Saturday's Stupid Saying

Caller:  Hey, can you help me?  My computer has locked up, and no matter how many times I type 11, it won't unfreeze.


Tech support:  What do you mean, 'type 11'?


Caller:  The message on my screen says "Error, Type 11".

actual computer tech support call

The Times They Are A-Changin'....
No one seems to be happy with the 'improvements' Facebook has implemented.  For Google +, this may be the jump start it needed, as many of my friends are now migrating over there.  I don't find it as 'user-friendly', but I do remember to post over there occasionally.  And since FB apparently doesn't want me posting my son's football videos, I'm currently attempting to upload them over at G+.  I got some excellent coverage of the youngling's game, but FB would only allow 2 videos.  We'll see how many G+ lets me upload,

Another thing which is changing is chats.  When I joined the internet community back in 2007, chats were popular.  I met most of my blogmates on the LRC loop, and more on the NSH loop (you'll notice I still have my NSH picture posted).  I'm now a moderator on RBRU loop, and belong to maybe thirty or so more.  I know people who belong to upwards of 100 loops and I cringe at the thought of their email overload.  I have trouble keeping up with the ones I only receive digests on; there are others where I'm on 'special notice' and ones where I don't receive any mail from.  If I feel the need to check in on those loops, I do so.  And when I posted interviews on here, I made the rounds the morning they posted.  Some people saw them and came over; others ignored the post.  Which is fine; I ignore probably 90% of the posts myself, unless there is an interesting topic of conversation.

Anyway, back to chats.  I've tried to attend a favorite author's chat once a month and I've noticed attendance dwindling.  When I show up, I'm mainly a cheerleader.  I have posted an excerpt here and there, and it maybe garners a comment or two.  A few months back, the lone reader revealed she was into the paranormal books, so that leaves my books out.  And this past week, I guess something caught the reader's eye, because she asked me for my website.  So who knows?  Maybe I've gained a reader; maybe she was just being polite.

I have shown up on one of my publisher's scheduled chats; no word yet on if it garnered any sales.  And thanks to the digest and Yahell changing it's calendar, I missed out on another publisher's chat last night.  I guess I'm going to have to start checking the individual calendars at the beginning of the month.  LRC sends out a newsletter, so I mark my yahoo calendar for the ones where I think I'll show up.

The RBRU chat loop is being discontinued, due to authors not showing up for their own chats, or no one showing up to chat WITH them.  I'm guilty of this; Sundays are horrible for me, due to family obligations, and I've forgotten about or been unable to attend the ones I wanted to.  The one time I moderated, the family griped and went to lunch without me, but the author didn't show up and I spent an hour talking to myself and two other people.  Thankfully, the family DID bring me a take-out sack.

Blogging:  It's hit-and miss.  The very people who urged me to blog every day now go weeks without saying a word, or only post once a week, or now belong to group blogs where they only have to post once a week or month.  I don't know if the traffic some people generate is due to posting their info on the loops, or social media, or what.  I used to spend an hour every morning reading and commenting.  Now, I don't have the luxury of time anymore, so if I stop by and have something to say, yippee!  It neve  r fails; I'm in the middle of typing a comment when I'm needed for something else around here, and when I try to explain, I'll hear "That's not important; get up and help me!" followed by a tirade of how I waste time on the stupidest things. Excuse me; I'm networking.  Yeah, I may not be getting paid by the week, but I do get paid every three months, so shut up!  Oh wait....that's not a 'real' paycheck'...but that's another blog topic.

So what's YOUR favorite way of keeping up with authors?  Is it checking in with us on blogs?  Social Media?  Following our word counts on Twitter?  Or do you check in with the publishers to find out release dates?  Do you regularly pop into Fictionwise, B&N, ARE, and Kindle, to see what's 'hot'?  Curious minds want to know....especially since I'm facing three releases in the next four months.