Murder on Tyneside

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Wednesday 29 August 2012

New Title for my Divorcees Novel!!

I have not only finished writing my novel, but I have also changed the name. Divorcees.com that was, is now Divorcees.biz

A friend pointed out that, as divorcees.com is already a registered name for a Website, I might have a few problems if my book was ever published and became an overnight success (overnight success, wow - got to smile here).  Anyway, I sought the advice of The Society of Authors and they agreed, there could be a problem.

That being the case, I decided the wisest course of action was to change the name. I have also bought the domain name for two years, so this can't happen again. Once I get the Website going, I will use it to promote my novel Divorcees.biz

Meanwhile I have been through the whole manuscript twice doing some much needed edits and will probably start going through it again. Then the next big thing will be to try to find a lovely publisher, who will be delighted to read the novel and decide to publish.  If a publisher just happens to stumble on this blog post and would like to take up the challenge, then please do not hesitate to get in touch.

Is it only me, who feels a little sad when they reach the end of a novel? Strange how I feel as though I am losing old friends.

In my last blog, I told you all about my new phone. (The old one stopped working) Well since all that happened, we had to buy a new fridge freezer as the old one suddenly decided it had had enough. Or perhaps it was simply playing up because I was paying too much attention to my new phone. Whatever the reason, we now have a brand new one, which meant more money being spent. I am holding my breath in anticipation of what is going to go wrong next.

It's amazing how all these things happen together. Do they simply have a little conference in the night and decide they want to play havoc with our lives and then pull straws to see which one is going to play up first.  That might sound crazy, but how do we know what goes on in the other rooms while we are sleeping? Anyone who read my short stories in The Lady magazine will recall I wrote one called "The last Pea on the Plate" and another named "The Number 57 Bus", where I told stories how both a bus and the peas on a plate had feelings.

Okay best I leave it there, after all I do write fiction.  :)  However, if you want to read the two stories mentioned, they are now on my website Eileen Thornton  under the heading Short Stories. All the stories there have been previously published in magazines.

I think that is all for the moment. I have given Newcastle a miss this week, but will be there next week to meet my sister and cousin. I think there is also going to be another lady from my past. So, as you can imagine, there will be lots of catching up to do.

Have a great day all, (I just heard a roll of thunder here)

Cheers!!

Friday 17 August 2012

My New Mobile Phone!

Two weeks ago my Blackberry broke down. I wasn't sure why, but I simply couldn't get any signal on it. Not wanting to mess around, I decided to buy a new phone, but chose not to have a Blackberry this time. I found one I liked and thought all I had to do was go into the Orange shop and buy a phone. I assumed everything would be set up and ready to go before I left the shop.  However, it wasn't as simple as that.

I had been on pay-as-you-go using the plan where I could have so many free texts and internet providing I added £10 every month.  I was quite happy with this plan and I would have carried on with plan, no problem at all.   But as I had £75 in credit, the lady in the shop was horrified I was letting this  money accumulate every month and suggested I should change to the pay monthly plan. That way, I wouldn't have to pay anything until the credit was used up.

After a great deal of persuasion, I changed my plan, but it seems because I wanted to keep my old number a spanner was thrown into the works. No, that's not strictly true. Actually a great number of spanners were hurled into the works. I did indeed have my old number changed while in the shop, but all mail I received from Orange about my new phone quoted the number on the sym card, which was in the new phone before it was changed. I telephoned Orange and got that sorted out..

Next I found after two weeks, my 'free' internet was finished, which meant I had to contact Orange on Wednesday evening to sort it out. What 'free internet' I asked. I thought the internet came with the package. However, it seemed the whole thing hadn't been explained properly in the shop, because the email button I was told to use came with an extra £5 per month after a two week trial.

After talking for one and a half hours to two different people, it was established that by using a different button, the emails would be included in the plan without paying another £5 per month.  The second man explained it all very carefully and together we changed it. He said would ring me the next day, to make sure it was okay because it took a few hours to reset itself.

When he rang me on Thursday, it still wasn't allowing emails in or out. So we spent another hour going through it again. But later that Thursday afternoon, it was receiving emails, but not sending them. So I emailed the guy and he rang me back. After another 30 mins, where he talked me through saving contacts etc so we could reset the phone to factory status and start all over again, we finally cracked it. By this time, I was almost having a nervous breakdown and heading for the gin bottle.

I have to say this lovely guy has the patience of a saint. I had to tell him he was dealing with a complete idiot at this end, as I had absolutely no idea how to set up the thing. I tell you I was all fingers and thumbs, I also had to keep reading out what it said on the phone so he could slowly talk me through each stage.

Perhaps I should now set myself up as a mobile phone expert!!

Apart from that, all is well here,

Cheers!!