I don’t mind admitting it in the least. I am not a technical guru. I do not even know much more about my computer than how to type on it, save, edit, and send. I can read and enjoy all my e-mails and respond to them, I can access Facebook and do all kinds of research, to me, the very best advantage of the internet and all the magic it offers.
I learned to type in high school on a Remington with a keyboard that required heavy pounding; it was years before I even had an electric typewriter.
Soon after our marriage, I joined my husband’s hobby of ham radio, and became WA2GXT. I studied, passed federal tests for licensing and learned that Ohms Law accurately describes the conductivity of the vast majority of electrically conductive materials over many orders of magnitude of current. I knew the farad was a unit of capacitance and the 2-meter amateur radio band is a portion of the VHF radio spectrum, comprising frequencies stretching from 144 MHz to 148 MHz in most of the world.
One of the first magazine stories I ever wrote was for 73 Magazine, all about erecting a two meter antenna in our back yard in Highlands.
All of that is in the past and holds no interest for me now. Which probably explains why I have a sensational technical guru to handle and distribute the tens of thousands of words I write on a regular basis.
While I have no trouble putting the words into print, it’s this guru who puts them out in the world of unseen communication that gets those words all over the world.
So I am always amazed by where VeniVidiScripto is read. I am delighted dozens of people in Ireland read it, most likely for my stories on travel to that country; I know the many people afflicted with eye and vision problems read the experiences I have encountered with aging macular degeneration, be they in the United State or Germany, Pakistan, South Korea, or Belgium.
I do not know whether my columns are translated into Japanese for readers in Japan, but I do know they are translated into German, French, Spanish Italian and Urdu.
I know people on Facebook read VeniVIdiScripto in every state of the Union and in more than 60 countries, a fact that keeps me in awe.
And now I learned I am on Pinterest. So I had to look up a few details about Pinterest because I can already see I have several followers on that.
Pinterest is the #1 alternative to Facebook, I read, but minus the negative comments so often expressed on Facebook.
It’s where people go to ‘Boards” to find special stories they want to review on specific topics.
The Boards are great splashy and colorful pictures for easier visualization than the written word, sometimes a benefit to draw someone in to reading the written word. Because of that color those big pictures, those designs, Pinterest is a boon for people with aging macular degeneration or any of a number of vision problems.
The pictures make it easier to find a particular story that is worth the struggle to read without wasting all that energy in the search.
That advantage of Pinterest draws the reader into reading what he is specifically looking for. It isn’t necessary to scroll through stories, no matter how great they are, that are not of the reader’s specific interest; he simply checks the “boards” for the topics he likes best.
All of which makes this a great location for multiple generations, from the younger, more knowledgeable folks right through to my age and beyond who might not understand the whys and wherefores of it but like reaping the benefits of easy, enjoyable reads on topics of our choice.
Finally Pinterest lets you see what is trending right now, giving writers better information on the types of stories people want to read.
Find me on Pinterest https://www.pinterest.com/venividiscripto/_saved/
