Networking.

I don't really get this networking thing.  I feel rather unsettled by the fact that 'network' has been transformed into a verb, for a start.  A 'network' evokes a sense of connection and support.  Networking smacks of being pressed into collecting people's contact details in a maniacal and feverish rampage through some convention room somewhere.  The very word conjures up images of glassy eyes and fake smiles, of people in suits trying to wedge business cards into each other's hands.  A network seems secure and solid; networking seems false and threatening.

People seem to have taken to collecting each other, like points in some game.  Do you level up when you reach each thousand?  At what point does this leveling up mean I grow dragon wings?  Because unless it leads to that, I can't see me being able to buy into it.

This is not to say I want to huddle, hunched up and growling, in a darkened corner of my house, refusing to speak to anyone from the outside world.  I mean, I do that.  It just isn't as a direct result of people saying I should network.  I don't actually think that hordes of people are camped on my lawn. (It's tiddly, in any case, so good luck with that.  We could only host a minor-league horde.)  Every now and then, I even go out and speak to people.

The Festival of Writing has provided excellent conversation both years I have been, so far, and I may have accidentally networked with a couple of people.  It seems fine, though, as long as they are interesting, witty beings who are good with me making everything about dragons (Or reindeer, if it's reindeer season -you have to be seasonal, don't you?  All the best cooking shows say that you do.  I choose to believe this is what they mean.)

This year, I ended up chatting for several hours to a bunch of lovely people, some of whom have names I never even heard, about our upcoming collaboration for a SciFi monster movie to end all monster movies.  (I cannot possibly reveal any details, but when we magically all end up in LA and get this thing rolling, it will be the most awesome thing to ever awesome.)

The year before was pretty good, too.  It lead me to meeting the lovely Penny, who was kind enough to link my blog to hers this week.

What fascinated me about the on-line activity of networking is how it really does connect people. You don't get a stiff-edged card with numbers and a business title.  You get snippets of people's humour and interests, links to articles and memes and all sorts of good things.  Some people may also end up with job offers - I don't know.  I mainly reblog pictures with funny comments on them and read articles which get me rethinking my views on things.  For that reason alone, deciding to follow some people on Twitter and tumblr has been well worth it.

Reading Penny's blog today had a knock-on effect, though.  The link by Liz to Penny's blog was read by my person (He who lives in the same house and with whom I shared a wedding a bit back.), who then went off to look up a website about borrowing a dog which had been mentioned in Penny's blog.  A link to this was then sent to my person's sister, who now says she has signed up to borrow people's doggies.  So, basically, someone I met over a year ago and who has never, to my knowledge, met or been anywhere near my sister-in-law, has got her to sign up to borrow dogs.  (I mean, they may have met.  They are both in the medical field.  All you medical peeps hang out in secret tree-houses together, right?  Thought so.) This is internet networking, and it is glorious.