I know what you're going to say when I say the following:  I long for the good ole days when we weren't so dependent on computers.  "Seems we got along just fine without cell phones and email and internet???"  "Young people spend too much time in front of their computer screens and not enough time outdoors."  "No one reads books or newspapers anymore."  You're going to say that I'm showing my age.  Well, maybe I am.  And so what anyway?  I worked damned hard to even be this age.  And I will act it if I want.  Let's get into it.

I wrote a book, Silver Platter Girl, that was published and released recently.  We are now in the first phase of promotion and marketing.  So often I am told that I have to be present on the web in order to go viral and catch the wave.  I have a website that I keep current and fresh.  I write a blog which you are reading right now and post often to keep my readers updated.  I recently had a featured blog on the Huffington Post which blasted me and my book all over the internet.  But that wasn't enough, I was told.  Start tweeting on Twitter.  So I set up a Twitter account (plattergirl) and began to experience what all the fuss was about.  I learned that a lot of people must spend a lot of time tweeting about the most unbelievably mundane things.  Hard to understand who cares if John McCain is about to start his interview on Meet the Press and David what's his name, the new host, is having a pre-show bagel.  I mean, why can't we just watch Meet the Press if we want to?  I admit that some of the postings inform about important issues and direct us to links about global issues that we should know more about.  But if Elizabeth Taylor was so stricken over Michael Jackson's death that she couldn't attend his memorial and speak, then it's hard to imagine her being able to tweet her deepest feelings to her followers including what was on the card of a bouquet of flowers she just received.  Some say that this is a way for celebrities to control their own "press", show the traditional media who's who, and commune directly with their fans.  But isn't it like a kind of voyeurism for those fans.  Experiencing the lives of their favorite stars vicariously through Twitter, convincing themselves that it is a relationship.  What good can come of this for the followers?  Doesn't it entrench them even more in a passive world of worship and envy and discourage development of their own self-esteem and talent?  All I know is that when I log on to Twitter and read how Lance is feeling after his day at the Tour de France, which celebrity (Robin Williams today) is spending time with him on the team bus, and that he refused to speak to the media, I feel like I need to log off and take a shower. 

I have made myself go through this exercise day after day, listening to those who say I must if I want people to find out about my book.  But at some point, we have to ask ourselves who we are and if our own choices reflect that answer.  I get that only 30% of books today are purchased in a book store, the rest on-line.  I get that people need to talk about your message if you want to be heard and everyone is talking on the internet.  But I want to talk to people face to face.  You have to get off the computer to do that.  I want to inspire people to contemplate their own story and what it means because within those thoughts is great power and wisdom.  I personally want to close my eyes and meditate quietly, enjoy the moon on a warm summer evening, play with my puppy, hear about what kind of day my sons are having, and go to the movies without instinctively reaching for my blackberry in a dark theatre so as not to miss anything important during those two hours.  I want to read an article in my hometown newspaper that I haven't already read on the internet.  I want to feel the power of walking past my humming hard drive without stopping to check email or surf a little bit.  I want to have a conversation with someone who is in the same room as me. 

I have been doing radio interviews to talk about Silver Platter Girl.   It is nice using my actual voice to speak, interacting with the host, taking calls from listeners if it is that kind of show. 

Don't get me wrong.  I am obviously writing a blog here that I am about to post on-line.  And I really enjoy working on my website and seeing that people are visiting every day.  And email is a wonderful way to communicate with people who have read the book.  Instantaneous and satisfying.  I'm just saying, balance is a wonderful thing.  Take time off from the computer.  Give yourself a break.  Reconnect to things that are wholesome and human and feel good.  And whatever you do, read a good book.  Nothing like it.