I was going to do a ‘taking stock’ post in line with Denyse Whelan’s link-up topic for today. In fact I even started it and prepared to regale you with tales of why I hate my hair and my new addiction to white chocolate.

I really only plan to do one non-book-related post each week but I’m posting today as it’s Denyse’s last link-up before she takes a break for treatment for mouth (oral cavity) cancer. I hate that this is happening to her and her family and cannot even imagine how scary and confronting it is for them all. My own dad had cancer as well as other health issues, so I can kinda relate from the point of view of a ‘loved one’ but I’ve appreciated that Denyse has taken the opportunity to share with us her feelings and her fears.

No matter how quickly and well she bounces back her life will forever be changed. And that’s what I decided to write about today. Though naturally on a far more glib note cos… hello, this is me we’re talking about. I save the maudlin depressive contemplation for behind closed doors. And Facebook. Where it belongs.

Which brings me to my (somewhat) inane point. I announced a few weeks ago on my Facebook page that I needed to get a new computer. My iMac is 8yrs old and MacBook Air 6yrs old. Both have served me well but no longer sync with my phone and I can no longer use a heap of programs because both computers’ operating systems are too old, and unable to be updated.

Because I’m not as wealthy as I was in my past life I figured I’d do the interest-free purchase thing, but then of course I needed to decide what to get – which is when I turned to Facebook. In reality I wanted a new iMac. I love desktop computers more than laptops but the sane part of me (and everyone who commented on Facebook) recommended that I go with the laptop. (Just quietly I’m planning on buying a new iMac when I win the Lotto. Just so you know….)

Anyway, long-story-short, I went with a fairly basic MacBook Air – mainly because all I really need it for is writing. I don’t need bells and whistles. No fancy graphics and retina things.

Lowest price found and new laptop home I started planning my next steps. My iMac has been playing up for so many years I have it permanently on a hard-drive backup. However… I have an inordinate amount of shit on my iMac. I haven’t deleted photos, like ever. Or emails. I save crap to the desktop. I have a gazillion book covers saved that I’ve never bothered to delete once I’ve done the blog post. Needless to say I was kinda reticent to transfer all of that crap over to my new computer. Or even to the cloud (a cloud*) to use when required.

So I thought long and hard about it and decided I would start from scratch. Yes siree. I’ve drawn a line in the sand and am starting on my new laptop afresh. I’m starting over.

Of course I hopefully have the hard drive backup for my iMac in case I need it. And I did copy my ‘writing’ folder and some downloads onto a USB, and a backup of my blog in Google drive, but the plan is to plug the laptop in and start afresh.

I must admit I feel incredibly free and vaguely excited about the notion of starting over. I’m not sure I’d feel that way if I completely lost everything on my blog or every original document I’ve ever owned, but – to this limited extent – it’s like a clean slate. I can also pretend I’ve got the chance to be a different me. A new me. And that’s kinda comforting.

Would you be more concerned about not transferring everything you’ve written or done, or every photograph you’ve taken onto something?

* I know clouds offer virtual storage, but don’t fully understand what people mean when they suggest I save it to ‘the cloud’. Do they mean Dropbox? Google Drive? Should I have something set up myself?