Monday, April 26, 2010

Birds Do It

This book was fun to write--my first foray into non-fantasy romance. The story came about partially because everyone in my critique group at the time had characters with the same names--Logan, Mollie, Rachelle. So of course, I had to join them in using those names. 

The title, of course, comes from the song... so let's fall in love!


Thursday, April 22, 2010

TWITTERING MY LIFE AWAY?

follow_bird-a Twitter. Facebook. LinkedIn.

As a very SOCIAL person, the lure of social media is a lot like the mythical “siren’s song” for me. The attraction is just TOO MUCH to resist – but the time investment when I succumb can easily sink my writing “ship.”

Okay… enough fanciful analogies. What I really want to share is that I had a BREAKTHROUGH regarding social media this weekend.

I attended the Nebraska Writer’s Guild’s Spring Conference at Mahoney Park this weekend where author and social media maven Jill Hart taught us how to use social media effectively.

One of the biggest takeaways from Jill’s talk was her explanation of the differences between the social media. She said Twitter is a media that moves REALLY fast. This is for people who like instant, ongoing conversations with their “followers.” Facebook is more relational – and can be done at your own pace. And LinkedIn is more about business networking.

j0378554Of course… I had already signed up for all three networks (plus a couple others – NING and ShoutLife). The problem was that I rarely updated my pages. Too much “fun” – too little time.

Jill helped me to understand that Facebook is my best bet because I am all about relationships. Plus… at my age… I don’t like to be rushed – so Twitter is not a good choice. And I left the corporate world for a reason – and have no desire to return to it via LinkedIn.

It’s also interesting to note that Facebook has been the one social network I’ve updated the most the past year because it’s such fun for a chatty chick like me. : )

BTW – Jill also told us that you can automatically update Twitter whenever you post to FB. I just need to figure out how…

Jill – if you get this on Google alerts.. please chime in!