Some Computer Questions! And, in praise of Comediennes; And more about Helen's Concerto, the Story

So, I have a few questions!

Normally, I'm pretty sharp about all sorts of computer and software-related matters, but there is one issue that puzzles me, and it has to do with making clear what a folder contains.  I suppose for people who undertake large projects, keeping their files organized is a sort of routine.  But when I open up a folder--such as, for example, the folder in which I keep fragments having to do with Helen's health--I have absolutely scores of files, all having to do with the same topic, such as diabetes, or depression.  To find something I need, I often need to browse numerous files.  Sometimes I have to browse through numerous folders.

Even as I browse, I discover that folders with identical names, sitting in different locations, have quite different contents, and the way I have named them is quite appropriate.  This means I can't rename them, to make their contents any easier to identify.  So my question is this:

Is there some way to put a note in a folder, so that its contents are immediately clear?

For instance, in Beach (Helen at the Beach--which is, in fact, quite an important episode, and not by any means a mere description of a holiday Helen has), there is a file that contains the whole episode, with a magazine article that Kristen happens to stumble upon, which is set out as a table.  There is also a file that contains the same story, but with the little portion that has the table as a graphic.  (Writing for an epub reader is a pain.)

To make things worse, I have the entire Helen saga with the table, and the entire Helen saga with the table in a graphic.  obviously, if I were a professional writer, I would have no end of organizational techniques to manage all these things; and the same goes if I was just naturally an organized person.  So, before all my highly-organized readers get on their hind-legs and howl condemnation about disorganized people (remember, half the population of the earth is probably less organized than you, and they deserve to live, too), let's just be kind to me, and agree that 'organization-improving techniques' are not the issue.  I just want to be able to document what is in a folder. Of course I could just have a file somewhere, say something like _What's in here,_ where I carefully describe the contents of the folder.  I didn't want to take that route just in case there was a feature provided by Microsoft Windows itself (or themselves, as the case may be) that does precisely this.  Or, maybe there is another way of handling the problem, short of packing all the information into the name of the folder, which is disgusting. 

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I was just watching the Ellen De Generes show, and the guests were Jane Fonda, and Lily Tomlin.  Both of the older actresses are sharp women, and I suppose that Ellen was feeling a little nervous having them on (but perhaps not; Ellen has had incredibly sharp and famous people on her show, and of all people, these two guests are very unlikely to do anything that would show Ellen at a disadvantage), but that's not what I want to talk about.

I was struck by how sharp the two guests were, tossing the ball back and forth, with just the right amount of commentary on the subject!  Many of you probably know about the Jerry Seinfeld series in which he goes around in gorgeous--often vintage--cars, getting coffee with other comedians.  Asked about the show, he said that he really liked the company of other comedians.  They were on his wavelength, and he said that he enjoyed the give-and-take, the banter, and even the put-downs!  I watched two shows: one with Alec Baldwin, and the other with Jimmy Fallon, and they were a riot!  (The Alec Baldwin show was a little enervating; I felt that Baldwin was a little on the defensive, which made the conversation come across as a little too edgy.  With Jimmy Fallon, it was the opposite; the guest (Jimmy) was so sweet and comfortable and self-effacing that I sort of cringed.

Getting back to Fonda and Tomlin: I loved the show hugely, and even when Jane Fonda was sitting quietly, trying to think of a snappy comeback, when it came, sometimes the topic had shifted just slightly, that she had to make an adjustment in mid-flight, which she always managed to do!  Perhaps it is something comedians of both genders learn to do.

The story (Helen's Concerto) is coming along.  It is not easy; I'm trying to get inside Helen's mind, and it is very difficult.  I had made Helen's amnesia just convincing enough (you won't see this, because a lot of the work I put into it has been taken out, to make the new story go faster.  I just might re-insert it sometime) to make it hard for me to present--or to imagine--a partially restored Helen.

In Helen's youth, she was fresh, and affectionate, and in love with Janet, and enthusiastic and reckless, and eager.  Then, over the months and years, she bites off more than she can chew, she is frustrated by various obstacles, many problems keep interfering with her life: deaths, responsibilities, her early memory loss, her runaway libido.  At the end of Helen On the Run, Helen, as I wrote before, becomes sort of an adult.  The stories of the early years at Westfield show Helen at her best.  Then she decides to make these movies, and all hell breaks loose.

After the second surgery, where Helen is left with hardly any long- or medium-term memory at all, I really don't know how to present Helen as an attractive character at all.  At the moment, in the story, she has rediscovered certain skills that keep her interested.

Finally, I am baffled as to how to reintroduce sex and romance into the story.  Helen is not going to turn over so much of a new leaf as to become a total eunuch, even temporarily; however, in the interests of her living a peaceful life, there has to be something that keeps her going.  I guess the challenge is to make it reasonable, and appropriate for a woman of her age (about 43).

I have my preferences as to which love interest she should end up with, but it looks very unlikely that it will be the one I want!  And not even the runner-up, or even the second runner-up . . . Oh, what a mess!  We need to set Helen up with someone who will be a suitable partner to her for the long run.  But I might have screwed myself by various story details that take away some options.  For example, I arranged for Lorna and Lalitha to become sort of an item (way back when I was writing about the second surgery; I guess those episodes haven't really been published, so my readers don't know about them!  But no; these sorts of things cannot be second-guessed) and that paints out either of those being the one who wins the hand of the fair Helen (or gets stuck with her hand, as the case may be).

Well, that's all I've got, as my friends say!

Kay Hemlock Brown

[Added later:

OK, so far I have got 93,000-odd words written down, and I think we will be done within another 1000 words, at the most.  We might want to cut the manuscript down a little, if we were to streamline it a little.  Shortening a manuscript often results in more readable text.

On the other hand, I think I might need a little more time to make the story work from certain other angles.  Why am I writing this?  I really don't have a lot to report . . .

KHB]