tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10705607.post-1115667604053476372007-05-01T07:22:00.000-07:002007-05-01T07:46:58.561-07:00My name is Laurie, and I am a dialup connector.<br /><br />This is a shameful state of connection, I confess. And I swear, it's not entirely my fault. I have honestly tried to connect in a more up to date fashion, but the world doesn't want me, certainly not enough to lay its high-speed cable to my door. So I plug in, and as the world outside gets more and more complex, and every site out there gets gigabytes of bells and whistles attached to it, I wait, and I wait.<br /><br />This post, for example. It took twelve minutes for Blogger to appear on my screen in a form I could use. First it paused for thought, its blue bar stuck four-fifths of the way across the address. It paused while I made coffee, it paused while I let the cat out, and when I tried again, it paused just to let me know it could. Finally, it took me to my sister's site, my sister having been the last person to use Safari. And when I suggested I was not she and it was Mutterings, not gmail, I wanted, it paused some more.<br /><br />Constipation on dialup.<br /><br />My web lady tells me that rescuers are just over the horizon, that the program we bought from England, then had to change servers to install, will make my life a thing of ease and beauty. That one day soon I will but click a button and I can post--Lord, pictures? Italics? Indents?--the door to my personal electronic Paradise will glide open with the sound of heavenly choirs.<br /><br />In the meantime, Blogger will not permit me outside the bounds of this rather dowdy setting. And although I appreciate the opportunity to blog at will, I do rather look forward to the day when I can blossom and post in all dimensions of the e-world.<br /><br />However, it is the first of the month, and it's been a while since we've done a Q and A. So if you'd like to send me some questions, I'll hoard them, until Blogger permits me access to Mutterings. <br /><br />***<br /><br />As for New York, you no doubt have seen the results of the Edgars awards on Thursday night. And on Friday, I had a nice time at the Flatiron Building, where St. Martin's Press first welcomed me back in 1993 and where its Picador imprint will be bringing out the first four Russell books in the fall, in trade paperback with very striking covers. My agent, my daughter and I had lunch with the great Ruth Cavin, editor extraordinaire who has nurtured so many writers into their careers, and who is still going strong despite closing in on the end of her ninth decade on the planet. <br /><br />Daughter and self crept off to the airport late in the day, sat and read for the extra hours until the flight finally left, and arrived home at 3:45 Saturday morning.<br /><br />This country is just too damned big for comfort.Laurie R. Kinghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10201210182777418812noreply@blogger.com