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| Photo credit: Coletivo Membembe on Flickr |
Well. After reading post after post about how it
takes about three years to build a solid platform, I took a leap, figuring
I might as well try it out for a couple of weeks before I decide it’s not for
me. I made a pact with myself that if I reached 150 followers, I’d finally
start that blog I’d been putting off for so long.
I didn’t really expect to meet my goal, especially not in a
couple of weeks. But I did. And something weird happened: I realized I actually
liked Twitter. A lot.
Because for every “my cat just threw up a magical hairball
on the carpet” tweet, there were three of these:
“The biggest thing separating people from their artistic ambitions is not a lack of talent. It's the lack of a deadline.” Chris Baty
— Quotes for Writers (@Quotes4Writers) April 13, 2011
It is as easy to dream a book as it is hard to write one. HONORÉ DE BALZAC #amwriting #writing #writetip
— Jon Winokur (@AdviceToWriters) April 19, 2011
Ways to annoy Muggles: Look closely at someone's face, then mutter, “definitely a Hufflepuff.”
— Half-Blood Princess™ (@HarryPotterish) June 25, 2011
Because I was suddenly able to connect to a whole community of wonderful writers I never knew existed.
Because I was discovering incredible new books and blogs
daily.
i want to be that guy who screws the cap onto the toothpaste without flinging it into the toilet bowl. i hear that guy is one hell of a guy.
— Tahereh Mafi (@TaherehMafi) March 20, 2012
Because hashtag groups like #wordmongering motivated me to keep writing.
Because Twitter is more than just a site where people post
about their ferrets and one-eyed gerbils; it’s a place of connections, of
relationships, of sharing things that make us laugh and cry and smile and think
and feel.
A year later I am convinced more than ever that Twitter is a fantastic resource for writers, and I couldn't be happier with my decision to join the party.
27 comments:
Inspiration and ass-kicking are two very important functions of Twitter, especially from writer to writer. :)
I like Twitter but one of the main reasons it works for me is that I'm VERY disciplined about how much time I'll allow myself to spend on it. I allot 15 minutes and only at the very end of every working day. It's addictive but I also need to get my writing done!!
Any time of social media (Twitter most certainly included) can be a huge time-suck if you aren't careful with it. Allotting a certain amount of time a day is a great way to make sure you get your other things done first. Good strategy!
I joined 4/30/08 and have loved how the community has grown around me as my interests and responsibilities have shifted. Now that I'm on the verge of releasing my first book, it's a little strange to know people who've followed me digitally from that long ago have also followed my growth and progress as a writer. I'm still crossing my fingers that it'll be enough to help me launch a writing career.
;)
That's wonderful, Tonya! I've seen more than a couple of writers go from unpublished to published over the course of the last twelve months, and it's always been very exciting and interesting to see how the dynamics of their follower interaction changes (or doesn't). Congratulations on your soon-to-be book release!
I love twitter, but only got hyper active as of this year. Now... full blown addict. The really awesome thing is that you can develop a community and a following before you even have a product. I also love the ease with which I can find people to connect with. In my opinion, it is by far the simplest to initiate contact with complete strangers. Thanks for the post!
This must be a sign! I've been thinking about getting on Twitter! Now I definitely will! Will you recommend some people/blogs for me to follow?
I agree that the ability to develop a community before you have a product is fantastic. It's great to be able to have a writer support group while you go through your journey. :)
Sure! I recommend @NathanBransford, @AdvicetoWriters and
@elizabethscraig for useful writer-advice tweets, @_Snape_ for humor and @TaherehMafi, @TymothyLongoria, @eatthepen, @HP4Writers, @iainbroome, @saraleggz, @araTHEwriter and @notveryalice to connect with other awesome writers. :)
thanks! cant wait! (must do hw first!)
Sure thing! ^_^
Good question, Avalon. For the first month or two after I decided I was going to "conquer" Twitter, I was overwhelmed by it. There was so much there! How was I ever to keep up with everything and everyone. Then, for the next seven months, I had an uneasy truce. I didn't pay that much attention to it and it didn't pay that much attention to me. In the last month or so though, I've gotten a lot more engaged, and unsurprisingly it's paying more attention to me.
I think it takes a little while to work out a balance--I know at first I spent a lot of time on Twitter, then after a while I worked out a nice balance between engaging and still getting other things done.
I used to have Twitter, but quit it a while ago because I got distracted using it. Your post is making me think of going back...if I can control muself. XD
I joined Twitter about 2 years ago. I used it to follow famous funny people and update my Facebook status. I didn't want to do any more because following a conversation in Twitter was a nightmare, I didn't understand hashtags or groups or anything, and I wasn't so focussed on using it for writing. Then, only about 3 months ago, I bit the bullet and started tracking down writers and following them. A whole new world opened up to me. I've connected with a lot of people, I share information and I see a lot of cool books and material I never otherwise would have found.
I still struggle to understand it all. I've gone from 50 odd followers to just over 1,000 in my 3 months of activity, but all that means to me is that I have more tweets flying by than I can read and I'll be damned if I can find and keep track of people I actually want to talk to.
In short, I hate using Twitter and I really don't have the time for it, but it is responsible for the tiny piece of success I have had so far, and it has helped me develop a little bit further.
Sounds like a love-hate relationship. :)
You actually bring up a good point--time. Twitter (like any social media) can be a huge time suck if you don't balance it properly. As useful as it is for making those connections, the most important thing for a writer, first and foremost, is the writing. If any social media starts to bite into writing time, you know it's time to disconnect from the internet for a bit to get back into the writing zone.
Hello. My name is Tony and I'm a twitterholic.
I joined a few years ago, immediately started following every celebrity I could find.
A few months ago I finally bit the bullet and culled almost every one of them. (I've kept Stephen Fry because, well, it's Stephen Fry, dammit.)
The connections are wonderful. Writing, humour, like-minded people and few (very VERY few) people I actually know IRL.
Hi Matt,
You don't have to follow back everyone, though it's certainly a nice gesture. Also, you can build lists to keep track of the ones you really want to pay close attention to among the chaos. Lists are super easy to use.
Good luck,
R
I'm also a convert. I once disliked Twitter, then I realized I was doing it all wrong. I re-joined, spent some time on it. . .and now I'm addicted. =)
Definitely. It's always there so I worry I'm on at the wrong time, when I use it. If I went on later maybe more people would read my tweets.
I also do have lists but they themselves are so big I lose people in them, and any new people I follow get immediately lost because I often use my ipad and in the ipad app there is no easy way to add people to lists. I find only the website is good for this - any solutions?
I personally don't have an iPad, so I'm not entirely sure how to fix the adding people to a list part on the app, but if your lists are so big that you lose people in them, maybe you should consider created many smaller lists rather than a couple large lists. I know there are a couple of websites that are good at helping people create lists on Twitter (unfortunately I've forgotten the names at the moment...if I remember I'll let you know, but in the mean time if anyone else remembers, feel free to remind me ^_^).
Hello Tony. Welcome to Twitterholics Anonymous. :)
The ease of creating connections on Twitter is a really fantastic feature, and one that makes the time spent on it worth it. Not to mention the great resources Twitter can lead you to...
Sounds like you should join the Twitterholics Anonymous group Tony McFadden and I just created. :D
Terrific article. I joined Twitter because I was told so many negative things that I had become to believe them. Then someone showed me a glimpse and I became fascinated. But did not know how to Operate it. Seemed pointless. Now that I have been retraining myself what wonderful opportunities there are at just a touch of the keyboard and an enter button.
And then I find articles linked into a twitter message. Make my day and expand my knowledge to share.
Thank you.
Good idea. the address is?
Heh, it was a reference to a joke made in the comments about being a "twitterholic." There isn't a literal group (as far as I know, anyway...)
I want to say about 80-90% of the blogs I follow now I discovered off of a link shared through Twitter. The ability to quickly and easily share various media with your followers is one of the great advantages of Twitter.
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