Mistakes and Other Miseries

By Janis Patterson

My father always said, “When you make a mistake, make a big one.” Daddy would be so proud of me.

Back when I was new to the internet, I was told repeatedly to get a website, so I did – JanisSusanMay.com. I was so proud - it was beautiful, in shades of gold with dark orange roses all over the place. (You do know I’m crazy about roses, don’t you?) A lovely lady designed it for me and for a smallish fee each month maintained it, as there is no possible way I knew enough about computers to arrange and put things in a website, let alone make it so beautiful.

Time passed and I started to write more mysteries. For branding and other reasons, I chose the name Janis Patterson for my mystery name and decided to get another website. There was no way I could afford design or maintenance for two websites, so through one of my writers’ organizations I got one for just a few dollars a quarter that was supposed to be do-it-yourself foolproof. It wasn’t, as least as far as I was concerned, and to the utter relief of their tech support team I finally did learn to do my own updates. That one was JanisPattersonMysteries.com.

Time passed, and I came to a point that I simply could not afford to pay a monthly maintenance fee – especially since I wasn’t doing much updating. I didn’t know what to do, until my darling friend Jane Akshar in Luxor offered to design me one for a price that was incredibly low – so low that I could afford it without my abused and overworked credit card going into spasms. Patiently she led me through every step of sending her information, advising me what to do and why.

Okay, here’s where the mistake comes in. Since I already had websites under both my names (both of which were supposed to go away) she advised me to choose a new name – something like Janis Susan May Patterson, which would show up in searches no matter which name was input. I didn’t want to do that – I wanted to keep my names separate, thinking that in the future I could have both names point to the new website, which I couldn’t do until the old sites were down, but the new site needed a name. So, in my infinite wisdom (snark mode overwhelmingly on) I used the name www.Sefkhat-Awbi-Books.com. It does make a kind of sense – Sefkhat Awbi Books is the name of the company I started to bring out all my backlist during my publishing blitz last year. Unfortunately, no one knows to search for it, and worse, I have been getting all kinds of weird book submissions from people who want to be published by Sefkhat-Awbi. (Wouldn’t you think they’d notice that S-A Books only had one writer – me?)

I asked the support team at my writers’ organization to ‘park’ the JanisPattersonMysteries.com name on top of the new website, but when I type that into a search engine all that shows up is S-A Books. Which, I guess, is okay.

I was alarmed, however, to find that when I put in JanisSusanMay.com, my old webmistress hasn’t taken the site down as requested, and that there’s no mention of the S-A Books site. Yes, the old site is still beautiful, but it hasn’t been touched in over two years by either one of us, and I haven’t been able to get in touch with her.

And it gets worse, because the change in website names means I can’t use the lovely business cards I designed, nor the spectacular bookmarks Dawn Charles made for me. Of course, I was running low and thinking about getting more, but being cheap I wanted to use all I had. Now I can’t. There is something to be said for starting fresh, but quite frankly I think it’s overrated. So does my poor, limping credit card.

Trust me - it doesn't make it easy to know that all these problems are my own fault. I know, they're just little things that need to be and can be done, and in the grand scheme of life are hardly worth mentioning, but - if I may wax philosophical - it isn't the mountain ahead that impedes your progress, it's the grain of sand in your shoe. 

I keep thinking that I need to call my hosting system and see what I can do about changing the Sefkhat-Awbi-Books.com address to something practical like JanisSusanMayPatterson.com (I can hear Jane laughing now) and really work on finding my old webmistress and having her take down the old JanisSusanMay.com site down, but let’s face it – there are only so many hours in a day, and with my obligations I need to spend every one of them humanly possible writing.

Sigh. Ain’t technology grand? 

Reflections

Recent posts on holiday lights brings to mind an item I read in the newspaper. At that time, I found the column amusing, but now I'm not so sure. The Christmas lights do add to the beauty of holiday decorations and displays. However, all the additional light and intense focus on holiday traditions doesn't always bring happy results.

Any smooth surface around these lights will give off reflections. There's no escape from the image of the gray haired woman staring back at you when you pass a store window or mirror. At first you think the image resembles your deceased mother. Perhaps you turn quickly to get a better glimpse of someone passing on the street behind you, but see no one familiar. You may dust a table or glance at a framed photo and see a reflection of the stranger again. She looks familiar, and yet she doesn't. But she is always there, peeping over your shoulder when you pass a light reflecting surface. When you can't find a favorite book or misplace your keys, you recall how your mother once did the same things.

The impression gets worse when you attempt to pass on family traditions.  Recipes can't be found, or attempts to cook your family favorites go awry. You're desperate to recreate memories from the past, yet your attempts fall short of your expectations.

All the while, that older woman appears behind you like a shadow, and you're certain she is always frowning. You're disappointed at what you consider your failure to rekindle traditions. Yet guests compliment your decorations. Others love the refreshments or ask your secret of creating such a wonderful holiday scent in your home.

But you can be certain not everyone likes the same thing, and that is true of writers and readers. Even the best of friends aren't going to like the same movies, music or books, and that is good news. Each person will notice something different. You may love the extra hint of sage in the holiday stuffing, while your family may love the moist/dry consistency. And you can bet that shadowy image is going to be there, and she will always forget some detail...

The good news is that all readers don't read your book to look for mistakes. Most people read purely for pleasure, and even that reflection in the mirror smiles some of the time.

Now...about those other reflections, the ones you assumed this post was about... Do you look back on the past year and make New Years' Resolutions?