Have I lost the art of conversation?

A writers life is a lonely one. I work. A lot. Therefore, I don't have a lot of social time. I haven't spoken to my neighbor Amy in a week. The only people I really see are Mr. L and my brother. I've gone on several writing retreats this summer where I've just stayed in the house and not gone anywhere or spoken to anyone (except on the phone to Mr. L and my brother). My two local girlfriends both work day jobs. Not a lot of time for socializing. (I think it's been two years since we got together. Mostly we chat on Facebook.)

Mr. L goes out to lunch once a month with the guys he used to work with. (I worked with some of them, too.) Mind you, they'e been meeting for OVER TWENTY YEARS. When he comes home, I badger him. Who was there? What did you talk about? Mr. L clams up. "I didn't record the conversations."

If it weren't for the Internet, I don't know what I'd do. I'm lucky that I get to "talk" (okay, type) to the Chicks, to my BFF Jennifer, and many of my readers (mostly on Facebook), many of whom have become friends.  (Hi, Amy, Linda, Pam, Geneva, and all the ladies and gents from Lorraine's Perpetual Tea Party.)

And then there's my Thursday morning meetings. (Except we didn't have one yesterday--we had to reschedule for today.) I also belong to another author group known as Storytellers Unlimited. Every week the three of us do a Google Hangout (which is like Skype) and we talk, face-to-face, about BUSINESS.

I can't tell you how much I look forward to these meetings because I get to TALK to someone other than my cats, husband, and brother. We usually meet for about two hours, and talk about our work, and what we'd like to accomplish as a group. One of the ideas we're currently tossing around is holding an event--a luncheon in Western New York for cozy readers. (Doesn't that sound like fun!) You'd think it would be easy to plan such an event. Um...not so much. Inviting 100 friends for lunch is as big an event as putting on a wedding reception. Are we crazy to think about doing this? Maybe. (And be sure to let me know if you think this could be a fun event.)

There are all sorts of things to think about. Table decorations. Door prizes. The menu. The venue! Round tables of eight, or round tables of ten? Transportation. Will we need a microphone?  Should we have a keynote speaker? What time of the year should we hold it? Can we find some volunteers to help stuff the goody bags? Should we hold a pizza party the night before for those coming from out of town? Yes--lots of decisions.

So, will we talk about that or our upcoming Winter Magic anthology? (We're on pins and needles waiting to see our cover.) Maybe we'll talk about Shirley's new car (which she picked up yesterday and why we had to reschedule our meeting). Maybe we'll talk about Kelly's cutie-pie granddaughter (she's babysitting her for the summer). Whatever we talk about--it'll be FUN.

The Cozy Chicks will be having a meeting at the end of the month. I'm really looking forward to that, too. We had such fun the last time we did it in January. I'm counting the days.

Do you ever feel the need for conversation?