Welcome Larissa Lyons

Is the Internet frakking with our friendships? Guest blogger Larissa Lyons weighs in...

Hi all. I write spicy regencies and upbeat-ending erotica and I appreciate Amber inviting me to visit her blog today. I hope she’ll be okay with the last-minute change as I originally was going to do an interview but decided to go in another direction. You’ll still learn a lot about me though (I have a thing for parenthetical notations and I’m sure by my title, you can guess one of my favorite television shows—Battlestar Galactica).

First an observation: Everyone seems connected all the time. All the time.

Remember back in the early 90s when many of us were just purchasing our first PC? AOL was king of the new “Web” waves and cordless phones had only recently made a commonplace appearance (but were heavy enough to give your biceps a workout). The cool kids carried pagers, not cell phones, and none of us had ever heard of Twitter or Facebook, Blogger or Wordpress. Epublishing? Ebooks? While the idea for this last one was out there, milling about in the minds of many forward-thinking individuals, most of us never contemplated how radically the forthcoming electronic devices (including phones that take voice commands, play music, stream movies and surf the web!) would change the way we devour books and stories.

Now? It seems as though if we aren’t constantly checking e-mail or our phones or one of the other aforementioned networking sites, we fear we’re missing out. I know I do this. After going years checking e-mail once a day, I’ve become chronic about it. Oh no! It’s been seven minutes since I checked e-mail...what if someone wrote me and I haven’t seen it yet? Eegads!

Secondly, a bit more about me: Some health issues limit my computer time so I’ve really resisted the idea of social networking. Facebook? Twitter? Tumblr too? Eeeiiiiiiii! What happened to the good old days when authors were supposed to sit in front of their typewriter, pecking away at their latest masterpiece? (Only in my case, the brownie crumbs would’ve probably jammed up the typewriter keys. Either that or the cat fur…)

But with the swiftly changing landscape of how books are produced and purchased, with e-buyers no longer returning to a specific publisher but often purchasing their selections through their retailer of choice, I realized the only way to tell people more about my stories was to be willing to share more about myself. Thanks to a fabulous author’s assistant (a new job niche several people are exploring) in less than one month, I now have accounts at Facebook, Twitter and Tumblr, and I’m having a blast. So far, Tumblr is my favorite (but that might be because I’m focusing on my love of regencies over there...) and there’s more of a learning curve than I expected with a couple of things, but my writing blog has been officially launched too and…well…I’m finding it surprisingly exciting to meet other booklovers and readers and writers (I’m also writing less these days so break out the feathered whips and crack them my direction—naughty author!).

Now something to consider: I wonder if the depth of friendships we maintain is suffering due to the constant “chatter” we engage in given such a wealth of ways to spend our time. Simply since February, when I decided to self publish, I’ve met and worked with a cover artist in Belgium and a logo designer in Russia. Talk about expanded horizons! The Internet has opened up so much, but I’m concerned about the opportunities lost away from the computer…when we aren’t plugged in.

I mean, when we connect with and Friend and Follow and Like so many, don’t we, as individuals, get stretched thinner and thinner? And like that brittle rubber band stashed in the junk drawer, won’t there might, possibly, come a time when we snap? Or am I off base here? Do you find your friendships have deepened, given the ease of communication?

If you’ve been braving the waters of social networking for a while now, I’d love to hear your thoughts. How do you arrange your day and computer time so you check in with others without checking out of real life?

And if you’ll forgive me for the shameless promo, here are links to all my new endeavors (heh, heh; when I jump in, I do it with both feet):

Larissa’s Writing Blog
Larissa at Tumblr – The Regency Rambler
Larissa on Facebook
Larissa’s Tweets on Twitter

AUTHOR LARISSA LYONS
With a penchant for sexy, studly cowboys and rowdy, roaring rogues, Larissa is happiest when writing about strong men with a weakness for the right woman.

Her latest two releases, both self-published, are the short-story erotica, A Heart for Adam…& Rick! and the risqué Regency Lady Scandal. Information about both can be found at LiteraryMadness.com.