Ran into a beautiful, nasty squall in Vermont yesterday on the way in. The sun is bright and beautiful now.

Friday was an amazing day for me. Sara Friedman from SocialMomentum.org came over – we have hired Sara to help use social media more effectively in our work and art – and she knows her stuff and got a lot of wheels turning in my head. I got three videos up on You Tube using my Iphone, and they had more than 2,000 views by this morning, primitive and crude as they are. That got my attention, and they will get better, hopefully, and soon. I’ve ordered a new video camera on flip.com – easy to use and inexpensive.

I’ve also been exploring Facebook a little more thoughtfully to link my site up to sites of common interest and expanded the connections there. I love video, to my surprise, and Maria does also. She is putting up some videos on her site, and is also on YouTube now, so we are adding another element to our creative lives and that is exciting.

I have written about technology for years, and I’ve always had a bittersweet relationship with it. I used to write for Wired and Rolling Stone and I love my Apple stuff – computer, Ipod, Iphone, and Ipad. People joke about these things as toys, but they are not toys to me. They are integral elements of my work life, my blog, photography, my writing, information, communication, marketing and scheduling. These are things writers and other creative people have to do now, that they didn’t have to do a few years ago.

They require constant care – money, fixing, exploring, understanding. And now, videos and YouTube.

Technology is inherently tragic. It gives and it takes away. I am already getting wave of messages and comments about the videos – can they be longer, show more of the dogs, have more sound. I am always a little amazed at the things people demand for free. And I have to say I love telling people who are outraged by something I have written, that they don’t have to be miserable or ask for a  refund. Just move along. (They rarely do, I find.)

I think there is always a danger of losing mystery and imagination when you show too much, when you no longer have to imagine anything, but expect to see and know everything. I love words, and I love photography. They make is stop and think a bit, and savor the moments and images of life. I will move cautiously into the YouTube world, frantic and overwhelming. I do not intend to share everything of my life. I share some things, and not others, and I believe in mystery and imagination. This is a never-ending ballet, a place one never quite completely figures out, but never stops trying.

But I can’t wait to do some dog videos. It will be fun to share these amazing creatures with people and new and vivid way. Like I told my agent, this stuff better sell some books, or I will have a lot of cables to throw out ):.