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I’ll be the first one to admit that I messed up. I made a mistake. I hadn’t backed up critical files in about a month. But I’ve had a new computer since August and it’s been working like a charm. I guess I got complacent. My work was going so smoothly I just didn’t think, but you should never trust a computer. One minute they work wonders, and the next, they’re no better than box full of junk.

My computer was working fine earlier in the day, but when I turned it on that night, suddenly I saw the fabled blue screen of death. Actually it was the HP splash screen, but it was blue and certainly signaled a serious problem since it wasn’t going away no matter what I did. My first concern was getting a backup of my recent work. I took the computer to the computer doctor, who called me later to say he was unable to retrieve the files using conventional methods. This was serious.

I’m shattered by the prospect of losing a few chapters, some great scenes, and a month’s worth of work, not to mention countless other files. My stomach is ill with the thought of it.  The hard drive must now be sent to a specialist. It is now on the way to the data recovery center where they assure me there is a very high probability that my files will be saved. Unfortunately it is going cost a lot of money. (You don’t even want to know how much. Just back up your files.)

If I get my work back I’ll be happy, no matter the cost. However, it could be a nervous couple weeks before I know. One of the most frustrating things about computers is that when they fail to work it seems totally random. I know a thing or two but in a case like this I am helpless. I just have to trust the specialists. I have little idea exactly how they are going to get my files back, but until I have them safely back in my hands, I will be praying for the recovery of lost chapters.

If you’ve ever tried to write anything with a complex plot, you can probably relate to the struggle of figuring out how to make everything fit together like magic. If you haven’t, I assure you it can be quite perplexing and laborious. It can also be wonderful, like when you finally figure out that troubling section, and chapters that you dreaded facing suddenly become ones you can’t wait to write.

Hammering out a story’s plot can feel a bit like chipping away an iceberg with a spoon. But if you just keep chipping, you do make progress, and it pays to persevere. It may take hours of research and reading, sitting in the bathtub, staring out the window, and weird dreams in the half-sleep of afternoon naps, but if you keep at it things that seemed impossible to grasp, starts to take shape.

No matter how much serious staring out the window you do though, sometimes you will run into a wall, some part of your story that you can’t quite see yet. In that case, I’ve found the best thing to do is to just continue working on some other aspect of the story. It may seem like that wall will never crumble, but things will change. Sudeenly an idea will come to you that will make the everything clear, and you will wonder why you were ever worried. It seems like magic when it happens.

Matthew Lowes is concerned that the internet is becoming ever more interconnected. I can update my Facebook page with my Twitter account, which also can post widgets to my WordPress Blog, which can post Notes to my Facebook page, which can also stream my Youtube clips and my Flickr photos. Luckily, each of these will send me emails to my Gmail so I know what the hell is going on when other people are posting to my Facebook/Twitter/Wordpress accounts. And thank goodness that when I’m away from the computer I am able to stay in the game using SMS short codes, G3, and wifi.

I am a little concerned though. It’s almost like this internet thing is becoming totally interconnected. Everything is like connected to everything else. It’s becoming one big giant network. It’s almost like somebody designed it that way, like a giant spider web, a global, world-wide web. I know, it’s a little scary when you stop to think about it. The day may come soon when my Twitter will update my Facebook will update my WordPress will update my Gmail, which will then send an automated response to update my Twitter. My accounts won’t even need me any more. I’ll be obsolete.

The SFTE believes strongly that the default settings on all electronic devices and software should be free text, with no auto-inserted graphics. Automatically inserted graphics inherently diminish the free and creative use of text. Unfortunately, this is less and less the case as companies and programmers attempt to wow us with flashy, unnecessary, and often unwanted features. %(

The SFTE encourages all software developers to return control to the people and set free text as the default on our devices and applications. Sadly, some application do not even allow free text as an option, essentially censoring our free speech and dictating the use of emoticons. There may yet come a day when it is impossible to type :) even when colon end-parentheses is what your heart truly feels.

The people should be aware, however, that in many cases we still have a choice. It is a choice that is our duty to exercise, a choice for freedom and the right of self expression, over the tyranny of auto-inserted graphics. It may take some time to find the options switch on your cell phone or computer application that will deactivate auto-inserted graphics, but history will look back and remember the sacrifices you make in the name of liberty and freedom. *=*

:@ “Join the SFTE on Facebook Groups.”

A terrible thing is happening to the emoticons of the world. They are slowly being replaced by auto-inserted graphics. This tragic loss of free text emoticons has come on so slowly that many have not noticed. Some even applaud this travesty, dazzled by flashy colors that seem to magically appear, and inserting these impostors willy nilly from drop down menus. ;(

But what is being lost? And at what cost are we replacing the free creative expression of plain text emoticons? What once belonged to the hearts and minds of the people is now being handed over to automated systems, global corporations, overzealous programmers and misguided graphic artists. Is this who you want standing between you and your emotional freedom? $,$

The Society for Free Text Emoticons is saddened by every plain text expression that is transformed without consent. The society advocates for the creative and free use of plain text expressions. Although the society does not reject graphical expressions unilaterally, it does maintain a stalwart preference for the preservation and use of free text emoticons. o_o

:@ “Don’t abandon us.”