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Chautona Havig

Chautona Havig

Using story to connect YOU to the Master Storyteller

Why Coke Is the Most Dangerous Drink for Authors

by Chautona Havig · 1 Comment

I almost didn’t get this week’s special up.  Why?  I’ll tell you.  Coke. It isn’t my friend.  Not this week, anyway. *shhh… don’t cry Coke.  I’ll love you tomorrow.  I promise*

Coke is Dangerous

Note: Links in this post may be affiliate links and as such, I may receive a small commission at no extra expense for you.

So, I had a can on one side of my headboard leftover from yesterday (don’t judge.  Rough week and yes, I know it’s only Wednesday and that means yesterday was only Tuesday. Like I said. Rough week) and one on the other side from today.  I handed the one on my right to Lorna (#7 daughter) and reached for left.  Apparently I tilted my hand more than I thought and splashed a bit of the remaining Coke on my keyboard.

Yeah. That.  You know, of the NEW laptop?  Don’t say it.  Just don’t.  I haven’t cried yet.  I’d like to keep it that way.

So, what did I do?  Turned it upside down, of course!  That’s what I do!  I just shook, shook, and pounded the bottom of that thing like a choking baby to get every last drop out.

I’m weird that way.

Finally, when wiping it clean gave me no new drops, I called it good and stared at the screen. The screen was black.  I did a hard shut down.  It returned with black and white bios instructions that I couldn’t do (didn’t have what it wanted).  Shut down again.  Repeat.  Again.  Blue screen of death.  But this time there was a button to recover.  So I hit it.  Took three times for that, too.  But it booted!  And I began a frantic attempt to save everything I could.  Just in case.

Look, I’m used to having Carbonite have my back.  I love Carbonite.  But when I got this laptop, it was sucking ALL our Internet juice and no one could do their school work. So, I put it off until classes were over.  Then they took summer classes.  Those just ended, but two are heading off to university in 2 weeks.  So, once a week, I religiously saved important stuff.  And last week I did a “full” backup.  Yes, I did.  But I’ve worked since then.

So, what is the moral of this story?  Well,

  1. Coke is a danger to your computer.
  2. Back up everything.  Always.  Even if it’s a pain in the patootie. (And will someone tell me why, if a patootie is your backside, there were old songs about how you had a “sweet patootie” who was a girlfriend.  Um… I don’t use that kind of language, but were they saying their sweetheart was…. THAT?  Ugh.
  3. If you missed number one, Coke is deadly to laptops, and two reminds you to back up your stuff on a regular basis so that if Coke infiltrates the secret inner workings of your electronics, at least you can thumb your nose at it.
  4. Don’t cheat on Carbonite with an external hard drive.  As my mother always said, “Cheaters never prosper.”

How I managed to half-kill a laptop with just about a tablespoon of Coke is a mystery that not even Alexa can hope to solve.  But, she does hope to solve the mystery of who is killing Fairbury residents!  And, I just had her help solve who is stealing from the residents of Fairbury’s retirement village in a book that goes on pre-sale THIS WEEK!  WOOT!!!!!

 Just a few quotes to share!

Manuscript for Murder image

I just love that these ladies (don’t think we have men in there yet.  🙁 ) went to the trouble to help me like this!

Manuscript for Murder image

So, if you wouldn’t mind, would you just pray that my laptop survives?  I really don’t want to have to toss another few hundred at the computer industry.  Cassie is going to be SOOOOOO… ashamed of me.

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Comments

  1. Lucinda says

    August 10, 2016 at 4:41 am

    …..Have you considered swiping a sippy cup from the bestekids? Don’t judge, when my hubby had shoulder surgery I bought a couple for him to use at night. For me, it saved a ton of laundry, and hubby the discomfort of dumping his drink down his neck….for you? Laptop? Unsaved/ work not backed up? (of course, this will never, ever happen again, because you will back it up ALWAYS, right?) and perhaps a bit of sanity…. Happy that so far the laptop is surviving baptism by cola.

    Reply

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The Because Fiction Podcast

The Because Fiction Podcast
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Taking the pulse of Christian fiction

Episode 162: A Chat with Author, Nancy Naigle
byChautona Havig

Hey, we’re back after a couple of weeks of vacation, and boy did I need it. And, have I got a fabulous interview for you. Nancy Naigle and I talked about her books, her most recent release, What Remains True as well as her Christmas books and the one I’m most anxious to read, The Shell Collector. Listen in and learn about what Nancy says about this bet she has going on in What Remains True. Great stuff!

Note: links may be affiliate links that provide me with a small commission at no extra expense to you.

Need a Great Romantic Read to Wind Up Your Summer Reads?

As I said in the podcast, a while back, someone told me I’d LOVE The Shell Collector–one of those people who recommends books you HAVE to read if they say you do.  So I bought it and it’s been sitting on my shelf ever since. Well, now it’s on my GoodReads shelf, and I’m about to start it (and I optimistically thought I’d be done with it by the time this episode released. Oh, me of too much faith in myself and my time management!)

Author of over thirty books, not to mention a bestselling author who also has movies made of her novels (And The Shell Collector has been optioned! EEEP!), Nancy loves to write Christmas books and small-town stories. Seriously, as we talked, I felt like she was talking about me half the time. We’re so very alike in so many ways. It was fun.

Nancy also pointed out that her first books (if you go WAY back) are not Christian fiction and are a bit spicier than she prefers to write and definitely more than she writes today. So be warned there, but she did assure us that they are all closed-door books.

What Remains True by Nancy Naigle

One woman wants to win a bet. One man wants to become a rodeo champion. One little girl may give them both something even better—from USA Today bestselling author Nancy Naigle.

“A commitment-phobic rodeo star and a divorcée with secrets find love in this wholesome romance. . . . As uplifting as it is sweet.”—Publishers Weekly

Working at a little shop on Main Street in a small town is exactly the break that executive Merry Anna Foster needs following her divorce. She’s made a bet with her ex-husband that she can live on the amount of money she’s giving him in alimony. If she can do it, then Kevin will have to stop complaining and leave her alone. But after three months of this new life, will she even want to leave Antler Creek?

Adam Locklear, bull rider and owner of the local feedstore, is having the best year of his rodeo career. He’s also a bit distracted by the pretty new neighbor living in his old bunkhouse. But Adam has no time for matters of the heart. He’s got his future all mapped out, and that future doesn’t involve a woman just yet. It doesn’t involve parenting a little girl either. However, Carly Fowler still suddenly leaves five-year-old Zan—the daughter Adam didn’t know he had—in his care.

Is it possible that the future holds a life even better than what Merry Anna and Adam had each dreamed of? One that includes both tenderness and even love—not just for each other but for Zan too?

You can learn more about Nancy’s books and movies on her WEBSITE.

Oh, and PSST… I’m loving the audiobook of this one!

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Episode 162: A Chat with Author, Nancy Naigle
Episode 162: A Chat with Author, Nancy Naigle
August 9, 2022
Chautona Havig
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