Google-izing, face-to-face, and judging books by their covers

According to an article in yesterday's Washington Post, the word "google" has been officially added to the Merriam-Webster's Collegiate Dictionary. You can see the online entry here. I'll bet they threw quite the party at Google in celebration. :-)

Please note that this term should not be confused with the mathematical term "googol", which is the digit 1 followed by one hundred zeros. I remember first learning this term as a child and using it effectively in one-upmanship interactions e.g. "Yeah? Well I like Norm Brown a GOOGOL times more than you do!").

Writing's going well. I'm finding the "read out loud" method of proofreading is great, though slow. I've also been tightening up prose a bit as I go along.



I met one of my illustration clients in person yesterday; she's from Washington, but was visiting Toronto and wanted to take me out for lunch. Turns out she may hire me to do some writing as well! I love the Internet with its online communities, chat rooms, e-mail and other virtual interaction possibilities...but y'know, nothing can beat meeting someone face-to-face to get a clearer sense of what they're really like and for certain types of communication.

After the whole Inkspot thing, I was happy to be finally able to meet some of my Inkspot helpers in person, people with whom I had worked for years through e-mail...like Moira Allen (was my managing editor, now runs Writing-World.com), Sal Towse (markets editor, now has a great list of links of writers), Diane Turnshek (moderator for the SF writing for young people forum, is now actively involved with Alpha, an sf/fantasy/horror workshop for young writers) and Devorah Stone (now moderates the historical fiction forum on Writer's BBS).

Ever since an Unfortunate Incident some years back about which I will never Blather, I've grown leery about judging what people are like solely on the basis of their e-mails and blogs. I've found that some people are more obnoxious, submissive, or insecure in person that they come across online. I've also found that some are meeker in person that I would have expected after reading their blogs or read their e-mails, obviously much more comfortable behind a computer screen where they can say things that they would never say face-to-face.

It's one reason I could never develop a close friendship with someone I've never met in person. I'm not saying friendships like this can't exist, especially friendships that both parties know will always stay "virtual." For me, however, I'd first want to find out what my correspondent is really like face-to-face and get to know THAT person.

Thanks to those who responded to my book buying survey! I'm glad I'm not the only one who judges a book by its cover. :-) I also confess I'm influenced by paper quality, size of margins and the font.



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