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

On the sticky subject of book reviewing

Last night, I noticed a few comments on Twitter that were part of a larger #querychat.  I don't know how it came up, or what the other commenters had to say, but literary agent Jill Corcoran made her case for not reviewing books on-line.

She discourages her clients from reviewing books on their blogs (I don't know about Goodreads) because she believes it serves no purpose except as a possible liability.  Namely, if you don't like a book and you review it badly, and your book goes on sub to the publisher of that book, and the editor happens across your blog, what are they going to think about taking you on as a new writer?

It's a fair point.

And now it's got me wondering.  Should I be posting reviews on Goodreads?  Anywhere?  A while back, I turned myself in knots over posting a negative review of a book anonymously.  I know what goes into writing a book.  Crawling through the slushpile of countless agents.  Refining, refining, refining your manuscript.  Clawing your way onto the desk of an editor.  Getting the attention of a reader from the shelves of a bookstore or library.  The odds are incredible.  So, who am I, really, to say whether a book was good or not?

Certainly I'm entitled to my opinion.  Even the most popular books/movies/songs/fashions/what have you don't resonate with everyone.  But does it matter if I share that opinion?  

I'm not going to digress into a tirade about the Internet making everyone feel entitled, blah blah blah.  I'm blogging for God's sake, that would be nothing but flinging stones from the front porch of my glass house.

But it does make me wonder...

In the end, what is the benefit of posting book reviews?

- Liz

I Am Thankful For... (Writer's Edition)

1.  My family

2.  My friends

3.  The fact that my mind remains 

intact even while my body is being insane

4.  Good books

5.  The ability to read them

6.  The fact that my high school 

required me to learn touch-typing

7.  My laptop

8.  The wonderful people I have met 

through blogging and Twitter

9.  My crit group, The Inkslingers

10.  My amazing, incomparable beta readers

What are you thankful for?

- Liz

Twitter Is...

         

a C.B. radio

a bathroom wall

a confessional

an ad hoc psychiatrist

the hive mind

the lazy man's research tool

a note passed in class

the margins of your notebook

a waiting room

a news channel

a suggestion box

the complaint department

a whisper in the dark

a giggle in Church

the echo off a canyon wall

a booster club

addicting

What did I miss?

- Liz

Rumors of My Death Have Been Greatly Exaggerated

I've been MIA, AWOL and incommunicado on most fronts for quite some time. The main reason is that I've been finishing a major revision on my project The Sorbet Guy. (There have been a few Teaser Tuesdays featuring these revisions.) I'm mostly done now, just doing a final run-through with notes from my critique partners, but that work is easier and lets me venture out of my Fortress of Solitude.

Over the next few weeks, I'm going to share some of the things I did and learned during this rewrite. Maybe there will be something in it for you, maybe not, but consider it's all I've been up to, I feel the need to put it out there.

I'm also about to get back in the query saddle again, and I'll give you all updates on how that goes as well. Fingers crossed for requests galore.

So, I thank you all for your patience with me of late, as I have been a terrible blog reader as well. And a Twitter has-been. I hope to get back to it all with a bit of moderation. Writing will stay my number one priority, but I miss the community, so I'll be around. Promise.

- Liz

A New Critique Contest

C.A. Marshall is hosting a contest at her blog for a critique of the first ten pages of her manuscript. Easy rules to follow and a new source of great information and entertainment.

Check out her contest here.

She also mentions a great service I was previously unaware of in the post for this blog. A service that gives you books to read in exchange for reviews! A great idea for voracious readers who would read their way through the budget of a small country in a year.

Good luck in the contest!

- 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