What did we do before the internet?

If you’ve seen less of me online the latley, that’s because the internet stopped working at my place for a few days. It’s back now and I am scrambling to keep up with everything I missed and fell behind on. I feel like I am just about caught up, but it makes me wonder what we did before the internet.

I’m thinking the life of a pre-internet writer pretty much consisted of sitting at a desk and writing. If they needed to look something up there was probably a dictionary close at hand. Something requiring more research might have involved a short note and a trip to the library at some point.

Modern writers have a wealth of information at their fingertips. Unfortunately, all that information can be a bit distracting. When I need to look something up, I just pop open my web browser (Who am I kidding? It’s probably already opened.) it can be anything from a complex research question to a very basic spelling question. Even though I have a dictionary within reach, it’s still easier to go to Google and let the search engine correct me on my misspelling.

Of course, once I have my answer all I need to do is head back over to the old work in progress, but usually I don’t. I remind myself that’s it’s been awhile since I’m visited those great lands of timesuck known as Twitter and Facebook. Also, I should check my email. I then waste three and half minutes watching the funny video someone sent me. Then I remember to read that blog I like, but there’s a link to another blog, and another. I discover a blog I’ve never read before and am instantly hooked, and oh look she’s soliciting captions or inspired stories for a funny photo so I have to use some of that creativity I should be using on the WIP.

By the time I get back to work, my stomach’s telling me it’s time to take a meal break. The illusion is that computers let us write so much faster than having to write things out by longhand or fighting with a typewriter, but I have a feeling that only computers without web access really let us work faster.

Well, now that I’ve caught up from my internet hiatus, it’s time to get back to work. Well, just as soon as I figure out how to fix my busted iPod. I should probably look that up on Google.

Why?

The internet is a scary place. I only went online to look up who the woman was who covered Crimson and Clover (Joan Jett, if you were wondering) and on the same site where I found this info learned that Pat Boone did a cover version of Ozzy Osbourne’s Crazy Train, and it is as horrible as it sounds. Obviously, this was all very important research.