My Support Community

I have long been a technophobe. Back in my teaching years, posting a course syllabus on the U of S internet site was a big challenge. Creating Power Point presentations was even worse. And I never did figure out how to use the electronic gizmo that would have allowed me to write on my classroom whiteboard.

Then Covid hit. Teaching went online. And I retired. 

Retirement was wonderful. It gave me time to write and it reduced my need for technological expertise. I still called on my husband Doug for help with computer and internet problems, but for the most part I could manage on my own.

By the end of the pandemic, I’d completed my first novel. The publisher I sent it to made it clear that authors must help market their books. “No problem,” I said to myself. “While I wait to hear the fate of my offering, I’ll develop a social media presence and create an author’s webpage.”

Although most twelve-year-olds would be undaunted by the prospect, I couldn’t have done either without the help of my wonderful daughter-in-law. (She’s not technically my daughter-in-law, but we both like that designation.) Many years earlier my daughter Jocelyn had set me up on Facebook, but I never used my account. With prodding from Liz James (who was staying with us while Doug helped her build a tiny house), I started to post messages, respond to other people’s posts, and build an online community.

We created my webpage and posted my first two blogs. Then Liz left for a Unitarian Universalist convention in Pittsburgh.  I was temporarily on my own.

Enter Meghan Mickleson, a tech-wizard who shares my too-large gardens. If, as should happen, you get this blog in your inbox, we can both thank her for that technological miracle.

Just as it takes a village to raise a child, it takes a community of family and friends to write a book, promote it, and get it published. Many thanks to everyone who’s helped. (And that includes those of you who are reading this blog.)