My online life started at some point in the late 90s. This was long before Google was a thing—let alone a thing we used as a verb—when the closest we got to social media was a call-in radio program, and half of everyone accessed the internet through dial-up with AOL or CompuServe.
I’m enjoying this blog. I wrote a blog for ten years myself, blogging almost every day, which actually took up a lot of time. I joined a group of writers who had met on Freelance Success. We were all blog newbies and decided to read and promote each other’s blogs. The group was large at first, but whittled down to twelve women who lived in a variety of states and one foreign country. Over the ten years that we interacted online, I met four of them in person. The experience always turned out to be worthwhile. I find there’s a true affinity between writers. Rarely are we disappointed when we make the IRL connection.
Regarding books, thanks for the recommendations. I ordered The Last Confessions of Sylvia P from the library. The two novels I read most recently are Hamnet and Intimacies. As a writer, I worry about distractions, created by the modern world, that make the handling of time more of a challenge. There never seem to be enough hours in the day for everything I need to accomplish. I imagine others find themselves faced with the same dilemma. Often, unfortunately, novel reading loses out. I'm glad people are learning to appreciate audio books, which can be enjoyed in cars, for instance, or by older folks who suffer from eye strain.
I had hoped to approach 2022 IRL with a tad more gusto but I must admit I'm still a bit cautious. Not so much from the Virus anymore since I'm vaxxed and boosted and have already danced with the beast, but dammit, it's getting ugly out there.
As for online existence think some of the changes we've seen over the past couple of years have been good. Three of my four kids work remotely and love it. We're scattered over two countries, but hold virtual family game nights each month. Virtual conferences and workshops allow greater accessibility with no travel or hotel costs attached. (Granted some organizations do it better than others. Last year's Surrey conference was one of the best I've attended, and being able to watch all the workshops instead of having to choose which one in a given time slot was gold.)
That said, I'm really looking forward to a couple of in-person conferences this fall (and praying nothing comes along to necessitate going virtual again). I miss IRL interaction with my book-people tribe. Nothing can replace that. I do hope we'll keep some of the online perks going, though.
I’m enjoying this blog. I wrote a blog for ten years myself, blogging almost every day, which actually took up a lot of time. I joined a group of writers who had met on Freelance Success. We were all blog newbies and decided to read and promote each other’s blogs. The group was large at first, but whittled down to twelve women who lived in a variety of states and one foreign country. Over the ten years that we interacted online, I met four of them in person. The experience always turned out to be worthwhile. I find there’s a true affinity between writers. Rarely are we disappointed when we make the IRL connection.
Regarding books, thanks for the recommendations. I ordered The Last Confessions of Sylvia P from the library. The two novels I read most recently are Hamnet and Intimacies. As a writer, I worry about distractions, created by the modern world, that make the handling of time more of a challenge. There never seem to be enough hours in the day for everything I need to accomplish. I imagine others find themselves faced with the same dilemma. Often, unfortunately, novel reading loses out. I'm glad people are learning to appreciate audio books, which can be enjoyed in cars, for instance, or by older folks who suffer from eye strain.
I had hoped to approach 2022 IRL with a tad more gusto but I must admit I'm still a bit cautious. Not so much from the Virus anymore since I'm vaxxed and boosted and have already danced with the beast, but dammit, it's getting ugly out there.
As for online existence think some of the changes we've seen over the past couple of years have been good. Three of my four kids work remotely and love it. We're scattered over two countries, but hold virtual family game nights each month. Virtual conferences and workshops allow greater accessibility with no travel or hotel costs attached. (Granted some organizations do it better than others. Last year's Surrey conference was one of the best I've attended, and being able to watch all the workshops instead of having to choose which one in a given time slot was gold.)
That said, I'm really looking forward to a couple of in-person conferences this fall (and praying nothing comes along to necessitate going virtual again). I miss IRL interaction with my book-people tribe. Nothing can replace that. I do hope we'll keep some of the online perks going, though.