Admitting I'm a dork is nothing new, so it should come as no shock that I can't think of Twitter without humming Rocking Writer (makes more sense than robin for me), Tweet Tweet Tweet. Every time I go on Twitter this little ditty plays in my head.
When I first started on Twitter, which I did in May 2011 as part of the first blogathon I ever joined, I was lost. What would I tweet? Would anyone care?
I may not be hip with the lingo, but I like the format. It forces brevity and makes users rely on words... pictures aren't as easily shared on Twitter as they are on FB (unless I'm missing something). I'm more of a word girl than a picture girl, go figure.
Hating to hurt anyone's feelings, I initially followed EVERYONE who followed me. But I found this made my Twitter feed a mess of stuff I didn't want to read. So now I look into the people that follow me and follow back those I find interesting. As of today, I have 1088 followers and follow 1011. Clearly I find most people interesting!
My favorite part about Twitter are word sprints. My #ROW80 buddies do a #teamsprinty sprint weekdays at 2pmEST (or at least I hope they still do... I need to get back in the habbit). There's also #wordmongering (jump on and see who is writing). I LOVE these! And I just discovered #editmongering... hold me back!
For those just getting started, I would jump into these types of hashtags and get to know people. It'll make tweeting fun! Also, search for authors who have written books you love and see what their tweets are like. If you write a certain genre, follow authors in that genre. Now that I've started writing YA, I'm looking in to different YA authors and their followers.
Most of all, have fun with it, in 140 characters or less of course.
*****
Now for my Sunday A Round of
Words in 80 Days (ROW80) update (which is actually on Sunday this week because I have a guest post running tomorrow)...
Writing: Attended a writing conference this weekend. So stoked to get back to writing with a brain full of tips, strategies, and enthusiasm. I'll post more from the Pamlico Writer's Conference soon, but I had to share my wonderful news...
I won first place in the YA writing contest!! *jumping up and down*
Editing: I'm applying my editor's comments and suggestions from the prologue and chapter 1 to the rest of the book. These edits will be sent on Friday, so no excuses!
Blogging: Posting every day until March 15 for the Winter Author Blog Challenge, and then back to my MWF schedule until the Blogging from A to Z Challenge starts April 1.
Reading: Lots lately! Check out Mom in Love with Fiction for reviews.
9 comments:
YAYAYAYAYAY! Great job on the contest! Good luck with those edits!
Great post and congratulations - lots of songs seem to go with Twitter!!!
Congratulations, Tia, on your YA award!!!! That's really fine news. I loved your questions about tweeting as well and would find a longer column by you useful, such an interesting territory. You've been tweeting since 2011? Another wow! (I'm a newbie, having started only this year.) Yes, I do tend to follow folks whose tweets are about writing rather than promoting their book; the results have been pretty wonderful in finding interesting reading. Joining writing challenges (like the Ultimate Blog Challenge) also helped me find like-minded tweeters). May next week bring you equally good news!
I've not heard of #wordmongering, sounds like one to look out for - thanks :)
Congratulations on winning 1ts place Tia! Can't wait to read your YA! (: And I'm like you with twitter, before I follow back, I check out the person first. If they are only on twitter to endlessly self-promote, I usually won't follow back.
That is so awesome! Man, you are doing great with your goals. I can't imagine blogging every day, but I bet you'll be happy to get back to MWF schedule.
I don't hang around Twitter that much - I will take your suggestion to check out various hashtags. Also, congratulations on your award.
Congratulations again on winning FIRST PLACE! How awesome is that? :) I'm impressed that you took the initiative to apply my suggestions throughout the rest of the book, and I can't wait to get started in earnest :) I love your take on Rockin' Robin. Cuteness! WRITE ON!
Kate -- Thanks!
Ashley -- I'm all about songs in my head. And thanks for the congrats.
Beth -- I tend to be sarcastic by nature, and brevity is at the heart of sarcasm. So I think that's partly why I love Twitter (although I hold back on the sarcasm, because it's a tool best used verbally).
Justine -- Love #wordmongering. Just need to use it more.
Elise -- Thanks, my friend. So agree with you on being more careful about who I follow.
Amy -- Thanks!
Alana -- Thanks! I love the encouragement of my wordsprint hashtags.
Jo -- Let's hope my initiative pays off for you! ;-) And thanks.
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