Connecting with New "Friends" on LinkedIn

I am blogging today, for the very first time, from my new laptop (which my husband gave me for my birthday back in July, and which I finally got the courage to try out over the weekend!  Yes, it's been sitting in a box for almost two months!).

It's a whole new world for me with this little gizmo, which has a relatively small 11" screen and is a sort of cross between an iPad and a PC (meaning pretty much everything can be done using the touch screen, just like on my iPhone--but I can still use an old-school Windows screen, a keypad, and a mouse if I want, which keeps me in my comfort zone).  Just a few months ago, this here old lady finally figured out how to cut and paste in Word (I know--pathetic!  I spent almost five years writing a novel and didn't know how to use this function!), and now I have to re-learn the process on my new computer.  Wish me luck!

What I love about my new blogging machine is that it's so compact and light, and it's going to be so much more portable during my travels.  I am a frequent flyer these days, and lugging a full-size, two ton laptop all over the place has been a bit of a pain (but I've been willing to put up with the inconvenience up 'til now, because adding a new blog post almost every day for the enjoyment of my three or four loyal readers is of utmost importance to me!).

I know most of you out there in the blogosphere are a lot younger than I am and a lot less in awe of the latest technological advances.  But wow, I'm telling you--you should see my new laptop!  Actually, here...let me show it to you.

Look at my new baby on the left.  Isn't it an adorable little thing?

Okay, moving on now.  In August, I attended a Catholic Writers Guild conference, and during a talk on marketing (which I hoped would help me figure out how to get the word out about my Catholic YA novel, Finding Grace), I learned that LinkedIn was an underused tool and could be very valuable.  So I recently opened a LinkedIn account.  Yes, that's right: this 55-year-old grandmother who has never had a job outside the home--except as a substitute teacher, but that was way back before my oldest son was born in 1983!--is now linked in with all these professionals who are movers and shakers in the world of writing, publishing, and many different sorts of pro-life and other Catholic enterprises.  And with artists, too. 

I got connected, through some mutual contacts, with a painter named Nellie Edwards.  This is what she uses as her LinkedIn profile picture. 

Hold on a second, I thought when the connection between us had been made.  I've seen this beautiful painting before!  I've actually blogged about it before (and you can read that post here).

What a small, small world we inhabit, am I right?  You just gotta love the Internets!

I wrote an e-mail to Nellie asking her if she was indeed the artist who'd created this lovely image of Our Lady, and she sent me back the most thoughtful and wonderful response telling me that she was, and explaining just how she'd been inspired to paint it.  A woman whose artwork I'd admired from afar is now my eFriend--how amazing is that?  I'm really starting to see the beauty of LinkedIn.

If you haven't discovered this great networking tool, you might want to check it out.  You never know whom you'll run into!