Ellyn Oaksmith's Blog - Posts Tagged "twitter"
Twittering Away
I always feel an uneasy sense of guilt after I post a Tweet, which lingers about as long as it takes me to compose my next one. Which isn't long. Turns out I am obessed with being funny in increments. So the whole guilt and then do it again theme makes me realize that Twitter is a very Catholic medium. Or maybe it's only Catholics that feel guilty. Or just me.
Why, you might ask would one feel guilty about tweeting jokes? (Sample: When my daughter gets her driver's license I am joining 2 soccer leagues and making her drive me.) Because I was raised by people who taught their children that they weren't the most important people in the room. Sure, you could crack a well timed joke and yes, our family gatherings were a yell-fest but that didn't mean you had to yell louder than anyone else. Which is what Twitter feels like. Egotistical. Self-centered. Righteous.
Do I think that it's part of what is wrong with America? Heck no. Do I think our kids are slipping down a rabbit's hole of technology that will swallow them whole and make them into quivering wraiths with the attention span of coke snorting squirrels? Nope. (but that was super fun sentence to compose)
So why do I do Tweet? For one thing my agent, editor and Harper Collins encourage their authors to dive into social media until they are soaking wet. I haven't yet told them my theory that Twitter was invented by another writer who wanted to distract other writers from the competition.
Another reason is that it's fun. Turns out in my past life I was a joke writer. Not for Johnny Carson because I'm just not that good but maybe a lesser comedian. I can't name a lesser comedian because they weren't famous.
How to conclude this blog or essay or whatever the heck this little warm up to my fiction writing is called? Just to say that I love each one of you that take the time to read my Tweets, my Facebook posts, my Blog and God bless you if you buy my book -- (coming out on 2/12!!!) because you are the people I knew were out there when I was getting up at 5:00 am to write when I was the mother of toddlers, dreaming of the day that I would have the luxury of a real desk instead of the kitchen table. And the time to Tweet, blog and be a Real Writer. What I didn't know was back then I was a real writer. Very real. Okay, off to my day job.
Why, you might ask would one feel guilty about tweeting jokes? (Sample: When my daughter gets her driver's license I am joining 2 soccer leagues and making her drive me.) Because I was raised by people who taught their children that they weren't the most important people in the room. Sure, you could crack a well timed joke and yes, our family gatherings were a yell-fest but that didn't mean you had to yell louder than anyone else. Which is what Twitter feels like. Egotistical. Self-centered. Righteous.
Do I think that it's part of what is wrong with America? Heck no. Do I think our kids are slipping down a rabbit's hole of technology that will swallow them whole and make them into quivering wraiths with the attention span of coke snorting squirrels? Nope. (but that was super fun sentence to compose)
So why do I do Tweet? For one thing my agent, editor and Harper Collins encourage their authors to dive into social media until they are soaking wet. I haven't yet told them my theory that Twitter was invented by another writer who wanted to distract other writers from the competition.
Another reason is that it's fun. Turns out in my past life I was a joke writer. Not for Johnny Carson because I'm just not that good but maybe a lesser comedian. I can't name a lesser comedian because they weren't famous.
How to conclude this blog or essay or whatever the heck this little warm up to my fiction writing is called? Just to say that I love each one of you that take the time to read my Tweets, my Facebook posts, my Blog and God bless you if you buy my book -- (coming out on 2/12!!!) because you are the people I knew were out there when I was getting up at 5:00 am to write when I was the mother of toddlers, dreaming of the day that I would have the luxury of a real desk instead of the kitchen table. And the time to Tweet, blog and be a Real Writer. What I didn't know was back then I was a real writer. Very real. Okay, off to my day job.
