Technology aka I lost my phone

What a freaking week. However, I do have a bit to show for it :) I have what is recognizeably becoming an afghan (even if I did have to take out a bunch of rows cuz I missed a decrease. Yes, I'm that anal about my crafts.), I have starts on two stories, and by starts, I mean 3 paragraphs in one, and 2 lines in another. The two lines were supposed to go to a short, but then I realized I was starting book 3 of The War of the Weres series rather than an offshoot, fill in short, so had to start again. I want the shorter one done first. It's how I'm introducing some of the side characters. And I managed to plant a HUGE section of garden, part flowers and part veggies :) I also bought a few more tomato plants. Yes, that makes a lot. LOL I also lost my phone, this time may be it, folks. I also helped a friend design some work for a t-shirt and she's giving me one when she orders them. Yay me :)

That was just this weekend. I wrote a couple thousand on Search for Sorren, earlier in week. Edited some work, learned how to do some techy type stuff. Which drove me batty. And gave me a headache. I used to enjoy that stuff, but it all changes so stinking fast, I can't keep up cuz I can't afford all the new toys/software. So now, I'm perpetually behind. I figured out how to do a link on my webpage, what, 2 weeks ago? But had to stop working on it. So last night, I was clearing out a few spam comments, and thought, why don't I do the links first this time. Guess what? I've forgotten. Sigh.

To me, this, the technical stuff, remembering to blog, learning how to do the backgrounds and designs, etc so my page is inviting, all that stuff, is the hard part of being a writer. When I started out, 4 years ago, (I keep messing up the time, where has it all gone? But it was 2007 that I last worked. Started the new year sans job, pretty much, so 2008 is when I decided to try to put everything together into a book and write. Umpteen novels later, here I am :) ebooks were barely getting a serious foothold, and going out on your own was serious business. It could ruin your chances of ever getting published traditionally. Now, it's all a matter of who, what, when, where, why, and how. The markets have drastically changed. I'm glad I started researching being a writer when I did. I got to see some of the old school stuff, as I remember writing being about growing up, and watch the metamorphis into what is today...which is still a seriously changing market.

Also, blogging, or twitter, or FB or any of the other online presence thingies weren't crucial, or even desired, necessarily as your agent and publisher would help you get that. Now, some agents won't even take you on without a website and/or blog. (Which I think is unfair. Websites cost money. And it may not be much, but then you have the designs, upkeep, technical stuff which costs either time, money, or both to keep up!) I just want to write. Don't get me wrong. Twitter has become a haven for me. A place to meet my friends and hang out. It's my Cheers. But, I still just want to spend my "writing time" writing and not having to learn how to freaking do links on a website (which I'm VERY GRATEFUL TO HAVE FYI) or how to make my computer and tablet talk to each other, or or or *panic is welling up about to burst* I think I'll stop there.

How much of the technical, online, or other stuff, not directly related to writing have you learned? How do you like it? Or did you already know how to do that stuff? I am spending a hundred dollars more than I would have to get a phone simply because I have twitter friends who recommend it and I know I can get help with learning how to use it. (It will also keep my appointments, and allow me to look up my docs, etc. when I need to, or I wouldn't get it.) I'm that much of a techidiot when it comes to today's stuff. The bugger all of getting anything new is the hours it takes me to learn how to use it. How does modern technology make you feel? Free? Frustrated? Like milk's curdling in your stomach? Like you're flying high above the world?