Tainted Thursday & the Indie Author

taint
   
noun
1.a trace of something bad, offensive, or harmful.
2.a trace of infection, contamination, or the like.
3.a trace of dishonor or discredit.
4.Obsolete . color; tint.

verb (used with object)
5.to modify by or as if by a trace of something offensive or deleterious.
6.to infect, contaminate, corrupt, or spoil.
7.to sully or tarnish (a person's name, reputation, etc.).
8.Obsolete . to color or tint.

Yep, this is one of those words which does double duty as a noun and a verb. Either way it's just nasty. That's how I feel about my computer right now...it's tainted. Either it is possessed or haunted. I'm a writer. I need my computer! It's not a want or desire. It's an absolute NEED!

As many of you know I've been participating in a Halloween themed blog hop for this month...thank you Angel-Haze for putting it all together. I have to admit a blog hop is something I've never done before and it is a new adventure for me. Last month, I connected with the eight other writers, we swapped information like interview questions, novel info, bios, and excerpts in preparation. In fact, I'm still waiting on some information. It's mad, insane, crazy, and right up my alley...this is only with eight authors I can't imagine 20 or more like some hops are.

Getting back to the taint. The new Blogger interface is something I love to hate just like the changes to FaceBook, it's a headache learning something new again while juggling so many balls in the air. I'm at the age where my thinking is, just let me do what I want to do and get on with it. My computer has other ideas. No, it's not a virus, worm, or having been hacked believe me when I tell you I've got safe guards upon safe guards.

Yesterday I tried uploading my blog for my interview with Nina Perez for Friday. I had words appearing where they shouldn't. Text moving all over the place within the blog. Pictures dimming to a ghost-like quality and unable to be deleted. Multiple images of the same picture popping up in several places. Font color changes.  And nothing showing on this screen I type on until I hit the preview button. I tried eleven times before the interview showed properly!

To top this off Mozilla at the bottom of my screen shows an error message. "Sync Encountered an error while connecting: Unknown error. Please try again." It causes sluggish page loads, time outs, and a few other irritating traits. My yahoo messenger pops up on my screen while I type, even though I've shut it off. About the only thing that is working is the "ping" I get for new messages.

So bear with me. It tis the season for hob goblins, ghosties, and other things that go bump in the night. Since I'm a minister, maybe an exorcism is in order.

That's my Tainted Thursday. How is yours?

Keep writing and loving the Lord.