On Tumbling for Tumblr

I've fallen in love with Tumblr.  Do you guys know about this thing?

In case you don't, it's another blogging platform (*looks around, shifty-eyed, for the Blogger Re-education Enforcement Agents*).  But here's the thing with Tumblr:  You can put up ANYTHING.  It's got built-in functions to make posting text, pictures, videos, quotes, links, chats, and audio as easy as clicking a couple of buttons.  You can e-mail things directly to your Tumblog without even logging into the thing.

And there are lots--I mean lots--of amazing Tumblogs to check out and follow.  There are Tumblogs with themes, like one I could weep over on a daily basis called Eat Sleep Breathe Dance, or the fascinating I Love Charts.  Others are whatever strikes a person's fancy, like The Monica Bird.

I've fallen for the ease of use, the amazing things to find and share around the Interwebz.  I love the search feature on the Dashboard, where you can type in any old thing and find someone, somewhere, who has posted something about it.

So, now I want to know:  Who else Tumbles?

You can find mine here, where I post about writing, funny stuff, beautiful stuff, my cousin and his rockin' accordian, and other fascinatin' rhythms.  Check it out.  And if you haven't tried Tumblr, might I suggest you put on your big girl panties and dive in?  It's not at all scary if you just take the first step off the diving board.

- Liz

An Interview? Me?

The lovely and talented Dorothy Dreyer was kind enough to interview me for her blog, We Do Write, where she interviews aspiring authors.

It was a ton of fun and I hope you'll take a moment to stop by.

Here's the link.

- Liz

You Should See My...

I think most writers have a tendency to self-efface. Maybe I'm a masochist, but I find it easier to receive constructive criticism than praise. Even to the extent that I don't believe people who only offer praise. ("Oh, she'll read anything," "They're just saying that so I'll read they're stuff.")

In my family, the tendency is practically a personality trait. Talent seems to flow like a river through my gene pool, and although none of us believe we ourselves are talented, we are more than willing to tell you about other people in the family.

So, today, that's what I'm going to do. (This sort of counts as More About Me Monday, right?) Okay, then.

I have at least three aunts or uncles, and one cousin who have supported themselves as freelance artists. The rest of them (and there are eight, including my mom) can only draw well enough to get scholarships to art programs, reproduce famous art flawlessly, or give you a Bart Simpson tattoo if the need arises. As any of them, and they'll say, "Yeah, but you should see my _________." Fill in the blank with your choice: brother, sister, nephew....

My mom is a seamstress extraordinaire. I could go on about the Halloween costumes and beautiful dresses she made me as a child, but the real proof is in the fact that she has made wedding dresses for about a dozen of the young women I know, mine included. You don't hand over your wedding dress to just anyone with a sewing machine.

My grandfather, my aunt, and another cousin are all poets so talented you'd wonder why they haven't been named editors of poetry journals--oh, except they'd never submit their work for that sort of thing, because they'll all tell you they aren't as good as __________. (Sidenote: one of them--I won't say who for his/her sanity's sake--has originated the Twitter trend #almostpoetry, in which s/he tweaks famous poetry for hilarious results. My attempts are not so hot, but if you want a good snort now and again, follow @borogroves)

All of which brings me to my point today: My cousin has started a blog and etsy store for her amazing paper crafts. Knowing full well that I could not and would not ever create a scrapbook for my son when he was born, she made me a blank scrap book that only required me to drop in the 4x6 photos. It was the hit of my baby shower, and I think these pictures will show you why:

** try not to be distracted by the cuteness of my son. I know, it's hard, but you're looking at the pages people!

She, however, is convinced that anyone's interest in her work could only be a sign of the coming apocalypse because she is so clearly not deserving of anyone's admiration. The way she sees it, her talent is about a -1 on the scale of 0-10, 0 being "can walk and chew gum at the same time" and 10 being "sings, dances, paints, writes poetry and does competent small engine repair."

This is my public objection to her self-depricating nonsense. Wanna help me? Heart her store, if you're an etsy shopkeeper, follow her blog if you're a frenzied parent, or follow her on Twitter if you're neither of those things.

And, in return, I promise not to pimp out my family to you anymore.

Do you, as a writer, or whatever you might be, suffer from "Yeah, But You Should See My _______" Disease, too?

- Liz

Link-a-Palooza

Today I'm offering a smorgasbord of links that might educate or entertain you. (And, by the way, I spelled smorgasbord correctly the first time. Must be my German blood.)

For Writers:

An outstanding blog by a fantastic reader about the disturbing trend of romanticizing bad relationships in YA books right now. That's right, Stephenie Meyer, I'm looking at you.

Why YA Romance Needs to Change

This Twitterati is the ultimate source for the latest information in the blogosphere. Everyday she posts links to everything useful. She does the work so I don't have to! Follow her now, trust me.

Elizabeth Craig

A compelling video that tells you how you can run your own ad on national TV (don't worry, it's not just on Fox News) for a very reasonable cost. Book trailers, anyone?

How I Ran My Ad on Fox News

In case I haven't mentioned this before, this site allows you to search for literary agents, create your own list and track the status of all your queries. Goodbye, awkward Excel document!

QueryTracker

For your entertainment:

The best of Norm from Cheers.

There are really no words for how weird this is, but I found myself grinning at it anyway.

The Llama Song

The title says it all.

A Dramatic Reading of a Break-Up Letter

A really fun video, especially if you're a music nerd like me, or happen to by married to one of those annoying musician types that can play any instrument and learn songs just by messing around on the piano or guitar. (Also me.)

The Axis of Awesome: Same Four Chords

My First Blog Award!

Yesterday, Jill over at Jill Kemerer, honored me with The Sunshine Award. Thanks Jill! I greedily put it on my blog already, but wanted to give the fabulous Steve Novak a full day to be the top item on my blog before I posted this. Sorry for the delay, Jill, and thanks again.

Rules to Accept the Award:

◦Put the logo on your blog in your post.
◦Pass the award onto 12 bloggers.
◦Link the nominees within your post.
◦Let the nominees know they have received this award by commenting on their blogs.
◦Share the love and link to the person from whom you received this award.

Nominees:

1. Jessie at JA Souders

2. Kristan at Writing Dreams into Reality

3. Mary at Mary Brebner, YA writer

4. MaryBeth at Keystrokes & Word Counts

5. Cassandra at C.A. Marshall

6. Kelly at Just Write

7. Megan at Megan Rebekah Blogs...and Writes

Yes, I'm aware that 7 is not 12. I know a handful of other bloggers who are more than deserving of all kinds of awards, but most of them would give me a raised eyebrow if I presented them with a flower, so they shall remain admired, but unawarded by me.

- Liz

How to Be Interesting, or Everything I Need to Know About Twitter I Learned from Maureen Johnson

The key to "getting" Twitter for me, was following people who already knew how to use it. And the person I learned the most from the fastest was Young Adult author Maureen Johnson (@maureenjohnson on Twitter). To be fair, there have been others who have taught me a lot (check out my Twitter list of people I'm following for some prime examples), but Ms. Johnson is a Twitter tour de force. So, here it is:

How to be Interesting

1. Tweet often. Not so often that we know your every potty break or bite of sandwich, please, but keep your followers curious about what you might be up to.

2. Don't be a Twitter Pimp. Don't use Twitter purely to promote yourself as an author (or whatever). Tweet about funny experiences, current events, other people's tweets, etc.

3. Share helpful information. Tweetdeck (and other platforms) are great for this, because they auto-shorten URLs. You can tweet about anything useful you stumble across that people with similar interests might like to know.

4. Share entertaining information. You can post photos, youtube videos, links...anything that gave you a good laugh is sure to do the same for someone else.

5. Don't be too vague. When you share information, be sure to include a line in your tweet about what your followers should expect. No one likes a mystery link.

6. Interact. With your followers and people you follow. Maureen Johnson is a pro at this. She takes time (almost) every day to let people ask her four questions. And then she posts the questions with her answers. Sometimes she'll give the Twitterverse a fill-in-the-blank just for funsies, too. Tweet to people you don't know, say thanks for any mentions you get from someone else. Join the party!

7. Use hashtags. You never know who might be following a designated #hashtag and will want to comment on something you've said. Plus, they can be funny. I loves me some funny.

8. Be yourself. It's hard to take off our protective armor and let it all hang out with a bunch of strangers, but in the end, you're an adorable, likeable person. Be you and you'll find people who like that sort of thing.

- Liz

Any other suggestions for Twitter Happiness?

Field Guide to Twitter

I was one of many who didn't "get" Twitter. I signed up for an account ages ago, and I think I Tweeted (posted messages) all of three times before I let the account atrophy. Then, thanks to my friend JA Souders, I had my come-to-Jesus moment with all this social networking stuff and started on the road to having a web-presence of my very own. It started with a website and a Facebook fanpage, but I knew I was going to have to come to terms with Twitter.

My instinct was to say "I don't wanna!" and stamp my feet like a child. And as Nathan Bransford so effectively said, you should only do what works for you as a writer when it comes to using social networking. On the other hand, it's rare for me to think that I might not be able to figure something out (Unless there's a ball involved. I don't do sports involving balls.) (Get your mind out of the gutter.)

I started with the lazy girl method (remember my Excessive Grooviness Disorder?) by linking my Facebook fanpage to my Twitter account so anything I posted on FB would automatically post to Twitter. But, I wasn't getting any followers and I still didn't feel like I "got it." So, what does any geeky writer do in her time of need? Google, my friend, we google. And I read every article, wiki and blog about Twitter I could stand. (Okay, maybe, like five.)

In the end, there’s not teacher like experience, and after some time in the Tweeting trenches, I’ve learned a lot.

I now present to you my…

FIELD GUIDE TO TWITTER

Tweet - a message posted to Twitter, also the act of posting a message to Twitter (i.e. "I'm tweeting this!") Limited to 140 characters. You can include links to websites, pictures, youtube...whatever strikes your fancy.

Retweet - when someone else has something funny or interesting to say, you can Retweet their message to all of your followers.

@messages - are messages directed to, or mentioning another Twitter user. The reason for doing it is so the other person gets the message directly on their feed (highlighted in one of a million ways depending on the platform you're using). You can send an @message to anyone, even someone who you're not following, or who doesn't follow you.

direct messages - on the other hand, can only be sent between people who follow each other. They don't appear on the main feed of Twitter, and no one else can see them.

Following – a form of socially acceptable stalking. You can follow anyone you like and they can’t really stop you. This doesn’t mean you should be obnoxious and send direct messages all the time and think it means you’re now “friends,” but it’s a great way to stand on the fringes of an interest group and gain information by osmosis.

Tweetchat.com - is a site that allows you to enter a #hashtag of your choice and follow a constantly updating scroll of everyone who is using that #hashtag. So, if you're looking for people who share your interest in something, this might be a good place to troll (like fishing, not like the creatures that live under bridges). It's also used to conduct scheduled chatroom-like discussions among groups with shared interests. Like, every Wednesday at 9pm EST, entering #YAlitchat will bring you a tidal wave of writers all tweeting about the same pre-decided topic related to Young Adult literature, writing and publication.

Tweetdeck - a little program that can sit on your desktop. It's very customizable, so you can view your account in columns. You can set up different groups for each column, or designate one for direct messages and @messages to you. You can also send Tweets from here. It's got bit.ly built into it, so any website you want to share will automatically get clipped into a short URL that eats up less of your 140 characters.

Twitteriffic - is just one of the many iPod or iPhone apps that acts as a Twitter client. The major downfall of this one is the inability to retweet from the app.

#hashtags - are small phrases placed in your message to help identify your topic. Examples would be during the Oscars, you will find lots of people putting #oscars in their messages which means other people can search the hashtag and find out who's saying what.

I don't know who started the trend, although it certainly could be Maureen Johnson, but hashtags are also used as funny asides in your own messages. You just never know when one of the #hashtags you create will be picked up by others. For example, if I wanted to tweet about this blog post, I could say:

“I just wrote a FIELD GUIDE TO TWITTER on my blog #thisneedsthememusic”

Some #hashtags I find useful - #amwriting, #pubtip, #YAlitchat, #askagent

In my next blog, I'm going to talk about what makes someone a good Twitter user. In other words, what the heck do I tweet about?

Did I miss anything? Feel free to leave suggestions or questions in the comments section. I can always put out a second edition. You know how I love to “listen” to myself “talk.”

- Liz

Putting Myself Out There

This week, I created a Fan Page for myself at Facebook, and started a Twitter account. It’s a strange feeling to be promoting myself like this. I’ve gotten used to have a small following at my display site, but these are my first steps outside of the protective bubble of that site. So far, I have sixteen fans, and I sincerely hope to grow that number this week.

As a writer, I have struggled to share my work with people out of--what? Fear I guess. Fear that people won’t like it, that they’ll think I’m foolish for wanting to be a writer, or wanting to be published. But, the reality is, writing for myself just isn’t that fun. If my writing never finds another audience, I won’t stop--I can’t, I love it too much. But let’s face it, every writer dreams of seeing their name in print.

In the information age, part of the skills set of a writer is to have an on-line presence. And, I’m very serious about doing this on a professional level, so here I am. It’s been a liberating and a terrifying experience to have people find out what I’ve been doing with all my free time, but the response has been overwhelmingly positive. It just goes to show that the boogeyman is rarely anything more than a pair of pants draped over the back of your chair, or a trick of light. My worries about the opinions of my family and friends have turned out to be illusion.

I’ve been thinking I should use this blog to do something more than spill the contents of my brain on the web. My friend Jessie uses hers to talk about the process of writing. So, starting next week, I’m going to work on sharing a bit of my process with you. Hopefully, it will be interesting at least and helpful at best. If anyone out there is a writer, or would like to be, I hope you’ll be able to find something thought-provoking or useful as we delve into this area together.

Stay tuned.