Real conversation

Earlier this afternoon I had the privilege of taking part in a Skype chat with some members of my YA novel critique group. Five of us took part, two in Australia, one in the US, one in New Zealand and one in the UK. After spending almost two years working with these people online, finally having the opportunity to talk to each other, was amazing! Beforehand, I'd been worried we wouldn't be able to find things to talk about, or that the whole thing would be stilted or weird.

I was wrong.

In fact, it was like any reunion of old friends, with everyone talking over each other and the topic of conversation constantly morphing and digressing off on tangents. It's amazing how easy to talk to they all were, even though we've never physically met.

A few years ago (well, more than a few) I had a similar experience when I was a part of the online community for my favorite band. We organized a gathering in Berlin over a weekend and once again, I was amazed at how easy it was to get along in person with people I'd only spoken to online before. In that instance, I did have a few weird moments where people I had assumed were men were women and vice-versa. One disadvantage to using nicknames, as opposed to real names.

Anyway, I really enjoyed talking to my crew, and hope to be able to do it again in the future. And perhaps with members of my other groups too!

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