It's a Party!

Astraea Press, publisher of my three novellas, is celebrating its first birthday. All month there have been giveaways, special blogging opportunities, and other promotional events that have kept me running – virtually, of course. I've had to create a special calendar on my laptop specifically for writing commitments.

One of the "promotional events" took place this past Wednesday night. I took part in my first author chat at Coffee Time Romance. The chat lasted for four hours, but I wasn't able to participate the entire time, since I was taking care of my one-year-old granddaughter that day. But while I was there we had a great time "conversing" through the miracle of the internet. We've had "discussions" through facebook, but this was our first real-time meeting. I don't know exactly how many participated but I'm quite sure there were at least a dozen of us popping in and out of the chat room at various times.

What struck me as fantastic was that we all participated from our homes on three different continents! Two were in the UK, one in Australia and the rest from various points in the United States. There are pros and cons to this "instant communication" but for us, at that point in time, it was wonderful. How else could such a far-flung group get together?

I continue to be amazed at the things that are now possible. When I started my teaching career, personal computers weren't around. Now I'm rarely without mine. My mom communicated with her sisters through long letters because phone calls were just too expensive. And now (once we get her computer hooked up) she can not only speak to them, she can see them through Skype.

Makes me wonder what my grandkids will be able to do. Maybe instead of virtual parties with people on other continents, they'll be able to actually go to those far-flung places and be back home for dinner.

Scary.

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My project for the week: My mom was so disappointed to miss Bridget's first birthday party so I made her a little album (I think I got the album from one of Cheryl's house cleaning frenzies). I made extra copies of the pictures I took and put them together for her so she can brag about her great-granddaughter to her friends.