✦ The Chronicle | Not Good at Technology. YET.

I miss busy signals.

Not because I want to go back — I don't. But there was something beautifully honest about a busy signal. It meant: someone is here, and they are fully present with someone else. No multitasking. No notifications. Just one conversation at a time.

I've watched the whole parade go by. Birth of the Internet with the promise things will be easier. Fax machines. Modems that screamed at you before they connected. Pagers. Cell phones so enormous people literally carried them in briefcases. And then — my personal favorite era — when people would pretend to have a cell phone, plugging a prop into their car dashboard just to look important.

I watched all of it happen. And somehow, I still feel like the new kid in the room.

This week, I tried to open my X account. Elon Musk's algorithm took one look at me and decided I wasn't a real person. (Sir. I am very real. I have the 5am alarm and the dirty coffee cup to prove it.)

I also have a Baldwin & Co. podcast recording sitting hostage in a Dropbox synced to the wrong account. Five attempts to liberate it. Still in custody.

I told my marketing consultant I was hopeless at technology. He pushed back. Hard.

"You figured out how to sell signed copies directly from your website. You manage a full-time career and promote a book — before the rest of the world is awake. You take five steps every day toward your goals."

I wanted to argue. I opened my mouth.

He was right.

I'm not good at technology. Yet.

How could I forget the power of that one word? I've stood in front of rooms and taught it. Catching yourself without it is humbling. That single syllable is the difference between a closed door and one that's still swinging open.

So here's where I am: sorting real readers from bots. Chasing Amazon reviews like they're parking spots on a Friday night. Fighting for momentum in the ebbs and celebrating it in the flows. Recording an audiobook with authentic voices that carry the weight of real cultures. Finding collaborators whose stories deserve to be heard alongside mine.

And I'm doing all of it surrounded by people who have the audacity to use my own words against me — in the best possible way.

This is my story. And it is worth sharing.

Are you creating? ✦

A few things I want you to know:

• Signed copies are available at areyoucreating.com — each one ships with a hummingbird charm and a Sparkle bookmark.

• If you've read Song of Hummingbird Highway, an Amazon review (https://www.amazon.com/Song-Hummingbird-Highway-K-Cookie/dp/B0FZF1TN24) is one of the most powerful gifts you can give an indie author.

• The audiobook is coming. It's going to be worth the wait.