Marie Gauthier

I’ve been using Apples in one configuration or another since 1989, and there’s nothing like a Mac.  I’m so appreciative of my friend Lea’s generosity in loaning me a laptop so that I could still get work done, but truly, there’s nothing like a Mac.

Budget constraints led me, nervous yet desperate, to eBay for my next laptop, and, badaboom, here I am, $109.50 + shipping later, sitting pretty with a refurbished iBook, leaving me some spare parts (battery, air port, power cord, etc.), plus extra memory from the old machine that I can install in the new, all worth more than my total cost.

Not an entirely seamless transition, unfortunately, as it turned out that when I cleaned up my thumb drive shortly before my old computer hit the skids, I accidentally “cleaned” it of my manuscript (among other things).  I have it in hard copy, but the prospect of typing it over entirely…! My right eye began to twitch.

Luckily, I’ve  begun submitting it to a contest or two, and at least one of them uses an online submission manager. Halleluiah! I logged in to my account and downloaded my ms. from there. I’ve already revised that version, natch, but the editing and work-time involved was much, much, less than retyping it from whole cloth.

Oh, what a (wondrous, useful, potentially addictive, definitely scary) thing is eBay! And is there anything more aggravating and soul-searing than the outrage of someone outbidding you? (WTF? Hey! I really need that, you *#&@$!)

Now April, National Poetry Month, is almost over, and I haven’t written a single poem. There’s much work to be done, rethreading the various scraps of my virtual life, but I’m hoping to fit a poem in before the week, and month, closes up shop.

In the meantime, you still have time, if you haven’t already, to enter the NaPoMo Poetry Book Giveaway, spearheaded by Kelli Russell Agodon over at Book of Kells — go on over to check out the 50+ blogs that are giving away free books. To enter mine, leave a comment here. It’s all over Friday at midnight, EST. On Saturday I’ll announce the winners.

P.S. I’ve been experimenting with Typekit fonts for the blog — feeling like it, too, needs some spring freshening up — but when I click “publish”, nothing about the blog seems to have changed. Either I’m doing it wrong, or there’s an issue with my browser. Do you, Dear Reader, notice anything different?