Was Grandma This Excited When TV Was Invented?
I’ve joked to co-workers that I’m a social media dinosaur. With as much time as I spend on Facebook and Twitter, that’s not exactly true. I follow multiple blogs. I have Pinterest boards. I get most of my news online. I designed and update my own website. But I’m 47. Which means I didn’t have email or a cell phone or the Internet in my first couple of jobs. I faxed news releases when I was a media relations coordinator and followed up by phone. My word processor required coding for bold, italics and centering. (Anyone remember WordStar?)
Communications channels have changed dramatically over the last three decades. And I am thankful for it EVERY DAY.
Because of a writer’s blog I follow, I found two new critique partners this past week and we’ve already exchanged and reviewed chapters via email. Because of Twitter, I learned of a blog contest where literary agents bid on writers’ work – and my last book will be featured starting tomorrow. Because of a friend’s Facebook post, I found a six-week online course on making my personal and professional dreams come true. Because of e-readers like Kindle, I sent my sister the first chapters of my latest novel for her review. Because of Google, I can fact-check manuscripts instead of going to the library to look up the same information.
My life as a fiction writer – and a citizen of this world — is tremendously richer because of technology. What mind-boggling advances await us?
Comments don’t seem to be showing up. I’m looking into the problem.