First of all, I have to say welcome to my new and improved blog, now The Cozy Page! I'm really happy with the new look. I've added a brand new feature - Twitter updates which are under my author's pic at left.
Okay, I'll admit it. A month ago when I first developed my Twitter profile, I still didn't get it. Random status updates...in 140 characters or less? Yeah, uh-huh - 140 CHARACTERS, not WORDS! Come on! That's every wordy author's nightmare! As someone once accused of wordiness, I know.
Yet I've been piddling with this whole tweet thing, especially with The Roses of Prose. I'm in charge of "twittering" our daily topics, announcing guest spotlights, and promoting giveaways. It made sense for networking purposes to get our group name out there in hopes of drawing more people to our new site. For some reason, it never occured to me it could work this way for me personally, too.
It was this week that I began to see the fun in it. Not the addicting status updates - the connection between friends far and wide. I found out how to talk directly to others and keep up with the Twitter version of "threads." I revamped my profile, added my beautiful A Summer's Hope cover, and put the word out that I was looking for friends - oops...er "followers" - from The Wild Rose Press, Red Rose Publishing, and WritingGIAM.
I've even already learned a lesson from Twitter. It doesn't have to be a wordy author's nightmare. Now I think of it more as a solution to wordiness. The character restriction actually forces wordy authors to get to the friggin' point. As I was editing the first third of my new paranormal manuscript, I realized that *gasp* I hadn't over-written much of anything. And I found it easier to root out the words I didn't need, making the sentences sharper, the paragraphs more refined, giving the overall message an extra zing.
So...have I fallen in love with Twitter? Not quite yet. But I will say that it has turned out to be so much more than just another networking tool like MySpace or Facebook. It's unexpectedly helping me do something very important - honing my craft. Thanks, Twitter! I hope to see all my readers there :)
*Note: A Summer's Hope is now available from The Wild Rose Press. Click the cover at the top of the left sidebar for more information!
1 comment:
Good post - blogging on useful topics like this is great - I'm like you, only I've been at Twitter three years and still confabulated - but it does get clearer - slowly - judi writing as lynn romaine (www.ecosuspense.blogspot.com)
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