Relevance? What does it mean? Why do we crave it so much into today's modern world?

Somewhere along the line "busy" became a synonym for the word "relevant." The more e-mails we get, the more phone calls we receive, the more interruptions and distractions we seem to have in our daily lives, the more important, and subsequently relevant, we feel.

You can blame it on the Internet. You can blame it on television, but let's face it, we're becoming a society that prides itself in being busy. Lack of busyness in your life or even a perceived lack of busyness means you clearly must not be engaged in the world around you, right? At least that's what we've been socialized to believe.

Personally, I can't blame the Internet for my adult proclivity to fill my plate so full that it spills over onto the shoes of the next guy. No, I prefer to play the old-fashioned blame game. I blame my parents – two type-A Philadelphia lawyers who never met an e-mail they didn't need to respond to or a phone call that wasn't a crisis. I am the apple that fell right from their neurotic tree where "relaxation" is a bad word, and hard work is synonymous with godliness.

Okay, so let's face it, I'm not going to change. So why even pretend I might?

With that thought in mind I was honored to meet several great authors on two panels I moderated today for the North Carolina Writer's Network annual conference. They are Stacey Cochran, John Amen, Nicki Leone, Paul Austin, Melissa Delbridge, and Dawn Shamp. They are talented and unique. Google them and check out their work. You won't be disappointed!

TUNE IN SUNDAY NIGHT AT 8:30 P.M. TO THE RALEIGH TELEVISION NETWORK, CHANNEL 10 ON TIME WARNER CABLE, TO SEE STACEY COCHRAN INTERVIEW ME FOR HIS SHOW, "THE ARTIST'S CRAFT." THE SHOW WILL ALSO AIR THIS COMING TUESDAY AND THURSDAY AT 8:00 P.M..