My Computer is Struggling, and I’m a Sad Writer Right Now

You’d think by now I would have an understanding of basic things in life: time moves forward, dinner happens every night, and any time you buy a piece of technology, it never lasts as long as you hope.

The past two weeks have seen my computer in the grave. Well. It’s not quite dead yet. But it’s well on its way.

It’s a 2013 desktop Mac, and I actually received it as a gift from my mother when she upgraded to a new computer. So, you know, I shouldn’t have been completely surprised when it died randomly in the middle of an afternoon, and then failed to restart.

I ran it in recovery and tried to restore it from a backup disc. Even my mom, who has become proficient at saving and troubleshooting various devices, is struggling with it.

So, it looks like I might be needing a new computer. I’ve been trying to get by on my iPad, but it’s just not the same.

What I Miss the Most About Working on an Actual Computer

• The full-sized keyboard. I miss reaching over for shift and actually hitting the shift key instead of an up arrow, which really messes up my flow.
• The desktop version of Scrivener. To be fair, one of the reasons I love Scrivener and use it for everything is because I can use it on all of my devices, even my phone if I absolutely have to! But I miss the features available on the desktop version that I haven’t been able to use lately.
• Word. Trying to convert my Scrivener documents into Word documents on my iPad to submit them anywhere is a huge pain, or just isn’t happening right now.
• The Dedicated Work Space. It’s a wonderful thing, especially now that I’m a parent, to have a place to work that is just for work. Unlike my tablet or a laptop, I can’t drag my desktop around the house. I miss going in there to work.
• The Lack of Distractions. I never downloaded any games onto my desktop because, well, it was for work. I have enough things on my iPad to distract me from getting real work done, and I don’t love it. (I also won’t delete them.)

All this being said, I’m grateful for my iPad and the work I’ve been able to get done. Here’s hoping this tenth reboot will do the trick! Wish me luck!