Here’s the thing I found today: I love Twitter.
I love how this HUGE community of people come together and share thoughts on just about everything. I follow lots of writers, editors, and publishers, so I find tons of tweets relating to the subject I love best. And I LOVE how these folks find submission opportunities, or book giveaways, or funny little videos or vastly interesting blog posts that I would never find myself.
But I also hate Twitter. Because when I sit down at my little desk, telling myself that I will only look at Twitter (and if I’m being perfectly honest, Facebook, too) for fifteen minutes, PROMISE, and then I get up to stretch TWO HOURS later, I am not happy.
But a part of me is happy. Because I’ve learned so much that I didn’t know before. It’s just that I’m paying for that knowledge when I finally finish my To Do list at 12:30 AM. Whew. Anyway, that’s how I found a tweet that took me to Steve Buttry’s blog.
Steve Buttry happened to be interviewing Roy Peter Clark, the man behind Writing Tools, which was published as a book–and now Mr. Clark has a blog of that name over at Poynter.
Of course, you can peruse all those delightful links, because really, there’s lots of good writing stuff there. Or you can go directly to this shortcut of the 50 Writing Tools, Quick List. Where you will find that number 2: Order words for emphasis, is the rule that Mr. Clark finds terribly important for all writers.
In the end, it was all worth it, right? (Or…It was all worth it, in the end. Right?)
Cathy C. Hall Writes 
Evil. FB and Twitter are evil. I try to use Tweetdeck to post my updates so it does both at the same time then I can make a clean break. It works too…most of the time. ;DChynnawww.lilywolfwords.cawww.the-gift-blog.comwww.seethewhiteelephants.blogspot.com
I have not gotten into tweeting and think, sometimes, I should but I feel your pain with only facebook and the blogosphere so perhaps I better not.
Chynna, it's too late for me but run! Run while you still can!And take Sally while you're at it!;-)(But don't leave Facebook, y'all. That's when I read YOUR posts!)
Cathy,WOW, love the writing tools list! I saved that to my writing folder. Good one, girl 🙂
Oh, I'm glad you liked it! I thought it was a definite keeper (P.S. Lots of good stuff on his blog!)
I feel your pain. Twitter and FB are total time sucks!
You are a gem. Thanks for the tips and for following again 🙂
Thanks for another great resource. 🙂 I'm afraid of twitter. Just writing my blog (and doing reciprocal reading of other blogs) and keeping up with emails and Facebook takes forever. When I only have 2 hours in a day to write and I end up spending it blogging…well, there's a reason my NaNo novel is still unfinished. Can't tweet. No time. Wish I could, though.
Vicky, I have no idea where you find the time to post all those fascinating links, but I hope you keep it up. You make up for slackers like me!Linda, I'm so glad you mentioned following. I was SURE I was on yours (And now I KNOW I am!)Oh, Lisa, it's not the tweets that take time. It's getting engrossed in others' tweets! (P.S. You get plenty done in your two hours…I'm feeling a tad inadequate!:)
I'm afraid to start twitter since I'm having such issues limiting my facebook time. Can't I just count on you to sort through the tweets and put all the important stuff on one of your blogs?? 🙂
Oh, Debra, that's what Jane Friedman's for! :-)http://blog.writersdigest.com/norules/2011/01/31/BestTweetsForWritersWeekEnding12811.aspx
That's a handy list indeed.I too have a love/hate relationship with FB and Twitter. I'm sure I'll cry if I add up the amount of time I waste everyday between those two.
Dry your tears, J.L. Think of it as marketing. Writers gotta market themselves, you know. Feel better now? 🙂