Irony…

Okay, I admit that I don’t handle change very well.

 I remember telling my husband as I typed on my IBM electric typewriter that I didn’t need a computer. I liked my electric typewriter just fine…a computer??? Perish the thought. Then he got me a computer anyway, I got used to it. Loved it even…Then it crashed. I cussed as I’m apt to do when technology bugs me. Got a new one foisted upon me. Love it…and so on…

If not pushed, I would still be using my Commadore computer. I have to be dragged or shoved, kicking and screaming, into changing my AOL or Windows programs every time there is an update. I WAS using AOL 5.0 and Windows 97, until my computer crashed, taking several manuscripts with it into the deep, murky depths of computer hell. I can’t even tell you how many new cuss words I made up with Windows 7 and AOL Godonlyknows.0.

Then they closed all the video rental stores, leaving us with the infernal BOXES…(spoken like a 4-letter word).  Gone are the days when we can walk the aisles and browse the shelves for something to watch–something new, something old, something we’ve simply not seen in a while. Now we have Redbox, or Blockbusterbox and are prisoner to the owner’s whims. The one close to our house has had Beverly Hills Chihuahua in there for six months. Sure, they have some of the new releases, but only the big name films. At least you could get an art film or indie release once in a while at the video store.

 Netflix, video’s answer to the Columbia House music club, could have cleaned up with new patrons, but they have upped their fees, so it becomes a principle thing.

But the hardest hit of all, is the death of the brick-and-mortar bookstore. A decade ago, it was the discount bookstore putting the Mom & Pop stores out of business. Remember You’ve Got Mail? Now, it’s their turn to be driven out of business by the online bookstores.

Don’t get me wrong. I am not an ebook snob. I have three ebooks out right now, but let’s face facts. Electronic books don’t have the same smell. They don’t have the same feel to them. I’m ambiguous in my feelings toward my ereader.  I eyeball it. It gives me the stink eye. This goes on for several days, then I charge the thing and read. I never had to charge my paper books. Still I use it and consider myself the victor in this battle of wills. I still find it humorous that the “ebooks are the wave of the future” was so heartily sneered at fifteen years ago. I guess this is the ebook industry’s neener, neener, neener. This is the future and etechnology is smiling and waving.

Today I got two pieces of news…one bad, one good, and mixed together, perplexing at best.

Borders is closing. Going out of business. Liquidating. My favorite bookstore will, in a month at best, be no more. Gone will be my tables, my rows upon rows of beloved books, the music. The magazine racks. Gone are the days when I head to the bookstore, buy a magazine and a book, grab a cup of gourmet coffee and chill for hours. Or even better, buy  coffee, set up my laptop…another bit of technology I’m unsure of…and write for hours. Now, I get to stay home and order.  Not the same.

On the heels of that news, was the announcement that my latest release, ILLUSIONS, is about to be released in print form. POD. Paperback book. While I’m thrilled beyond words, I can’t help but ponder the irony of it all.

Goodbye, Borders. It’s been a great run. I’ll miss you.

(Dear Lord, please let them leave the libraries alone. Amen.)

Until the next time I can manage to remember to blog, I wish you all good health, abundant rain and working air conditioners…

Sher