As I have aged I have noticed how much harder it is becoming to embrace new technology and ideas. It is so much easier to stay in my well-worn groove. But the world moves on, and if I am to continue on my path, I know I must occasionally exit my comfort zone and explore new areas. A year ago this blog was a big step into the unknown. Yesterday I took two large steps into new realms. The first I posted about – I tweet. I have started ‘following’ people that interest me. To my surprise, people have already started to ‘follow’ me. At the time of this posting I have 8 followers, only 2 of them are people I know. So Twitter is not so scary anymore.
My second step yesterday was to purchase a domain, and begin the process of setting up my web site. This presents a real challenge for me, and there are a number of hurdles I will need to jump before http://www.scmitchellauthor.com is a real thing. (www.scmitchell.com was already taken) Originally, I planned to use this blog as my website until I had made it big, then hire some company to build my web site. But this blog has limitations. I need a separate page for each book I publish, and the room to expand beyond one layer. So to that end, and with a little help from my friends, I am going to learn how to set up and administer a web site.
The world moves on. I must move on with it, or stagnate. This was brought home to me clearly yesterday after taking these two big steps. I was standing in line at the grocery store, wondering if I should have taken those two big steps. I had my groceries on the check-out counter and my credit card in hand, as an older woman stood in line in front of me writing out a check for her purchases. She had to ask the checker the date, and spent quite a bit of time writing out the check, that the checker had to then process through the cash register reader. “Why doesn’t she just use a credit card?” I wondered, and then it hit me. She couldn’t. She’d found her comfort zone and stayed there…as the world moved on.
I will get there, eventually. I’ll be holding up the line at the grocery store, waving my old, slow credit card, as the younger woman with the new body-scan-credit-tatoo-thingy waits patiently behind me just shaking her head.
So I blog, I tweet, and I’m learning to set up a web site, swimming against the current of complacency. Some day I will give up, and be carried away, unable to grasp the new concepts ahead, but not today. Not today!
Until next time,
Steve
A Writer's Haven 