How bizarre, how bizarre

I'm back on my laptop (I'm going to think up a suitable name for him/her, too — one that signals a sensitive but resilient nature, and a certain tolerance for water — any ideas?). Despite a quote (from Auckland because Dunedin is overloaded with ailing Macs) for fixing $4000 worth of 'liquid' damage to my $1600 model, my lap companion evidently decided it would rather come home and behave nicely than be scrapped.

I have to say that its malaise closely resembled my own at the time — the whirring fan that, like my head, was all noise and no traction; the X on the battery symbol; the 'something wrong' with the hard drive. I have to say that it gave me time to recuperate and consider my working habits (work when I'm working, play when I'm playing and quit the fretting); the need for creative time; the need to do a comprehensive back-up now; and time to consider Rosa Mira Books' chief objective: to become deft (and a little quicker) in the production of exceptional ebooks — which means looking for ways to travel more like an arrow than an articulated truck. Figuring out what's essential and what's not.  I have to say I'm grateful. And will be taking neither the laptop's vigour nor my own for granted.

Thanks and hugs go out to all — writers, followers, friends and family, who have been so supportive in spite of it all, and without whom this project would be a) impossible and b) pointless.

This week I came upon some helpful tips for digital dummies like me:

1. If you use iBooks, or other reading app, on your iPad/Pod/Phone, do notice if there are updates (red dots) available for it on the app icon of your iPad/Pod/Phone, and download them. Makes all the difference to the layout, as it turns out in the case of Slighty Peculiar Love Stories. 

2. SLPS writer, Salman, sent me this nifty feature:  as he says, 'If you use Firefox, you can add this and read epub directly.' It's not refined in its features, but is a very quick way to open an epub document.

3. Less a helpful tip than a celebration of beautiful web design, and a chance to have your own: check out Sue Wootton's web page (and drool, poets). She writes, 'I recommend Doug Lilly. He's started to specialise in arts/writing/creative people's sites, at very reasonable rates.'

Okay, there's no reason now not to release Slightly Peculiar Love Stories in the middle of next week. I have a day in mind and will confirm it with details here, there, and everywhere as soon as I get the okay from my techie.

Shall we have a nice cup of tea in the meantime?

What's up?

Wow. I just previewed the film trailer for The Glass Harmonica that Dorothee's cousin Jakob has been making in Berlin, taking in the nape and hands of a beautiful young woman, and a glass harmonica they tracked down in the Musikenstrumentenmuseum in Leipzig. It's going to raise the neck hairs for sure.

So, I'm between two projects at present, but needing to keep active in both. The Glass Harmonica: A Sensualist's Tale is out in the world, being warmly received and quietly gathering readers to itself. We have to keep making its presence known by all the social and web media within our reach and budget. I hope more people will take the leap and buy the ebook, even if they don't have their e-reader yet. More sales means more time I can spend preparing the next manuscript. I believe that all the work I put in to Rosa Mira Books is worthwhile, but at this early stage, each sale gives a boost, that extra 'vote of confidence'. I've applied for funding to help with the next push — getting the Slightly Peculiar Love Stories edited, designed and marketed. This collection is going to be fun to read — quirky, intense, flighty, pensive: there will be a story for every mood.

Meanwhile, I've been reading a manuscript on the iPad's iBooks app. Because the story is well written, spell-checked, and captivating, and although it's in PDF, I might almost be reading an ebook already. Digital readers surely spell death to the slush pile, those toppling boxes of paper, wistful manuscripts that are, in the end, sent home or shredded.

I've yet to download the application Chris told me about: Docs To Go, which enables one to edit Word documents on the iPad. So many devices and applications offer to make our lives more streamlined — if only we overcome the initial resistance against yet another new task, another set of instructions, to learn by measured steps what our children tackle headlong and intuitively.