It took e-mail quite a while to win me over. What was the big deal? My preference was always to type a letter (or better yet, hand-write one in a dark room by candlelight), drop it in the mailbox, and in ten or twenty days, if you’re lucky, you might get a response.
And instant messaging? That was for the young jet-setters! Not me.
When my sons went away to college, I found instant messaging was the best possible way to keep in touch on a near-daily basis. (A couple of days ago my sister, Lynda, gently told me that no one says “instant messaging” anymore. It’s “texting.”)
And I didn’t used to think blogging would amount to anything much. Now I blog in four places, read lots of other people’s blogs, and find it both an interesting and creative thing to do.
I blog on my own website (which is being totally overhauled and will be geared primarily to the kids who read my books); on Goodreads (where I have at least two readers who remind me when I’ve been remiss and haven’t posted anything for a few weeks); here, where I share the forum with several great people, most of whom post a lot more frequently than I do; and starting last week, on a site called Active Happiness (activehappiness.com), which I helped create with my sister, Lynda, and my wife, Sandra. We each blog there, we do a (usually) hilarious three-way conversational blog, and we offer lots of other stuff about the science and realities of being happy and staying that way. I hope you’ll visit us there.
The immediacy of blogging and social media took a little getting used to for me, and in recent weeks it has distracted me from the fiction writing that is my bread and butter. I do nearly all of my writing at the computer, but my best ideas have always come while walking by the beach or in the woods, jotting down scattered notes on an index card. The world is moving quickly. It won’t stop to let me off, but I do find myself longing for an oasis. I know my next novel won’t get under way until I find the time to do that.
I agree, Rich. I often resist new technology. It can be a distraction. But it's also a great way to keep your fingers on the world's pulse. I just have to decide when to say "Enough!" Sometimes it's like working a jigsaw puzzle with too many pieces. Which ones do you leave out?
ReplyDeleteI'm still resisting twitter ...
ReplyDeleteI find about 15 minutes in the morning and 15 at night is enough to keep up with social media (or at least it's all the time I have for it!).
ReplyDeleteI left a little something for Team Swagger at my blog!
ReplyDeleteYou're a sweetie! Thanks for the Eclectic Bloggers Award and you are right, it is easier to be eclectic as a team, but I'm glad you appreciate our differences!
DeleteI may be fairly young, but I'm still not one of those people who jumps on the technology bandwagon. It took me forever to join Twitter. I haven't found the desire to join Pinterest, which is apparently the new thing. I guess we all adapt at our own times.
ReplyDelete