Technophobia

I do not suffer from technophobia (a real word, by the way). I didn't know all the ins and outs of creating a blog, for example, but I wasn't afraid to, obviously. When my daughter, Tierra, commented that I needed to tweek my layout to accomodate a background, I did it without any trepidation. However, I am not immune to making stupid mistakes.

Case in point: For more years than I care to admit, I have been writing a novel. I really have, painfully slowly, but I have proof--104 pages.

Now for the blunder confession. Much of my writing has been done on my government-issued laptop in evenings and on weekends while in travel status for my job. No problem there. Instead of saving my work to the hard drive, I always saved it to a portable storage device. Still no problem. However, earlier this year my agency began a mandatory encryption process for all the data on our computers. That's fine, too--until this author forgets that the portable device I stick into the computer is instantly "protected" with the encryption program. So, now my work is encrypted and I can't open the Great American Novel on any other computer. Boo. Hiss. If I were Chris Farley I'd be hitting myself in the head muttering, "Stupid, stupid, stupid."

I'm looking on the bright side, though. I printed out the 104 pages and will be doing an edit while I retype (now, that's an old-fashioned word) on my personally owned PC.