Netbook keyboard then? He checked it and yes, it had malfunctioned. Coincidental, but absolutely nothing to do with my main computer's keyboard. And he can get me a new keyboard for it in a couple of days.
So that's my story of keyboard shenanigans!

Six Sentence Sunday

Another excerpt from 'His Leading Lady.' Jess is posing as her twin sister, Lora. At the end of an evening with Kyle Drummond, the director of Lora's new show, he's just kissed her...

When he released her, her breathing was ragged and she looked up at him, dazed and disorientated.

For a couple of seconds, Kyle looked just as strunned as she felt. His dark eyes stared down into hers before he took a deep breath and gave her a wry grin.

His lips brushed her mouth again in a brief parting kiss and even that burned through her. Still totally numb, she watched as he went into the lift and pressed the ground floor button She raised her hand slightly and, with a small smile, Kyle tilted his head in farewell.

'His Leading Lady' is available this month at 99 cents, as part of Whiskey Creek Press's 9th birthday celebrations, with 9 books for 99 cents each. You can buy it from the WCP website at http://bit.ly/rkTX0h

Visit the other Six Sentence authors here http://sixsunday.com/

Happy Monday

This morning, when I switched on my computer, I had an email about a new review for 'Fragrance of Violets' on 'The Books Debut' and on Amazon. To say I was thrilled is an understatement.
The reviewer wrote, amongst other things, that "it's going to be a book you'll remember long after the last page has been turned." For me, that was probably the best praise I'll ever read about one of my books. I shall treasure it. She gave it 5 stars and said it was a book she would be reading 'over and over again'.
Words like that make you realise that the 'blood, toil, tears and sweat' you poured into writing the story were all worthwhile.
I write - firstly, because I enjoy writing (hmm, sometimes I wonder why on earth I do it when my brain hurts trying to sort out a scene or work out just what my hero/heroine are actually thinking and feeling) - and secondly, because I want people to enjoy my stories. I don't want awards, best-seller status, six-figure advances - okay, maybe that would be good, but it's not why I write. If people enjoy my stories, that's enough reward for me.
So that review left me on a high.
I went out for the afternoon with some acquaintances who don't even know I write romance novels, and got home to discover another 5 star review on Amazon! Two in one day! It doesn't get much better than that, does it?
"Completely atmospheric and chock-full of interesting characters." - even a comparison with Nora Roberts! And "a thoroughly romantic and enjoyable read."
It's definitely been a very happy Monday!

Six Sentence Sunday

This week, I'm returning to my contemporary romance 'His Leading Lady' for my six sentences. Jess is posing as her twin sister, Lora. She's been out for the evening with Kyle Drummond, the director of Lora's new show in the West End and is wondering how Lora's evenings with Kyle usually ended. She is about to find out:



His mouth was soft at first but the feel of it, so warm and tantalising, sent her head into a spin. Kyle’s arms went round her, and he pulled her firmly against him.

She’d been kissed passionately before but nothing had prepared her for Kyle’s kiss as his mouth took possession of her in a seductive demand for surrender. His tongue gently fondled hers, and sensations she had never known before scorched through her, ignited every nerve and melted every bone.

She gripped his shoulders, her head went back and involuntarily she arched towards him, thrilling exquisitely to the feel of his hard body against hers. The surrender he demanded was complete as she responded with the same fervour, wanting more, still more.

'His Leading Lady' is available this month at 99 cents, as part of Whiskey Creek Press's 9th birthday celebrations, with 9 books for 99 cents each. You can buy it from the WCP website at http://bit.ly/rkTX0h

Visit the other Six Sentence authors here http://sixsunday.com/

Special sale: 9 ebooks for 99 cents each!

In celebration of its 9th birthday, Whiskey Creek Press is offering 9 ebooks for just 99 cents each during the whole of March.

One of the books on offer is my contemporary romance, 'His Leading Lady', set in London's West End theatre world.

Jess Harper’s predictable life is turned upside down when she discovers that Lora, her twin sister, has disappeared.  It’s just a week before rehearsals are due to start for a new West End musical in which Lora has the lead role.  Jess decides to pose as her sister in order to save Lora's career.  This brings her into close contact with arrogant theatre director Kyle Drummond.  Attraction sparks between them but there’s also evidence that he had been dating Lora.  So is Jess simply a substitute – in real life as well as in the show?  And what will happen when Lora eventually returns? 

Link to Whiskey Creek Press and 'His Leading Lady' (where you can also read the first chapter): http://www.whiskeycreekpress.com/store/index.php?main_page=product_info&products_id=900

Tomorrow is the End of an Era

Tomorrow marks the end of an era for me. I am travelling about thirty miles up to Preston, the town where I was born and brought up. I moved away once I went to University and never went back there to live, but I still considered it my 'home town'. My parents lived there, so I visited quite often, even slept in my 'old' bedroom. More recently, my father and step-mother (whom he married when in his 80's) lived there, although no longer in the house where I grew up. I continued to visit my step-mother, after my father died nine years ago.

Following her passing last May, I travelled up to Preston several times to help clear the contents of the apartment she'd shared with my father. Memories returned when I found things that had once belonged to my mother.

After Christmas, the apartment was cleared of all the larger items and it was put on the market. I expected a long wait for a sale, but no, we have a cash buyer less than two weeks after the agency put it up for sale. So tomorrow I am going to Preston to collect one final box of items.
It will probably be the last time I ever go to Preston. I have no other friends living there now, so there will be no need for me to go back there.
It's quite a strange feeling. Over the years, I've become used to the inevitable changes in the town, but there were still plenty of reminders of my childhood and teenage years there - the house where I lived until I was eleven, the fish and chip shop round the corner, the church where I used to attend Sunday School, the park where I used to play withmy friends on the swings and slide, and of course my old Junior School too. Then there's the house we moved to where I spent my teenage years. Lots of memories there, too. I got used to seeing them all when I went 'home'. Sometimes I smiled at the memories they evoked, sometimes I simply took them for granted.
Maybe tomorrow, after I've picked up the box from the apartment, I'll drive around and have a last look at some of the places which were part of my growing-up years. And then I'll drive back to the house where I've lived for the last 40+ years.
Of course, there's nothing to stop me from going to Preston again, even without anyone to visit there, but I doubt that I will. Tomorrow I shall be saying a final goodbye to the 'home town' of my childhood. It really does feel like the end of an era.

Six Sentence Sunday

'Fragrance of Violets' was released on February 1st and you can see a preview of the first chapter at Whiskey Creek Press http://bit.ly/yy73N9

Here are this week's six sentences from near the end of Chapter 1, when Abbey meets Jack for the first time since his return to her home village in the English Lake District. She's shocked when he tells her he intends to stay.

“Why shouldn’t I stay?”

As he took a few steps towards her car, the light spilling from the shop doorway illuminated his face, and her glance took in his handsome features – the blue eyes, the high cheekbones, the well-defined square jaw, the perfectly shaped mouth and the cleft above his chin.

A quiver rippled through her but she ignored it. “Because people here haven’t forgotten, and many won’t forgive you.”

“What about you?” His eyes challenged her, forcing her to remember the night everything had gone wrong between them.

More next week!

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