Wednesday, June 5, 2013

June and IWSG Blog Hop


Click this link to join other blog hoppers!

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As a writer, what am I insecure about this month? To be honest, I've been insecure about this particular thing since...well, since I signed on.

My question is: what is the truth regarding Twitter?

Oh, I'm there. Want to find me (and follow? Click on my right-hand sidebar). When I first appeared on the web and learned about "tweeting", I joined. But I want to know why?

Why is it good? Why do folks rave about it? What is so darned attractive about Twitter?

I'll be frank. I don't read Twitter. I mean, I'm not glued in my chair for hours on end with glazed over eyes watching the tweets roll by.

For one thing - I'm a writer. That means I write words. I type "are", but Twitter says "R". I type "you", but Twitter says "U". I type "I don't know", but Twitter says "idk". (And that "i" should always be capitalized). And what's the deal about 140 characters? This blog post so far -and I'm not finished- is more than 140 characters.

So if I don't read those Twitterese tweets, I'm pretty certain no one reads mine. (I'm not trying to be rude when I say I don't read them. But who has time to read thousands of snippets?)

Authors have said Twitter is a wonderful marketing/promotional tool. ?

I'm asking for help. I don't want this to sound like a rant, it isn't meant to be. I simply don't understand the benefits of Twitter.

Those of you who use it -and love it- would you care to spend a minute or two (using words, please!) and explain why/how/what I need to do. I'd like to become secure about tweeting about Twitter. :)

11 comments:

Donna K. Weaver said...

You don't have to use twitter as your platform if it doesn't appeal to you. The thing that makes it manageable for me is TweetDeck. It lets me categorize columns, and I can follow the people I actually know. :D

Lynn Lovegreen said...

Hi Miss Mae,

I like Twitter because I follow a bunch of people who tweet cool links to blog posts and other articles I enjoy. I've learned a lot about the craft of writing and the business side of publication from it. But I don't write a lot myself. As Donna said, if it doesn't work for you, that's okay. There are many other platforms or ways to spend that time.

Suzanne Furness said...

I can relate to this post! I am on Twitter - just! I signed up recently but think I've only posted 3 times. Maybe one day I'll get into it but at the moment it isn't working for me.

Suzanne
IWSG co-host

Miss Mae said...

Hi Donna,

Thanks for coming by. I appreciate your comment. I'll look into TweetDeck! :)

Miss Mae said...

Hi Lynn,

I'd love to learn the "business side" of Twitter! How does one do that???

Thanks so much for coming by. :)

Miss Mae said...

Hi Suzanne,

Maybe we can figure it out together. :)

Thanks so much for dropping by. :)

Emma Adams said...

It took me about a year to get the hang of Twitter, but it's been a great way to find out more about writing and publishing because so many people in the industry use it- I even found an internship on there! You can also meet other writers through hashtags such as #amwriting, #writetip etc. Now I've figured out how to use it, I can't stop! :)

M. J. Joachim said...

lol - I still haven't figured out twitter very well. I'm not sure you really have to do anything special, other than follow people and make a new tweet from time to time.

Miss Mae said...

Hi Emma and M.J.

Well, I'm still learning and maybe, just maybe ONE day I'll get it sorted out. LOL

Thanks so much for stopping by. :)

unikorna said...

Twitter is an amazing promoting weapon...There is a great solidarity between authors who tweet each other and spread the news of your books...

Hart Johnson said...

HA! Sorry it took me so long to get back to you... life is chaos at the moment, but I'm so glad you dropped by and followed.

As for Twitter, here's the thing... you can follow what's going on if you have ADHS or take crack. That's my theory. I have a friend who made friends with editors and found calls for submissions there, so became a legitimate published author through it... did I mention the ADHD? She is the perfect spaz for the site. I can't do it. I DO think use can be made of the chats--I tend to watch for those announcements on Facebook. Erm.
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