Dreamweaverrs Ponderings

I belong to a wonderful writer’s forum called Accentuate Writer’s Forum that is comprised of every kind of writer from published novelists to newbies who are just putting their toes in the freelance writer’s pool for the first time. They are every age, race and they represent many places.  Some of these people have countless writings to their credit ranging from in print books, magazines and newspapers to technical journals, online musings, websites and everything in between. They are a great group.

Then there are blogs. I am told that search engines or rss feed sites may consider a writer’s collected works of articles on any given site as blogging. I think to the purest though a blog is more of a singular collection of thoughts, links and musings on any particular subject or collection of subjects. By that standard, this is my first real blog even though I now have a decent amount of online writing under my belt.

I have never been one to follow a trend merely for the sake of following it. I don’t rush out to buy the newest gadget no matter how cool or fun it looks. Of course I am interested and love to check them out.  I generally wait though to see if it is all it is cracked up to be or to see if it is something I really want or need. Much of the time it isn’t but they are still fun to see. I also wait for prices to come down. Many new gadgets are incredibly overpriced in the beginning. I’m a bargain junky.

 I am more of a prove it to me kind of individual or a discover it for myself type than a follow the crowd person. So leave it to me to be possibly the last blogger on earth. I’m mule headed. I do things when I want or need to not when someone tells me to and definitely not to do what everyone else is doing.  I often choose the road less traveled by.

I lived in Silicon Valley for a long time. I watched everyone around me go through one computer after another, upgrading and building, buying and consuming.  While their garages began to pile high with old computers and quickly outdated technologies, my desk still remained computer free. The back of my desk had one simple cord which powered the single lamp that sat on one side of the desk top.

I still had my writer’s callous on the middle finger of my right hand. Carpal tunnel syndrome was something cashiers got, not writers.

 I was often stared at with utter amazement and dropping jaws while people commented saying things like, “You don’t have a COMPUTER?!?!?” They were actually asking,” Are you seriously ill or something? Did you just come from the deepest darkest jungles?  Did you just get transported here from a 12th century monastery?”

I guess at that point not having a computer in Silicon Valley was akin to not having a car in Motor City or one of “them thar new fangled talking contraptions” called a telephone back in the day. ( On that note, don’t get me going on when I got my first cell phone or what model I am still using now. Hey I like things to last. My father taught me well in that respect.)

 I envisioned people crossing themselves or putting garlic over their doors to keep the evil non-computer owner away, then avoiding me by walking across the street and covering their children’s eyes as they passed me. ”Honey we don’t look at the bad lady.” This was sacrilegious in the land of technology and gadgetry.  I was not yet a part of the Borg. What was wrong with me?

When I finally bought my first PC, actually not all that long ago, I had to have a friend’s 11 year old daughter, who is another daughter to me, help me learn how to get the computer up and running.” You do what, HOW? What does that mean?”

 The word humbling comes to mind when I remember that first day.  I had taught her how to write a good descriptive story and took her to her first swimming lessons. I was there when she took her first steps.  She was teaching me how to turn on a computer and get it online. I was an adult. She was a child. That’s a little unsettling, sort of like that television show, ” Are You Smarter Than a Fifth Grader?”

In case you are wondering, I am on a laptop now. I will soon be one of the first to try a brand new computer being produced by a brand new computer company  with a very different and refreshing approach to the world of technology. I am eager to learn all about it. I will let you know about my experiences with that.

 So here I am now, joining the bloggers of the world…finally.  Some of my writer friends on the forum have multitudes of blogs. I have to start somewhere and this is my blogging initiation. Anybody have a nice chilled bottle of champagne to christen the launching with? Welcome to Dreamweaverr’s Ponderings.

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