XKCD – Jeffe Kennedy Blog

First Cup of Coffee – December 8, 2023

Jeffe Kennedy / December 8, 2023 / Blog, Podcast

The kerfuffle in the writing world this week-where an author created sockpuppet accounts to downvote other books and upvote her own-why writers aren’t in competition and the key importance of friendship.

Social Distancing and Social Media

Jeffe Kennedy / March 11, 2020 / Blog

I’ve been complaining a bit lately about the internet.

Well, maybe “complaining” is the wrong word. I’ve been thinking a lot about how surfing the internet rewires our brains and impacts peace of mind and productivity. And the steps I’ve been taking to counteract that – staying off the internet for the first couple of hours of the day, not looking at any email or social media until after I’ve gotten my three-thousand words written – have been truly revelatory. At the risk of jinxing myself, I’m making wonderfully smooth and steady progress on THE PROMISED QUEEN, and it’s felt fantastic. Plus I have more energy and focus for dealing with stuff like email in the afternoons.

But, as we in the U.S. are holding our collective breaths, waiting to see if the COVID-19 pandemic explodes beyond the current, relatively low levels here, we are talking a lot about self-isolation and social distancing. Other countries are much more experienced with those measures to quell epidemics and minimize the community spread of disease, so in the U.S. we’re having to think our way through it. Those of us who work from home already, and who tend to be introverts happy with little external social life have an advantage. I’m still laughing at this XKCD:

(The mouse-over text says “Turns out I’ve been ‘practicing social distancing’ for years without even realizing it was a thing!”)

As I weigh what social events matter enough for me to attend – and my major concern is that I could carry the virus and spread it to others – I am counting my blessings that I have social media. Used judiciously and with intention, social media can be a wonderful tool. It connects us to the world at large, literally! I have friends all over the world I can connect with and enjoy.

Who knows – maybe we’ll be doing Hangouts video calls with cocktails in our separate homes while we wait this out. I don’t see that as a dire prediction of the future as so many seem to. (SFF writers, who are a lot of my author friends, are super good at spinning dystopian futures.) It’s a temporary fix, until we beat this bug and can hug again without worrying about the consequences.

It’s way better than not having any contact at all.

First Cup of Coffee – March 6, 2020

Jeffe Kennedy / March 6, 2020March 6, 2020 / Blog, Podcast

First Cup of Coffee – February 14, 2020

Jeffe Kennedy / February 14, 2020 / Blog, Podcast

Keeping Up with the Virtual Joneses

Jeffe Kennedy / August 4, 2019 / Blog

I just returned from a week with my family on Lake Coeur d’Alene. So lovely and relaxing! During some conversation, I mentioned Ed Sheeran, and my aunt – who’d never heard of him – asked me how I kept up on discovering new music.

It was an interesting question, and one I had to think about. Finally I said that I see a lot of recommendations on Twitter. Instagram, too. People share Spotify lists or post YouTube videos. She nodded a little at my answer, clearly a bit daunted at the prospect of emulating me there. So, I sent her two Ed Sheeran albums for her birthday.

Coincidentally enough, our topic at the SFF Seven this week is “Keeping up with trends and changes in social media.” Not an easy thing to do for any of us. Come on over to find out more!