Random Stream (of Consciousness) - Politics

I was looking at my Twitter feed earlier today. As I scrolled through my profile, I realized that many of my tweets are retweets of political information. Not long ago it seemed I'd reached some kind of milestone when I was called a "liberal Progressive turd" in response to one of my more widely viewed comments.

Pre-Through the Fairy Ring, I kept my political opinions to myself. I didn't want to offend anyone (meaning readers) who might have views different from my own. It didn't feel as if my voice on such things was important, anyway, because I have always lived in very conservative states and my puny liberal voice doesn't carry much weight in politics.

I started writing Through the Fairy Ring during the election cycle of the 2012 election. I was disillusioned with politics in general and decided to explore the theme of leadership as part of Hazel's continuing story. When I'd written the book I'd tried to think of the worst a leader could do to demonstrate their self-centered and power-hungry ambitions. I am dismayed at how similar current events are to my story.

Part of the story is Hazel learning to have a voice and speak up for those without a voice; learning that people can do many crazy things for power and because of greed, but then standing up for what is just and loving, solely because it is the right thing to do. I can't say whether I successfully accomplished my goals or not, but I do know after the 2016 elections, I can't keep silent about my beliefs. I may offend some people (obviously I did the guy who called me a liberal turd - or he was a bot, in which case I'm rather proud), but sometimes you have to stand up for what is right, regardless of what other people may think. Being silent is being complicit.

I also have begun participating more in our political processes. I'm teaching my children about advocacy and encourage them to speak up for people who have no voice. We even attended a political rally in Omaha as a family.

I try to moderate what I retweet on Twitter. I try to ensure what I share is reputable and not a bot-made inflammatory meme. I try to include light-hearted posts and retweets too. I try to keep my posts level headed and not emotionally charged. When scrolling through the feed, it's a weird eclectic mix, but it's the things I worry about and want others who may look at my timeline to know. And then some humor to try to lighten things up, because daaaang!! I swear the world has gone dark and crazy. We have to try to have some balance, right?

I don't really have a way to end this post. I was busy the last couple of nights being a mom and am falling asleep writing this, so I guess I'll just say "the end." 

Do you share your views on the world at large on social media? Why or why not?

What Social Media Should I Keep (or Do People Even Blog Anymore?)

Many years ago I read how writers need a social media presence and I jumped in one hundred percent. I joined Facebook, Twitter, Linked In, Google+, Wattpad, probably a ton of others I don't even remember now, set up this blog, set up a website and promptly felt overwhelmed. I wasn't going to give up, though. If social media was what I had to do to be successful, than I was going to do my best!

Fast forward to today, and a lot has changed in my life, and to my perspective on writing. I've learned to view my writing "career" as a journey and while I'm on this journey I better be enjoying myself or I won't keep going. There has to be a balance between ambition and acceptance, or I end up with paralyzing anxiety that prevents me from writing.

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I have been evaluating all of my social media accounts and trying to decide which are worth spending time on and which I should let go of, because I don't have time for writing, cultivating all the social media accounts I've developed in the past and living the rest of my life.

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Part of why I wanted to resurrect this blog site is because I miss the ability to connect with people. Blogging seems to allow the most opportunities to share full thoughts and ideas and have a decent discussion (if others will engage, of course.) Some of the friends I made blogging are the ones who are still talking with me today, and are the biggest support to me as a writer. 

On Twitter I see so many new writers looking for connections, for someone to talk to about their experiences and so excited about their beginning writer's journey. While I'm not some amazingly published writer who meets the standard measures of writing success, I would still like to be able to offer, through this blog, a place for people to find inspiration and motivation along their way.


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Twitter happens to be the social media site I have maintained over the last several years, because it is where I found some real friends whom I am very fond of. We bonded over Shakespeare and I can't imagine not checking in and seeing how everyone is doing. The nature of tweeting is to be short and sweet, and this is a plus. It's a good way to connect with lots of people in a shorter amount of time. Now if only it would stop being so angry over there!

After all the issues we've learned over the past two years regarding Facebook and privacy violations, I don't really spend a lot of time over there. I do maintain my author page, though, and try to post periodically. I view Facebook more as a delivery system than a place to cultivate relationships.

I am planning on closing my Wattpad account. I haven't been successful over there since Finding Meara released and I think the only reason the release went as good as it did was because of the family and friends who gave it the first boost so it was actually visible. I don't have the time now to devote to developing a reader base on Wattpad and write new stuff, too. It's kind of like when your hair gets too long and you need a trim. Wattpad is a place I feel I can trim and not miss anything.


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Please keep in mind, though, that the main point of this post is that I am making my decisions based off what I feel fits my desires and needs best. I'm not pushing myself into a cookie cutter design of social media presence just to make sure my bases are covered. I'm designing my social media presence around how I think I'll get the most enjoyment in the process and offer the most to my potential readers. 

And finally, just because I don't think a site works for me doesn't mean it won't work for you!! That's between you and your own personal journey. I wish you the best of luck with finding what makes the best sense to you and will give you the most satisfaction.

Have a great week!

What does your social media presence look like? Have you been more active in the past, or are you just starting out in the social media maze?

Squirrel!! Post: Can You Be Too Social On Social Media?

Today's post is supposed to be Theme Park, but I'm not feeling very thematic, so I thought I'd post about a writer's frenemy, social media.

As all writers know, we are encouraged to build "author platforms" on as many social media sites as possible. For the introvert and the socially awkward, this can be exceedingly painful.

I've taken the Myers-Briggs Personality test, and at one time had a 50/50 split in introvert and extrovert. As I've grown older, I've slid more to the introvert side, but I still enjoy talking with and meeting new people. It's even better when I meet people who have the same interests I do, and that's the wonderful thing about social media. We are able to connect with people who are like us - for me it's people you might find at a Comic-Con or library event - but we don't have to go anywhere.

Photo courtesy of freedigitalphotos.net

The bad thing is that if you're socially awkward, social media can lead to Social Media Distress (SMD). SMD is the feeling that you're an idiot, have no right to interact with other people on any level, that everyone hates you and you should go eat worms.

I have identified three recurring ways I can be afflicted with Social Media Distress. 

1. Where is everybody?

The feeling you are being social on social media to only yourself. I hate that feeling! Just by joining social media sites you are putting yourself out there to be ignored. Any insecurity you've ever had is magnified the moment you send your tweet or publish your post. It's like being the new kid in school, approaching the popular kids in class, and having them turn away from you.

2. Comment Diarrhea

I'm very talkative. I've had a therapist friend explain that I'm an "external processor" and I think he's right. I have to say "it" to process it and get it out of my head. It's probably why I'm a writer. However, I've had people be unkind about my inability to shut up. I've worked quite hard at learning to read bodily cues so I know when to stop. But, guess what?

You have nothing to help you out on social media. I can't see you! I don't know if your tone of voice is going "For God's sake, why doesn't she quit tweeting me!" I have no idea if I'm coming across as friendly, like some maniacal stalker, or, if I don't tweet back, as some arrogant jerk. Couple that with an Italian Grandmother who drilled it into me that we must be mannerly (How in God's name does one end a twitter conversation without being rude?), and social media conversations can totally set off an anxiety attack.

The sad thing? I love, love, love talking with people on twitter. I've met some really interesting people, but I don't want to freak anyone out by being too friendly. Does anyone know of some kind of cue people give to let you know you don't have to respond?

3. I Really Shouldn't Have Said/Done That

A past employer said I'm guileless. Many people who know me agree, and while that's a lovely trait to have, it also means that I don't have a good filter for what should remain unsaid. Add in being an external processor, and I have trouble, with a capital T.

I know enough to not talk about the hot button topics. It's more a matter of personal transparency and self-expression. Like, I express myself poorly, and make a fool of myself doing it. The moment after I push the publish button, I usually have a flood of thoughts like: "What did I just do?" "How stupid did I just sound?" "Is anyone ever going to be able to take me seriously again?"

For me, Social Media Distress occurs because I feel misunderstood. I'm really not a maniacal stalker, idiot, or arrogant jerk. Thankfully I am not important enough for people to really get uptight, but one misstep on social media for famous people and they can really be in trouble, which I don't think is very fair.

It's taken some time to figure out how I want to use social media to augment my personal and professional life. I've focused on a few sites for different purposes, instead of trying out every site for every purpose. I've tried to relax my personal and professional expectations for social media interactions. I'm learning how to enjoy social media, instead of letting it stress me out. And, amazingly, it's working.

Do you ever get Social Media Distress?

Do you have any tricks that helped you get over it?

Funny Friday Photos

Happy Friday! I hope everyone had a lovely New Years. My entire past two weeks has been a lot of social media creation, editing, and family time. I have a lot of family memories, a new website, Goodreads Author page, and a brand-spankin' new Facebook Fan Page now. If you'd like to see my Facebook page, just click the link! 

We won't discuss the editing, although I've gotten a lot done on it. I just have so much more to do. Thank God for wonderful critiquers who catch all my errors!

Another huge thanks to the many fabulous friends who visited and/or liked any and all social media pages. I have a history of having parties no one comes to, and so I made all these social media sites with much fear and trepidation. It means more to me than anyone can know that people are willing to click that little button and be a part of my writing community.

I neglected to pick a winner for Briane Pagle's book, Up So Down and plan to fix that right now! Diane Carlisle is our winner. Yay! I'll be getting in contact with you this weekend about claiming your prize. On to the photos!

Last week's winner is - Dog Threat!

Here's the new ones!

Our cocker spaniel used to look like that in winter.

There is something ominous about deer. Bambi they are not.

Arrrgh.

That's small compared to the spiders I saw in Costa Rica. The Amazon grows things BIG!

Not quite as cute as John Cusak. Oh, okay. Cuter. :)

This is practically blasphemous, but it really cracked me up!

I think my favorite this week is the snowball dog. 

Which is yours? What's up for you this weekend?

The Relationships of Writing - Part 2

Photo by kramkathrog/freedigitalphotos

Having joined the My Name Is Not Bob Platform Building Challenge, I've been thinking a lot about social media relationships. There seems to be two arguments going around the web.  On the one hand, writers are called to support each other and social media is all about "friends", "followers" and "tribes."  On the other hand, the legitimacy of these relationships are questioned as fake.

Personally, I don't know why it has to be an either/or kind of argument.  It seems to me that the relationships we make on the internet are what they are, no more, no less.

Although we might like the idea of writing being solitary, it has always required relationships and partnerships. A writer has always had a relationship with the reader.  Whenever I read autobiographical accounts of writers, it seems like they also had relationships (friendships) with each other.  And then they had to have relationships with their publishers and agents.

I can't imagine that writers of the past (pre-internet and pre-social media) had close relationships with all these people. The relationship depended on the need for the interaction, and probably the length of the relationship, as well.  Why isn't it the same for social media?

Just because we call someone a friend doesn't mean they are in the same category as the person we've known since kindergarten.  We define our relationships.  We make them important or not.

Social media is an introduction, an entry point for making a connection with someone else.  What level of connection is up to us to decide, no different from "real life."

I view writer's relationships with each other as similar to being on an Olympic team.  Sometimes Olympic athletes compete against each other, but they are still working for the greater good of the whole team.  We are Team Writer, and it is the nature of the business to compete against each other.  However, we can certainly have good sportsmanship.  We can help each other get better, we can make those connections, and share our success with others.

Does it have to mean we are BFF's and inexorably linked until the end of time?

No.  Not unless we want it to.

Our internet relationships are what they are.  They are a unique-unto-themselves type of relationship.  They may come and go quickly, because we don't see each other face to face.  They may lead to longer and stronger friendships, or to business partnerships.  It depends on the people behind the keyboard, and the connection that is made.

Embarrassment by Twitter

The Easily Flushed Blog Hop, hosted by  Cassie Mae at Reading, Writing and Lovin' It, begins on December 6th.  She is hosting the blog hop to celebrate attracting over one-hundred followers on her blog (Yay, Cassie!) and then also will be giving away a $10 Amazon gift-card to a lucky participant of the blog-hop.  Click here to learn the details of how to participate in the hop, or to go ahead and register your blog.  You can also click the picture of the embarrassed polar bear.

One of the participation requirements of this blog hop is to share an embarrassing story of yourself, or of one of your characters.  Initially I had planned to write about the heroine of my novel, Hazel, but I don't think it would translate well out of context, so you will all have to settle for my own story.

This is where it gets hard, though.  You see, embarrassment is a way of life for me.  It is so much a way of life that I have stopped getting upset over the typical, run of the mill embarrassing situations.  I regularly say the wrong thing, trip over my words, or just plain trip, for that matter.  I have learned how to mentally wave it off, make a joke of it, or to take preventative measures by keeping my mouth shut in most social situations.

I have moved my embarrassment into new and different realms.  Twitter, Facebook and even blogging provides a whole new arena in which I have no choice but to open my mouth, into which I unfortunately end up inserting my foot.  I try very hard to think about how what I say might sound to the receiver, but every once in a while a poorly turned phrase slips past my carefully constructed defenses.
A couple of weeks after I started tweeting, I encountered an author by the name of Colin Falconer.  He has written more than thirty books, writes historical fiction, and lives in Australia.  His blog is Looking for Mr. Goodstory, and I recommend checking it out because his posts always make me laugh or make me think.  On Twitter he was one of very few people who followed me early on, and I enjoyed the links he posted about history.  One of those links was to a web article about the Romans. 

I laughed, I cried... Well, not really, but I did enjoy the article.  I tweeted back to Mr. Falconer that "I especially enjoyed number one."   

Number one is an extremely vulgar, sexual poem that Catullus the XVI wrote in first century Rome. It was only after I hit send that it occurred to me that I had just commented to a man I barely knew that I had "especially" enjoyed a poem with explicit sexual content.  Granted, I certainly didn't enjoy it for the sexual content.  The sexual content is so over the top that it totally cracked me up, which is why I tweeted that I "especially" enjoyed number one.  It made me laugh.  However, Mr. Falconer wouldn't know that from the tweet, and neither would the hundreds of his other followers since I had replied in such a way that everyone could read it.  I felt a little sick, I must admit.  Here I am trying to build a platform, and I start off by looking like a pervert.

I was so embarrassed that I couldn't even talk to anyone about what to do to repair the situation.  I couldn't tell my husband, who is my social filter much of the time, what I had done.  It wasn't that he'd be mad, but he'd be embarrassed for me, which would heap burning coals upon my own embarrassment.

I decided to direct message an apology.  I am happy to say that Mr. Falconer was quite gracious, for which he earned my undying loyalty on Twitter.  Since that incident, I am extremely careful about what I say in my one hundred forty characters.  I also stick to G-rated retweets, no matter how funny I find those with a rating further down the alphabet!

Do you have an embarrassing twitter story you would like to share?  Feel free to do so in the comments section!