I love to blog about books and writing. I do. And I love the amazingly warm and supportive writing community on Twitter, although when I’m writing or knee deep in the quicksand of (gulp) actual work, I have to resort to Tweeting vicariously through Google Reader.
I don’t totally love Facebook yet, and I’m mostly on it because my son went to college and he wants me to keep in touch with what he’s doing without having to repeat himself. (So yeah, I’m on Facebook because I raised an efficient kid. And oh, good, I just admitted that out loud.)
As much as I loved all this social networking though, until this weekend, there was something missing. All the time it takes up was time I used to spend reading newspapers–yes, Virginia, they DO still exist–or craft books. My craft book time has dwindled, and my newspaper reading has become nonexistent. I still devour actual book books as much as I can, but I find that it is reading nonfiction and looking at art and the world in general that opens my mind to perspectives, thoughts, and break-throughs. Without the random nonfiction fix I’d been getting through the newspaper, I felt like my brain wasn’t getting as much imagination fodder, and without that, I started to worry that my writing would eventually become dull and uninformed.
I needed a quick way to catch up with the stuff that feeds other areas of the brain: social issues, fashion trends, culture, news, scientific breakthroughs, etc. And then Tahereh Mafi introduced me to Tumblr.
Game chANging! Epically. Brilliant.
- Blogging gives me a chance to coalesce my thoughts about writing, craft, inspiration, the market, whatever. In the process of collecting the best articles for our Friday posts, I learn so much and stay on top of the publishing industry. Our Monday posts usually keep me up to date on new releases and what people are saying about them.
- Tweeting is a quick way to find new blogs, new writers, and connect with the writing community. It’s an amazing community. And if I need a pick me up, a kick in the ass, or whatever else, there is ALWAYS someone there to administer it. How cool is that?
- Facebooking lets me stay “friends” with my friends, connect on a personal basis.
- Tumblr exposes me to a stream of images and information as broad as I want to make it. While the information isn’t necessarily “deep”, I can dig deeper when something interests me, and meanwhile, I see all sorts of things that make me pause and think about the beauty and problems in the world at large.
I finally feel like I have a balanced diet of social media.
What about you? Are your thoughts Tumblred? No? Come on, what are you waiting for? Shake things up a little!
Happy social networking,








