tweet, tweet

I’m a social media hermit.

Ask any of my friends and family on FB. It’s pathetic, really. I think everyone in the world was on FB—yes, even my own mother—before I finally decided to join. Actually, even then, I still didn’t decide to join—my mom basically gave me an ultimatum. She was sick of passing on messages to me from friends who wanted to tell me things (because apparently e-mail was too inconvenient) and she was tired of taking the photos I e-mailed her and putting them on FB. The thing is, I didn’t ask her to upload those photos, but her grandchildren do live halfway across the world and she is a grandmother, after all. So, I joined. It was overwhelming and weird and I hated it. I tried to post things on a somewhat regular basis mostly because my family and friends wanted to know that I was alive and well. But, now all that ever shows up on my feed is my Goodreads list.

BUT, after WriteOnCon last year, several of us created a private group on FB and now, it’s the only reason I’m on FB. At the end of last year, my critique group on FB continued to suggest contests on Twitter and links to pages on Tumblr. I could feel the palpitations rise. I just got used to FB and now I should join more social media sites? It wasn’t until I read an article promoting the campaign We Need Diverse Books that I realized there was a lot of good stuff going on, on Twitter.

I pushed aside my fear of hashtags and joined. Compared to FB, I found Twitter so much more user friendly and easier to navigate. It hasn’t just been the Twitter-only contests that’s kept me, it’s the conversations with other writers, authors, keeping tabs on agents and editors and, most recently the #MSWL that was trending yesterday.

Writing is mostly a solitary endeavor. I often forego coffee catch-ups with friends or even girls’ nights out because I’d rather be alone in those few hours I have without my kids to write. Twitter is an amazing way to keep in touch with current trends and help promote the conversations around books. I feel plugged in even when I’m alone writing.

You can follow me on Twitter at: @kwientge