For the last week I have been without the device I am most dependent on.
Following the hilarious experience of being scammed for a fake apartment and spending over £1,000 on a deposit that seems to be gone forever, I had another mishap.
I spilled some water.
Unfortunately, I spilled the water on one of my most prized possessions, my MacBook Pro. I use my laptop for everything. I use it for editing, which is my main day job and source of income, I use it for all kinds of media making and photography, including marketing for my books, and of course, I use it for writing.
So you can imagine my horror when I tried to turn it back on and the screen went black and the charger started blinking orange.
This, I later found out, means that the battery short-circuited the logic board. This means my data is unrecoverable and the laptop itself has essentially become a $5,000 paperweight.
Not ideal.
My workspace prior to the incident. Look how close that water bottle is … playing with fire, I was.
😶 After the initial panic subsided
I took stock. I was in Portugal with a wonderful woman, we had oodles of beautiful cafes and a gorgeous beach to swim in and the weather was lovely. I am healthy and so is my family. Even the worst-case scenario meant that all I would be losing was money and a few weeks of work.
Still… I was pretty annoyed at myself.
I would have to wait until I got back to London to attempt to get it repaired.
What would I do in the interim? I have a book coming out in 2 weeks! I need to prepare!
Marketing is not my strong suit. Like most of you, I much prefer to spend my time writing things rather than selling them.
But this time, with the release of my sophomore effort, I was more determined than usual. I had created a schedule of posts and ads. That plan has gone right out the window.
Damn laptop. I’d come to rely on it for 99% of my life’s work!
🚪 Opportunity Knocks
But hey, maybe I’m looking at this all wrong. I could view this as a strange opportunity, couldn’t I?
Perhaps this mishap is actually the universe telling me I’m working too much.
I could choose to view the indeterminate amount of time it would take to get my laptop fixed as a forced vacation. A time for me to forget about the mountain of “urgent” tasks and instead, live in the moment.
I’m in Portugal! I have a beautiful beach to enjoy and sun to soak up! I have my favourite person to hang out with all day!
I have decided that I will embrace the unexpected beckoning of fate and just … forget about work for a while.
☕ But um … what do I do instead?
That’s easy. I read.
I’ve ripped through Robert Galbraith’s latest Strike book, Ken Follett’s latest Kingsbridge book, and Richard Osman’s second Thursday Murder Club book in just the last few days. Now I’m at a loss … any recommendations?
It’s been over a week since the dreaded water spill incident and I’ve found my time away from my laptop difficult. I’m writing this newsletter on my phone which is definitely not the way I prefer to write.
However, being forced to put my laptop aside and find other ways to spend my time has been fun. It’s almost as if, by being forced to not work, I’ve been given permission to slack off. However, I’ve managed to continue doing my day job by using my partner’s laptop (it’s significantly older and slower so it takes a bit longer, but it’s saved my job). I’m grateful for that.
💥 The Lesson
How can we take the lesson in this story and apply it to our writing?
Basically, be extremely careful with water bottles around your laptop.
Mayyyybe there’s something to be said about reading and relaxing and enjoying your time here on earth, living in the present instead of being obsessed with work, but I think the lesson about water and laptops is more pertinent.
Oh, and insurance. Have insurance.