I got two important and costly creative tools this week. A MacbookPro laptop, my first laptop, and a new wide angle Canon lens, the 8-15 mm which I have been using to great effect the last few days. It gives me a completely new perspective on the animals and the life of the farm. I went out tonight and took some landscapes with it and I’m excited about the photos. I’ll post one later via the new computer.

These tools are significant. Computers, social media, blogs are not technological toys and gadgets to amuse people, although they are sometimes that. They are elemental. It is nearly impossible for anyone in publishing or in many ways, the arts to function without them now. They are vital in creating images, managing information, marketing ideas, communicating with readers and clients. Maria and I went to the Apple Story on what I call my annual “Technology” run to meet with computing and business experts and figure out what we will need in the coming year. I did not imagine video in my creative life last year, but in the past six months I’ve put up 170 videos and they have had a dramatic impact on my publishing life.

Maria has a MacBook Pro and her very successful blog and while she was nearly techno-phobic when I met her, her blog has enabled her to work almost  full-time as an artist and sell every thing she has created in the past year.  Without the blog, it would have been so much more difficult, if not impossible, to sell all those quilts and potholders. Now she can reach millions of people. All of those sales have been via the Internet. We both work hard with these tools. The photography – I didn’t do that either six years ago – has become critical in my children’s book publishing and in the very explosive growth of the website, now expected to get upwards of 7 million hits a year. I work on the blog every day to keep it relevant and fresh, and I love doing it.  The new computer was custom-built to accomodate space intensive photo programs and faster video processing, so I can produce more videos and get them up faster. I see this as of increasing importance to my book publishing.

Same with a lens. A new lens literally helps me look at the world differently, and changes the photography and range of my photos. The group portrait of the donkeys could not have been taken that close with a previous lens.

The computer will also help me use Facebook and other tools to explore issues like animal grieving and promote books like my new one “Going Home: Finding Peace When Animals Die.” Many boomers and older people love to squawk about technology, social media and the headaches that come with them. I think they are wondrous tools, powering me and my work into the future, helping me connect with all of you in a completely new and compelling way. I’m excited to learn more about using them more in innovative ways and effectively. I’ll post my first photo on the new laptop in a few minutes. And tomorrow, for the first time in 22 books, I will not only be writing at a desk. At dawn, I will be writing in one of the barns, with Simon and Lenore nearby.

Technology is expensive, confusing and challenging. But I am very grateful to have these tools, and I will use them well and creatively.