Monday, August 2, 2010

The Tweet Nectar of Twitter

I was inspired by today's blog post by Janet Reid regarding why authors need to be on Twitter.

I resisted joining Twitter for a good long time. I mean, what kind of real communication can people have when they are limited to 140 characters, right?

Wrong.

I finally succumbed and signed up for an account about a month ago and it has been amazing. I've met all kinds of people with common interests, and have even had interactions with authors Jill Mansell and Sherry Thomas (who recently won a RITA- congrats, Sherry!).

There is real community support for fledgling writers such as myself, where agents and editors routinely set up chats where you can ask questions to your heart's content. And if you're too shy, you can just 'lurk around', reading other people's questions and the answers.

It's a place where you can get immediate input from others 24/7. One person I 'follow' was working on a piece and couldn't think of the name for a culvert. He described it, I asked my hubby (who knows all kinds of random things), popped off the answer and voila, he had just what he needed to keep going.

It's very cool.

If you're on Twitter, what has been your experience. If you're not, why not?

8 comments:

  1. It's fun if I don't have to advertise anything. Once in a blue moon people stop by my site from twitter. Mostly, I just hang out.

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  2. I think it's a good tool for connecting with people with similar interests.

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  3. thanks for stopping by my blog today and entering my contest!

    i only joined twitter about a month ago. it's been great for getting updates from agents and connecting with other writers.

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  4. Twitter is great, but I am still figuring out how to pay attention when people are having chats about writing!

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  5. Oh Lord, now I might actually have to join too! I hope it's easy to find relevent stuff - I'm terrified of 'myspace syndrome'.

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  6. As an aspiring author, I've met so many people in publishing that I never would have otherwise. It's so cool to see books in the store and know you've chatted with those very same authors.This would have been next to impossible before. I even made contact with a literary agent through one of her writers, had the chance to meet her a few times and she's now waiting for me to finish my manuscript to see if it's something she's interested in representing. She may not be, but how could this have ever happened without Twitter? So, yeah. It's definitely a huge resource. I see you're following me now and that's how I discovered your blog! Nice to meet you Cyndi!

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  7. I was just like you when it came to Twitter. I avoided it for so long. Then i joined and it's a great resource and lots of fun too!

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  8. I have tweeted 539 tweets more than I thought I would have tweeted by now when I joined a few months ago.

    And I now use the word "tweet" more than should be allowed.

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