writing original stuff

[estepheia]

A friend of mine wrote a truly interesting original Sci Fi story, but whenever I open the file to read it, a few minutes later my compi shuts down. How come this story overheats my laptop computer every time I open it? 57 pages is long, but I remember having longer stories open. *grumbles*

I wrote a poem today, inspired by some of the lines of poetry quoted to me several days ago. I still have a few more poetry fragments in my head. I am supposed to organize an open mic event next month for our local creative writing club, so I better get a few poems slapped together, in case nobody else shows up to read...

All this talk about NaNoWriMo makes me twitchy and unhappy. I tried it last year -- the result was pitiful. I still think it's a wonderful idea, but it does not work for me. I wish it did.
And why the hell am I always tired in the evenings? I used to stay up till 4 am to write. These days my brain shuts down at midnight. *fizzle*
*sigh*
TTFN

PS: It's already the 7th where I am, so I'll be the first to congratulate Tania aka itsabigrock. Happy birthday! *HUG!*

Comments

[1istener.livejournal.com]

National Novel Writer's Month. Write a novel in a month! (No really.) nanowrimo.org is the site, I believe.

[wackinessensues.livejournal.com]

Thanks Este! Wish I was there, or you were here or something so I could give you big snuggly wugglies!

ooohhhh is that mine?

[shatten.livejournal.com]

The story I mean... If so perhaps I can offer some advice here. It sounds like the Processor is shutting down because it is getting to hot, or that you are running out of RAM, then you are running out of SWAP file and then windows crashes - or in your case it reboots.

With the first one I can only suggest a repair man look at it, with the 2nd you might need to clean your hard drive down a bit.

Try this:

First of all back up all important work to a CD (or two). Then go through your mailbox and look for emails with attachments. Delete these if you don’t need them or you have already saved the attachment.

Next look at your desktop. If you have FILES stored on their, not "shortcuts" to files, then you will be using a lot more of your on-board ram than you realize. Shortcuts on the desktop cost relatively little memory, an actual file on the desktop eats it like a hungry bear in a honey shop. If these files are videos and such forth then every time your puter needs to refresh the screen, it has to look at these large files... Not good.

So, create a folder (or two, or three) inside your documents folder and (one at a time - to avoid a crash) transfer files from the desktop to your (logically named) folders. That’s a cut and paste - not a copy and paste.

Now take a look around your hard drive. Are there any files that you could back up on CD? If so, do that and then perhaps delete them from your hard drive. Back them up on two or even three cds if the files are really important. Remember: Once your hard drive is more than 80% full performance will "significantly" degrade!!! Windows needs some of your hard drive to create a virtual memory file (called a swap file) as do the programs that you run like word and whatever email client you are using.

The myth is that if you have a large on-board RAM then programs will use that, but in fact nearly all programs will cause windows to use the swap file at some point or another. If you are using all the RAM for other stuff (large attachments in your email program, video on your desktop) then something has to give.

Okay, once that you have cleaned all unnecessary items from your hard drive look to see there are no programs operating in the background that you do not need. Then physically disconnect your computer from the internet, stop the virus checker, stop the firewall (if you have one) and then run the defragment - now go away from the computer and come back several hours later - although you might want to pop back every now and again as Scan disk might need to run if you keep having crashes. Remember – no programs should be running while you defrag – otherwise files will remain fragmented.

If you drive is really bad, I suggest backing up all data before you do this. In fact if your computer is causing so many problems that it crashes with large documents I suggest backing up anything you might need if you have to get a new computer. Don’t forget to back up address books and other important stuff. Do it now while you still can get at it.

Once that is finished, shut down your computer to allow the windows settings to reset for your firewall and virus checker. They should both reactivate on a reboot, but check them before you reconnect to the internet.

Remember: Do all this one step at a time and take the time you need to do it safely so that you don’t lose any work or data.

Then – Read my story ;-)

Re: ooohhhh is that mine?

[estepheia.livejournal.com]

Yes, it's your story, and damn, it was getting frustrating - the shutdowns not the story. My compi has a history of getting too hot, but it seems to me it happens more often now.

I love the story, btw, as far as I was able to read it. Yesterday compi shut down twice while I was working on my fanfic Dealing, and that is just not on, so I will try to implement your suggestions. I ran a defrag recently, and I do have some HD space left, although I've been known to end up with NO space left because sometimes I forgot to pay attention to these details. Hubby removed a lot of his old stuff recently, so right now I have a relatively large amount of space 2.2 GB out of 18.6 - that is almost luxurious.

Of course my desktop is littered with files. Not shortcuts but files. Fanvids for instance, that I like to have within easy reach.

*grumbles and pushes them into a folder*

What if the folder is located on the desktop? Is that evil too?

First of all back up all important work to a CD (or two). Then go through your mailbox and look for emails with attachments. Delete these if you don’t need them or you have already saved the attachment.

Hmm, okay. that won't generate a lot of space but... done. :-)

Thank you for the detailed instructions. *hug* I will tidy up a little, but I am pretty certain that I have to ask a friend to open the machine up for a quick look inside. Your explanations were very helpful though.

I may send the story to another compi in the house and read it there. :-)

Will you come to our next meeting? A few people expressed interest.

Meeting? 29th you mean?

[shatten.livejournal.com]

I'll be at that one and I am also hoping to be at and read a silly story at the open mic evening...

Three things about the above:

1) 2.2 gb is not a lot from 18.6. You are pushing my 80% rule. YOu need to get rid of AT LEAST another 2 gb... Have you thought about using a removable drive? Check to see if your puter has USB and then look at Kosatec for something suitable.

2) Becareful about letting anyone open your laptop. They are not very "repairable" and can often fail to work if not dealt with by an expert.

3) Files in a folder on your desktop is very evil and you will be visted by the twin demons of file corruption and hard ware failures...!

Anyway, glad you liked the story, I've had some feedback that was good and some that was not and there are changes that need to be made. My book (the computer one) is finished now and at the editing stage of life, so I am looking for new projects to start from next week onwards. This story is one of them. I want to send it to the US.

Re: Meeting? 29th you mean?

[estepheia.livejournal.com]

29th, yeah.
Can't get rid of a lot of stuff, to be frank. There are still tons of stuff on the laptop that belongs to Stefan.
The friend I was thinking of is very good at hardware stuff, so I think I'm probably safe. He used to build computers for a living.

Okay, will move the VERY evil folder from the desktop. I'll keep a few less evil ones, though.

I wish I had a DVD burner, then I could move my two gigs of fanvids...

I do have two external HDs. One I accidentally ruinied because hubby did not give it a proper housing, the other is so loud I can't hear myself think. Also that one is almmost full because hubby stores company back ups on it. *grumbles.* And I can't afford anything new. *grumbles some more*

But if I throw away all my Joan of Arcadia files, then I'm probably ok.

Yeah, I think I'll do that. Only I am the kind of person who likes things close, which is why my immediate surroundings (compi or RL) are always so cluttered....

Glad your book is done. Whoohooo. (see my whoohooo icon?)

PS: stupid question - how do I keep the folder symbol on my desktop but move the folder itself to another place?

[shatten.livejournal.com]

Best way is to cut and paste the folder into the documents folder, then create a shortcut link by doing the right click and "verknopfung heirstleung" (create shortcut - what ever that is in german) on the desktop. If you just drag it to the documents folder you might only achieve a copy in the documents folder (bad as now you are using twice the disk space you were) or you might create a shortcut of the folder inside the documents folder which kinda defeats the purpose of our quest.

I'm not quite at the whooohooo stage with the book... Still have to do the tech edit changes and then read through the bloody thing again... ABout 10 days work still to go. But the book should be out on the 3rd December... All things being equal...

Thank you, Paul

[estepheia.livejournal.com]

Thanks. I turned almost all objects on my desktop into "verknüpfungen", but the damn thing still crashes. I have now switched to open office, maybe that will alleviate the problem.

The crashes occur whenever I mark text in word to cut or copy and paste into another document. The heater becomes louder, then the compi goes beep beep beeep and then it shuts down.

It also happens when I let the computer calculate WMVs and MPGs and AVIs so they fit on a VCD together. But normal file burning works, vid watching works...

I think the problem got worse when I installed the last Windows XP fix. Bah. I'm beginning to understand why there are so many rants concerning Microsoft.


BTW, are you interested in watching LOST? Good show. Only three epis so far but already very fascinating...

Mark up - Tool of the Devil? Answers on a Postcard please

[shatten.livejournal.com]

Mark up is like the most intensive way to use Word. When I use it on my laptop (as I have been on that book I just wrote) then it slows to a crawl... Towards the end of the document (which is usualy twice the size of the original, I type a letter - wait - type a letter - wait...

Not sure if this is a bug or whether it is just the program is not optomised when using mark up. Wait what am I saying. Its an MS program, of course its a bug.

If you are suffering an over heated Processor, you will either have to use another program, or stay away from mark up... It can bring a healthy machine to its knees...

BTW - Your computer sounds bad now. Back up everything while you still can, but make sure you virus scanned everything you burn to CD.

Trust me, if the computer fails and you have to get into data recovery you will be discovering a whole new world of hurt and pain!