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.)