Back to Business: Virtual Soulmates

In the years that I've been traveling the blogosphere as a writer, I have come across a few other writer/bloggers with whom I feel such simpatico.  I love their work, their sense of craft, their attitude toward the business and the community.  For the most part, I have not met these folks in person.  But I want to!

Recently, Katie Couric plugged her new talk show promising a feature on "Is Social Networking Making Our Kids Less Social?"  So far, I have found the opposite to be true.  Social networking enables my teens to make group plans more easily.  Facebook and Twitter seem generally more, not less, inclusive (my boys are pretty much willing to friend anyone they know even if the person isn't some kind of soulmate).

For me, given that I sit alone for hours each day talking out loud in the voices of IMAGINARY CHARACTERS, I can hardly imagine being made LESS social.  Sometimes the virtual writing community is the only thing that draws me out of my own head.  And sure, it is frustrating that I respect and admire but to whose houses I cannot drive.  Some of these people are oceans away.  Still, I am happy they are out there in the world, producing beautiful books, and that once in awhile, I can shoot them an email saying "Hey, hope the writing thing is going okay." Or proofing a synopsis for them.  Or comforting them through a rocky publishing moment. Or vice versa.

Even if we never meet, I am incredibly grateful for my virtual soulmates!