After a few crazy-busy weeks of travel and fun, we returned home Sunday evening to no heat and no internet. Temps were dipping to the forties at night and near sixty in the daytime, so we weren’t going to freeze to death.
But we were fresh from a mini-vacation to Las Vegas and riding the high that comes from a writing conference. And without internet, we couldn’t share our excitement, post pictures, reach out to the new friends we’d made, or even follow-up and research the fresh new ideas we’d heard.
Unlike people who live in more populated areas of the world, our television relies completely on streaming, and our cell phones barely work at home without the aid of wireless internet. It was almost comical how lost we were without that connection.
As writers, we always have a current work in progress. Guess where they’re stored? On the One Drive ‘cloud’ which is accessible via the internet. Our laptops talk to our printer via, you guessed it, a wireless connection. Productivity is at a standstill.
About the only thing we can do is pick up one of the books we bought at the conference and read. And snack. And nap. It turns out, some of my favorite activities don’t require Wi-Fi after all.
I totally identify!
We don’t do the cloud for that very reason. I like to write from a cemetery in northwest LA, where the internet is sketchy. I don’t want to require internet to write or access my work. At the very least, if I need internet, I pull up at a library or McDonald’s and work from my car or go plug in to their electric–or both. I love to write in a park, in the car, or at a remote cabin. Internet should not be required. I think maybe having flip phones helps us appreciate being without internet more than most folks. It’s nice to get away from it. But I do still miss it when it is wanted and not available.