Twittery for Writers

Posted on March 31, 2009. Filed under: blogs |

A couple of months ago, when my blogging mentors recommended that we bloggers-in-training join Twitter, I signed up with doubts.

It’s for kids.
It’s for kids who text on Blackberries.
It’s a time suck.
“What I’m doing” is nobody’s beeswax!

It’s where “posts” are “Tweets.” And I’m a “Tweeple” identified with an @ sign in front of my name. And I have all of 140 characters to make a statement.

That includes spaces and punctuation.

When I posted about a neat marketing book I’d read on the train home from NYC, I was dumbfounded when the author started “following me” (signed up for my feeds.)

Come to find out, you don’t have to have a cell phone that texts to use Twitter, you can do it over the Web.

I see people my age on there, and some are fellow writers.

It’s not a time suck, as long as I use some common sense. I may Tweet three times in a day. Sometimes, I even have mini-conversations with some of my Tweeple. I also post my latest additions to The Horsey Set Net. (I’ve got a few horse Tweeple.)

And I’m careful about what I Tweet about. Nothing truly personal that I’d blush about. But Twitter is not just about “what you are doing,” but what you are thinking. What you find interesting and want to share.

And some people have been tweeting about needing a good book to read.