Twitter | Busy Writing

Archive for the ‘Twitter’ Category

In Honour of #NaNoWriMo…

November 7, 2010

Twitter is constantly abuzz these days with #nanowrimo business, writers shouting out their word counts with ecstatic glee: 600 words! 1000 words! 2000 words! They’re trying to make it to *50, 000* words by the end of November. They’re racing, rushing, pushing, striving, laying it all down as fast as they can. A full 175 page novel, totally from scratch!

Are you people crazy?!

Don’t get me wrong. I’m in awe! I’ve been chipping away at my novel for the past 10 years. I’ve set my goal of having it done in one year, which, given my track record, seemed pretty reasonable. But you people make me look like a tree sloth, writing/moving in mega slow motion, just hanging upside down, surveying the world with a slow tongue flick…in the time it takes you #nanowrimo folks to dash out 15 pages, I’ve written the letter ‘m’…

I’m flabbergasted by your goal setting.

A month?! You’re going to write a novel in a month?!

I’m not sure how you are accomplishing this. I presume you have:

-disconnected your phone (but not your internet connection)

-called in a month’s worth of sick days

-stocked up on Red Bull and energy bars

-hired a cleaning service

-bookmarked all those on-line fast food ordering services so you don’t have to cook

-placed a ‘DO NOT DISTURB’ sign on your back so those who dare approach you while you’re at the computer know they’d better BACK OFF!

I’m impressed. So very impressed. You’re a bunch of determined, gritty, impassioned…disheveled, exhausted insomniacs…

Only writers would willingly sign up for a project of this masochistic magnitude. One they’re not even being paid for it. It’s all a labor of love!

You gotta admire the gumption. Writers are the best!

This blog is dedicated to you guys. Best of luck, everyone! I’m cheering for you!

Posted in The Writing Life, Twitter | 2 Comments »

Self Promoting Without Cringing?

July 8, 2010

I’ve decided to try out Social Oomph to help manage my ‘on-line productivity’. Essentially, it lets you write Tweets ahead of time and program when they will be magically revealed…I’m using it to send out the occasional ‘promotional’ blog tweet (for when I get back from holiday), highlighting some previous blogs/comics that haven’t been seen in awhile.

So I’m sitting here typing out a mass of promotional tweets…and I feel like my own ad-man. Its not a comfortable feeling. It’s like I’m putting adverts out hither and yon, so when your driving down the information highway you see:

Billboard #1: Hey Everybody! Come visit my blog!

Billboard #2: For a good time, come visit my blog!

Billboard #3: Did you see the sign? Did you visit my blog yet?

Billboard #4:Why haven’t you visited my blog yet?!

Billboard #5: Hey, You! Yes, You! You need to get your butt over to my blog!

Well, you get the idea…

It’s not just due to Social Oomph. Anytime I send out an ‘updated blog post!’ notice I experience the same feeling of self-consciousness….the Self-Promotional Heebie Jeebies…

I kind of just make myself write the thing, then close my eyes and click ‘send’…because of course I want readers. I write to be read, preferably now, when I’m alive. I’m certainly no Emily Dickinson, scribbling feverishly behind closed doors, hiding it all in a shoebox to be revealed after I’m dead…

And therein lies the crux. I want you to read this, but I don’t want to push it on you. I want you to know about this…but I don’t want to be impolite and bring it up all the time.

There seems to be a fine line between being a self-promotional Guerrilla Girl with the requisite moxie and derring-do to stand out from the crowd and be heard…and being an obnoxious, obvious pusher of ME ME ME. (How many promotional tweets is ‘too many’, for instance? Is one a day okay? Two?) It’s a line I don’t know how to walk very well just yet. So I’ve been erring on the side of caution. (Perhaps too much caution?)

So far, I’ve been watching to see how others manage it, to get a sense of what’s considered okay or the norm. I also think building relationships is key, as is participating in the the writing community at large. You get to know and be known that way. Social media should be more than just pushing your own ideas; it’s a conversation. A dialogue, not a monologue.

When it comes time to publish my novel, whether as an indie or traditional, I know I’m going to have dig in and do even more self promotion. I hope it gets easier with practice. It seems to. Twitter and blogging have certainly made me build up my promotional muscles…and maybe Social Oomph will help me get an even more flattering self-promotional figure…

But if you’ve any suggestions on how I can do this without cringing, I’d love to know!

PS. This blog by Jody Hedlund (@JodyHedlund) inspired my own reflection on this matter.

PPS. Her blog is I also where I first came across the terrifying idea of hosting your own ‘themed book launch party’…

PPPS. If, by chance, one day I have to give my own ‘theme launch party’ I’ve decided its going to be an all out Regency Extravaganza with me in my best Jane Austen-esque ball gown, a buffet of Regency delicacies (like turtle soup), a whist card table in one corner (gambling optional), an open bar in the other (port, cordial & sherry mostly, with perhaps some home-brew Raspberry cordial), and quadrille dance lessons every quarter hour!

PPPPS This is another helpful blog I’ve found re: authors using social media by C. Hope Clark (@hopeclark)

Posted in Blogging, Publishing, Regency, Twitter | 4 Comments »

Writers and Twitter: Yes, it’s a Good Thing!

June 7, 2010

I owe my husband an apology. Initially when he set me up on Twitter, I was skeptical (see blog: ‘Tweetie Bird Fly Be Free’). But now that I’ve been on it for awhile, I’ve had a change of heart.

As a writer, I love it! Here’s why:

Shared Experience
I love the immediacy of Twitter’s connection, the ‘nowness’, the commonality of our experience in the same time/space continuum.

I find it very reassuring to know that right now, at this very moment, there are writers all over the world diligently pursuing their craft, tearing their hair out, staring out into space, joyfully daydreaming, and talking with their characters in their heads…

Through Twitter, I’ve learned that all writers are ‘aspiring’. Even the published ones. Everyone has a Work In Progress. Publishing is almost incidental. Writers just write. We write, write—and guess what? More writing!

And it doesn’t feel competitive at all, but positive and uplifting, like you’ve just had your writer battery charged. Everyone’s making it happen, in spite of the pitfalls, and you can too.

(So get writing).

Craft Chat
On Twitter, there is a lot of discussion re: the writing craft in the form of quotes, tips/advice, or via individual personal experience—and while you may not agree with everything said about writing, I think it’s good to engage with it: it helps you to define and refine your own vision of what the writing practice means to you.

Sometimes what shows up on Twitter can be very fortuitous . There’s a kind of Serendipity to Twitter: benefits arise seemingly ‘by chance’. Who you meet, what tweets you stumble across, it’s all ‘happenstance’. Trouble with dialogue? That day, a tweet about dialogue ‘magically’ appears…

Twitter gives good metaphorical kicks in the pants. It’s like the world-wide-web is saying: Here’s what you need, no more excuses.

(So get writing.)

Publishing Try-Out

Each Twitter is a form of self-publishing. Even if all you do is twitter ‘hi, I #amwriting’ someone can read it! (See Johanna Harness’s blog for an excellent description of #amwriting here.).

When I first started putting tweets out there, I was quite nervous. You’d think I was auditioning for chief columnist at ‘The New Yorker’! But as with anything, your comfort level grows the more you do it. I’ve grown braver with each Tweet, even connected to other blogs via Twitter and left comments, a little sprinkling of my point of view here and there.

Each time, its been a bolster. And when someone (anyone!) has read my blog, via Twitter, it seems to affirm it even more. “Look! I’ve been read!”

Ergo, I. Am. A. Writer.

(Thanks, Twitter.)

Posted in Twitter | 8 Comments »

Twitter Haiku

May 8, 2010

I wrote my first Twitter and it felt a lot like trying to write a Haiku…its not easy to convey your meaning in only 140 characters. What I wrote wasn’t very deep, though:

nervously clicking
out of shell now, hello you
twitter newbie wakes
Yes, that’s the (silly) Haiku version…☺
To see what I really wrote, look me up on Twitter… @julieejohnsonn

Posted in Procrastination, Twitter | Leave a Comment »

Tweetie Bird, Fly Be Free

May 7, 2010

I was complaining about being a lonely writer of ‘comedic-romantic-historical-mystery-fiction’ again so my husband got me set up with a Twitter account in the hopes that I might find a ‘niche’ for myself out there.
He said: “Just start following someone you like. Often they give links for you to follow and that leads to something special.”
So I signed up to follow Jim Carrey, Neil Gaiman and Stephen Fry. Very amusing/interesting people, but not exactly ‘niche’ writers…and not really linked to my interest in romance and history…
“Keep trying,” said my husband.
So I spent another hour trolling various Twitter and blog links, getting increasingly frustrated.
I said to my husband: “This is worse than microfiche.”
Of course, that offended his techie sensibilities! He said: “Here let me do it.”
Then he found me the blog site: Two Nerdy History Girls.

A more realist thread to pull. Huzzah!

Posted in Twitter | Leave a Comment »

Just Do It

April 20, 2010

Yesterday my husband, with my permission, used his high-tech superpowers to send my blog out via twitter and facebook.I feel like I’ve just stepped off a cliff.