Tweet! The Evolution of a Twit

Before this writing journey, I thought a twit was one of those Monty Python village idiots that gambol about falling all over themselves. Little did I know that, thanks to DartFrog and marketing expert extraodinaire Suanne Laqueur (yes, I’m blaming you for this, Suanne!) I would become a full-fledged twit.

I was always afraid of Twitter. I had friends who tweeted, but the thought of putting my thoughts out there for total strangers to see and comment on was terrifying. But I’m no quitter, so I made myself a Twitter account and started following a few people. Celebrities, my colleague who tweeted, and my brother. Guess which two followed me back?

And I never, ever tweeted, not even to those two. I mean, what if Donald Trump found me on there and called me nasty names? Augggh, the horror!

Then along came Suanne, who told me an author needs Twitter. She grabbed me by the throat and threw me into the Twitterverse (kicking and screaming).

And I felt like an astronaut who has set foot on a brand new planet. I made a new account, a profile with my website and all those other social media sites I had added to my pedigree, and dogged my brother for details on how to tweet properly. Thanks, Joel.

In my journey, I discovered that if you follow other authors, they’ll gladly follow you back. They’ll offer you their books and inquire about yours. They’ll retweet your launch information so that hundreds of people see your book.

A word of advice: don’t follow celebrities, unless you went to high school with them and they remember you fondly. They won’t follow you back. (Of course you might like to see that your favorite author is tweeting constantly when you wish she would work on her next book so you could read it before you die. She doesn’t care what you think. Okay, rant over.)

I discovered theme-based sites that offered writers the opportunity to share their words in 280 characters (it used to be 144, we’re evolving). Sites like #1linewed, where you can share a snippet of a WIP that is based on a theme or prompt. #vss365 means “Very short story every single day of the year”, and also gives a prompt. There are many–I’ve offered a link below to more.

And the gifs! Twitter is a paradise for people who think they’re funny, like me. I use a gif (you all text, you know what a gif is) for nearly every tweet, and I promise you I’m not the only twit who’s impressed.

That’s the good stuff. But of course, no social media site is without its issues. I was told to follow everyone who followed me. Don’t, and this is why:

I began to get DM, or direct messages, like private messages on Facebook. They all started out innocently with “Hi.” Well, that’s nice, isn’t it? Then they’d follow with “I saw your profile picture, and you’re beautiful. “I think we could be best friends.” And my all-time favorite: “I’ve been a widower for twelve years and I feel a connection.” I’m a bit slow, but they began to feel creepy. I didn’t want to hurt anybody’s feelings, though. Until I did.

I found out, from another author, that most of these “people” are bots, or robot callers who just troll for information. Some of them are just creeps. I was told to watch for profiles that said “single with a lot of love to give.” Well duh, that one I figured out on my own. But here’s a key message that may help another new twit: watch for names (handles, if you will) that end in eight digits. They’re very often bots. Not always, of course. They’re generated by Twitter automatically. I looked back at my original Twitter account, and–what do you know?–it had eight numbers as part of the handle! But nearly every single DM creeper had those eight numbers, so it’s a thing.

I started paying attention, and a miracle happened. I stopped getting creepy DM’s almost completely! The sun came out again and all was well in my corner of the Twitterverse.

I still have a long way to go toward being a graduate twit, but I’m getting there. And if anyone wants to share or ask questions with the understanding that I might not have a clue how to help, feel free to comment or email me at mackinnonauthor@gmail.com.

Around the Site

Check out August’s Author in the Spotlight, Evie Haskell. She is currently putting the finishing touches on her soon-to-be-released novel, Harbinger. Here’s a review from her own website: “Fun read!  Wonderful tech mystery that threads its way from today’s corporate world through nature to a multiverse presence.”
– Nancy Allen

For the Spotlight, Evie has shared a wonderful short story that will be featured in an anthology this fall. You may be the first non-beta humans to read it!

Links for Writers

Our links today are all appropriately Twitter-related:

The Beginner’s Guide to Twitter: https://mashable.com/2012/06/05/twitter-for-beginners/ What to Tweet: https://business.twitter.com/en/basics/what-to-tweet.html Twitter Fun: Writing Games for Every Day of the Week: https://blackwolfeditorial.com/2016/06/21/twitter-fun-writing-games-for-every-day-of-the-week/ Twitter for Dummies Cheat Sheet: https://www.dummies.com/social-media/twitter/twitter-for-dummies-cheat-sheet This Guy’s Tweets Are Probably The Funniest Thing On Twitter Right Now: https://www.boredpanda.com/funny-tweets-jeff-wysaski-pleated-jeans-obvious-plant/?utm_source=search.yahoo&utm_medium=referral&utm_campaign=organic

https://www.dummies.com/social-media/twitter/twitter-for-dummies-cheat-sheet/

https://www.boredpanda.com/funny-tweets-jeff-wysaski-pleated-jeans-obvious-plant/?utm_source=search.yahoo&utm_medium=referral&utm_campaign=organic

M MacKinnon’s World

I’m back in the workshop! The Write Practice writer’s workshop is where I got my start with The Comyn’s Curse, and now I’m workshopping The Healer’s Legacy, the last book in the Highland Spirits series.

The unselfish writers in the workshop gave me the courage to press on toward publication, celebrated the book when it came out, and bought and reviewed it. Along the way they became dear friends. I owe them so much, so this is a shoutout to my fellow WP authors. You know who you are! And if you’re just getting started, check out The Write Practice writing community. It might make all the difference for you too.

Leave ‘Em Laughing

To carry on the theme for this newsletter, here’s your bit of humor. Have a great day!