What’s all the fuss about Twitter?
Observant readers will have noted that they can now follow me on Twitter – just click on the link on the sidebar that says “Follow my Twitters.”
I’m a newcomer to this new thing called Twitter – though I can sense something of a little irony in it being called that. I’m an avid birder after all.
I recently read an article that explained a little more about what this fuss is all about. It’s called Twitter? It’s what you make it. Worth going over there to have a quick read.
I’m still experimenting in how to most effectively use it to enhance my writing. If you have any ideas, I’d appreciate a few comments.
Good writing.
Writing blog posts ahead
I try to write a new post for each of my three blogs every day.
I try – but have not always succeeded, especially in the last twelve months. While I have been studying for my Master of Arts in Creative Writing I have had to cut back drastically on the time I spend blogging. You can’t blog full time AND study full time; there are not enough hours in each day. Or to put it another way: I do need my sleep.
Two weeks ago I started back in my studies for this year. Over the summer break I worked hard at my blogging and wrote nearly 200 posts spread over my three blogs. Some of these have already appeared; most are scheduled to appear regularly over the coming months. My blogs are generally not time sensitive, so I can plan weeks and even months ahead, writing articles that will appear without any action from me. That will considerably ease my work load while I am studying. It will enable me to concentrate on my studies, especially writing my thesis paper – a forty thousand word novel.
I decided some time ago that I can only realistically post ahead three times a week, Monday, Wednesday and Friday. I will add extra posts in between as things arise that I wish to blog about. Knowing I have regular articles ready to appear is a great way to go in my opinion.
Good writing.
Related articles:
- Emergency posting of blog articles
- Writing a novel – read progress reports of how I went about writing a novel.
Blogging can make you a better writer
I haven’t written about blogging on this blog about writing for some time now. Of necessity my blogging activity has been rather limited over the last 12 months because of my studies. Getting my Master of Arts in Creative Writing has taken precedence over blogging. Despite that, my three blogs continue to tick along quite nicely.
In the previous 2 years I was blogging daily. In fact, I was almost a full time blogger, which kind of hindered my other writing. Writing an average of one article per blog per day over two years has had some interesting flow on effects on my general writing.
- I am now far more disciplined in my writing life, especially in the amount of writing done each day.
- I am far more productive, turning out far more words per day than ever before.
- I can write ‘on demand’ and rarely wait for inspiration. The act of writing generates its own inspiration and I can also write a lot faster with fewer mistakes.
- Searching for ideas for my writing is no longer a problem, because constant blogging generates a momentum of its own, with one article often generating many more.
- My writing skills have vastly improved. One of my lecturers commented many times that she can see that my blog writing has helped my other writing develop too.
- I have gained a great deal of satisfaction from the comments of readers and the interaction between readers.
There is no doubt in my mind that blogging can vastly improve your skills as a writer. I’m not the only one who thinks along these lines. Jenny Cromie has written an excellent article as a guest blogger on ProBlogger. It’s worth reading.
Good writing.
Making connections
Writing can be a rather lonely pursuit most of the time. The writer needs to fully concentrate on the task at hand and spend many hours alone getting words down on paper (or at least on the hard-drive). Seminars and conferences are fine for mixing with other writers, publishers and agents. If a writer becomes a conference junkie, or tries to attend every seminar, workshop or festival there is often little time left for the real work of being a writer.
The real work of being a writer – is writing. There is no easy way out. To write a 100,000 word novel, the writer has to write down or type every word. There is no easy path to success. It is a hard slog, and can be very lonely.
Blogging can be different
Writing a blog can be a quite different. One of the delights I have discovered with blogging is the sense of community that develops. On my three blogs I have a very real sense of a community of readers developing as the weeks go by. More and more people are coming to visit, to revisit, to comment and even start up conversations with me via email.
Making Connections
It is the connections we make with one another via our blogs that fascinate and excite me. In recent days I have have the delight of two significant blogs making a link with this blog, and writing some flattering comments about my blog on their blogs.
My special thanks to Rick and Anne. (Sorry – the link to Rick’s site no longer works.)
Related links:
- The Golden Pencil – Anne Wayman – the Freelance Writer’s Resource.
Updated November 2013.
Getting return visitors to your blog
Rick on his blog Shards of Consciousness has a post called “Three ways to get me back to your blog” where he highlights the importance of style of your blog. He says that light text on a dark background is a real put off for him. The text has to be very easy to read.
I agree.
If a blog or website has small white text on a black background I only stay a few seconds. If I don’t move on quickly, my eyes start to hurt badly. They’ve lost my attention.
Quite a discussion is happening on this topic on Rick’s site. Visit it here. (Sorry – the link no longer works.)
Updated November 2013.