Do you...uh, sur-vey-ey?

I spent a great deal of time this past weekend on MySpace, updating my seriously outdated page. Through sheer determination and a lot of uh-ohs, I learned a bunch of things--how to change my background, how to add a fancy cursor, how to upload--download?--images and post them on my homepage--but the thing that stuck with me the most after all my time on there is how popular surveys seem to be on MySpace.

I don't get that. I mean sure, I read them, but I never fill them out Besides, if I was going to take the time to fill out a survey, I'd probably choose one of those that promises something in return. You know, like those that pop up on the Internet at times, offering free laptops or a gift certificate to some restaurant or even money if you'll just take a small survey--yeah, right!

So, I'm a survey voyeur. I read them, even think about how I would answer some of the questions, but you won't ever see me filling one out. It's not that I don't have the time...well, maybe that is the reason. You see, I know how my brain works, and one suvey might take me hours to fill out. I'd agonize over every question and once I posted it, the chances are very good that I'd read back over what I wrote, cringe at some of the answers and think what a boring person I really am.

I don't need a survey to point that out to me. I know I'm boring and I'm actually okay with that. I'm a homebody, one who's uncomfortable being in the spotlight--unless it's in front of a bunch of elementary students, that never bothered me at all--and one who could very easily become a hermit. Yes, that's right, if I had my druthers, as my grandpa used to say, I'd cut myself off from the rest of the world without blinking an eye.

The thing is...if you're an author, you just can't do that. You have to put yourself out there, you have to promote yourself and your books, and you have to be a participating member of society, even if it is just in cyberspace.

And thank God for cyberspace. I don't mind promoting myself or my books on the Internet, but I have a feeling next year when the two print anthologies which will include a story from me are released, I'm going to be wishing I'd stuck with ebooks. I know I'm already dreading it, but I'm going to have to suck it up and do what needs to be done...

...I'm going to have to put on something besides jeans and a sweatshirt, go out in public and talk to real, live people--and I'm going to have to be nice to them.

Oh, horror of horrors!