Toes Go In First

Three weeks since The BillieGram's maiden voyage, and so far no fallout.

Having leapt with wild abandon into Twitter, FaceBook, and LinkedIn, I've backed off a little and am now dipping my toes in to test the waters more sensibly.

It took me four hours to decide Twitter is just too much contact with too many people all at once. I'm glad to reconnect with an old friend from high school, but I think plain ol' e-mail is easier.

LinkedIn has been great for making business connections, but it's FaceBook that provided the best surprise.

I found the first friend I had in the whole world!

Better yet, we've been writing and even though we've been out of touch for waaaay too long, we're picking right up and making friends again. Is technology great, or what?

I'm excited, too, because the very talented Boo Ehrsam, who illustrated my "Sal" books, is also on FaceBook, and it's a great way to show off her polymer clay jewelry and other art. I've always said that the best way to support the arts is to buy some, and the Internet makes it easy to find artists you'd never meet otherwise, and just as easy to find exceptionally fine one-of-a-kind creations for gift-giving.

And guess who else? Shana Smith, aka Shana Banana! Shana has some of the BEST children's music. She used to perform at CAMS, the coffeehouse I ran in Pinellas Park in the early 1990s. Of course, she was performing her grown-up music then (which is also exceptional), but these days she mostly goes on tour as Shana Banana and has a devoted fan base.

I hope some of you will search for Boo and Shana online and be just as enchanted by their talents.

Now, I need to get my own website going so I can start building the buzz for my series of "Sal" books. Any web designers out there? I need you!

Hugs and laughter,

Billie