Last week we talked about using Facebook for writers. This week, we’re going to dive into Twitter.

Full disclosure, I actually kind of love Twitter. I use it personally, not just professionally. I keep up with my friends, favorite celebrities, fellow writers and a few news resources. It’s amazing what can be shared in 144 characters. It’s built for haikus. I should post more haikus on Twitter.

Anyway, Twitter is a lot of fun is what I’m saying. It’s also a great way to stay on your reader’s radar. Twitter is the third highest referrer to Paper Beats World, if you were wondering.

Using Twitter

Twitter is pretty straightforward. Much like Facebook you can post whatever you want so long as it’s 144 characters. You can also post links to other media content like blog posts and Youtube posts. Can you post long insane paragraphs of your innermost thoughts? No, not at all. Honestly, that’s some of the appeal of Twitter for me. I can run right through a ton of information in a very small amount of time.

Hashtags

The big thing with Twitter is the hashtags. You can use them to search for different topics or keep track of a discussion. They’re exceptionally easy to use, if you’re nervous. You just type them into your post. For instance, if I write a tweet about writing, I’ll add #amwriting a the end of my post. Or if I post about something science fictiony, I’ll use #scifi. You can even make up your own hashtags. On the left hand side of the screen you can always see what the top trending hashtags are.

Tweeting at someone

You can tweet something directly at someone, really anyone. This pretty much guarantees that anyone can harass any celebrity at any time. But it’s also a big way that I communicate with people online. You can encourage your readers to tweet at you, and tweet back. All you need to do is take someone’s twitter name, and put an @ symbol in front of it.. Let’s say, for instance, you want to tweet me. Somewhere in your tweet, you type @NicoleCLuttrell and it will come right to me.

What to post

Like with Facebook, you can post links to your blog posts. Again, on WordPress, you can set it up to automatically post a link.

Beyond that, Twitter is mostly used for quick thoughts, jokes and comments. I love writing super short horror stories, and I’m actually not the only one who does that.

You can also retweet things that other people have been tweeted. The original tweeter gets credit, of course.

Honestly, though, the best way to learn about Twitter is to jump on and just read a bunch of tweets. The great thing is, it won’t take a lot of time.

If you have any questions about Twitter, feel free to ask in the comment section. Next week we’ll be talking about my favorite Social Media platform, Pintrest.

While looking through the YMCA catalog for the new year, I said to my darling husband, “Hey, do you think the kids would want to play volleyball in the spring? My younger daughter, who I hadn’t even realized was listening, leaned over the back of the couch and said, “You have my attention.”

My darling husband was going on about something, I wasn’t really listening to until he said, “We should go there for dinner.” He had my attention then. Yes, I am a very food driven person and also sometimes a bad wife.

Getting and keeping someone’s attention is kind of what I strive to do as a writer. I mean, if I’m writing and no one’s reading I’m basically just talking to hear myself. There’s nothing wrong with that, and I did it for years. If you talk long enough, eventually someone will start listening.

Actually, people started listening right away here on PBW. I feel very blessed that not a week goes by that someone doesn’t read my words. It’s why I love blogging, if I can be completely honest. I love knowing that when I talk, I have someone’s attention.

A book needs to have a readers attention if it is to be read at all. You have to grab a readers attention before they’ll even open the book in most cases. You sure have to get an editor’s attention with your query letter if you want to be published. And once you are published, you’ve got to get new readers to pay attention long enough to read your book, then hope it had enough of their attention to get them to be up for a second one. No one wants to be a one hit wonder.

The problem is that it is so freaking hard to get someone’s attention! Everyone’s got so much going on in their lives. My kids are twelve and even they don’t have a lot of time to sit the hell down and read a book. I sure as hell don’t have a lot of time to read. Maybe an hour a day, and that’s just because I read an e-book while walking to work. Yeah, I make considerable effort to find time to read and most days I get to. Let’s be honest, though, I make that effort because there’s nothing else I’d rather do, except write. Not everyone feels that way. Some people read casually if you can believe that. Some people read if they have nothing better to do. Some people read just because they think that grownups should read.

I don’t write for those people, to be honest. If you’re a grownup and you’re reading because you think your supposed to, you’re not interested in dragons that are scientists and men who weave visions. But that’s not really the point I’m trying to make here.

The point is, as much as I love reading, a piece needs to have my attention from the start. A blog post, a short story, a book. If I know I’ve got ten minutes to breeze through a few posts on my break, I’m going to skip your story if I don’t like it right away. If I know I might only get to read 24 books this year and I read chapter one, you’d better make me care about chapter two.

How each author does this is totally different. When I started reading Clockwork Angel, I was drawn right in by the mystery of it all. When I started reading Hunger Games I had limited knowledge of the world, but I instantly wanted to know why all of this was going on.

There’s something important to remember, there. I was confused by the first chapter of The Hunger Games and Clockwork Angel. Harry Potter as well. The authors jumped right into the story, and just explained things along the way. I tried to do the same things with Broken Patterns, jumping right in with an attack on the Septan Palace. Who are the Montelarians, why are they attacking? You know all of this by the end of chapter two, but that’s not what I start with. I start with men in the canals, sneaking up to the palace walls.

Many writers have said that they’ve written first chapters and then thrown them away, starting with chapter two.

So whatever you’re writing, make sure you have my attention right from the start.

A long time ago, it was suggested to me that I write a post about social media for writers. I guess it’s weird that it took me this long to do it. I’m a writer, I work in tech support and I avidly use social media almost every day.

So, I’m finally getting around to it. Over the next few Fridays I’ll be going over different social media platforms. We’ll discuss how to use them, what they’re best for, and how writers can best use them.

Today, we’ll talk about Facebook.

Almost everyone’s on Facebook. People use it to keep in touch with family members and friends who don’t live nearby. I personally see more pictures of my friends children that I’d ever thought possible.

You’re probably on Facebook, too. Just in case you’re not, though, I’m going to go over the basics of using Facebook and what all you can use it for.

Basic mechanics, or what you can do

Facebook can be used for a lot of things. You can update your page with anything you’d like. Some people, like me, share random musings or thoughts through my day.

You can also add links to sites or pages that you enjoy. If you’ve never done this before, it’s simple. Cut the url for the page you want to share from your address bar, then paste it onto a Facebook update box. In most cases, it will even update with an image.

Facebook groups

Finding Facebook groups is a great way to meet new writing buddies or connect with like minded people. I belong to an awesome group for online business girls, another one for Solstice authors and another one for indie writers.

Take care, though. Some groups are great uplifting places. Sometimes, though, the groups are full of pushy prima donnas that will stir up trouble and pick fights.

Finding a Facebook group is easy, though. Just type some keywords about what sort of group you’d like to find in the search bar.

Facebook ads

If you’re interested in spending some cash, you can invest in a Facebook ad. They’re really easy to set up. You can pick what demographic you’d like your ad to be targeted toward and how long you want them to run. I personally have never done this, but I’ve walked through the how to. It’s not a bad way to get your book in front of new eyes, but it’s not one that I’d suggest. Personally, I think it’s better to write something good enough that other people chose to share it.

Sharing

Sharing and liking things on Facebook is how you let your friends know what you enjoyed. People will see the things you’ve shared on their feed. That’s the goal on Facebook, to write share worthy content. When someone shares your work people who don’t already follow you can read it.

Beware of the false news

That’s not always a good thing. It’s good if someone shares your work of course, of course. But I’m sure you’ve heard about the rash of fake news stories that have flooded the internet. Many of them came from Facebook. So if you see something on Facebook, keep the old journalism rule in mind. Get a second and third source.

How often should you post?

I post four status updated a day, re-post one to three interesting things from other people and link to my blog posts. That’s a lot, but I use Buffer to do it. I’ve talked about Buffer before. It allows me to schedule Facebook updates through the day, so I can sit down and write out ten updates at a time. I sure don’t have the time to stop everything I’m doing to post three freaking times a day.

What to post

Now here’s the big one. What do you post on Facebook if you’re using it for your writing?

First, if you have a blog, you should share your blog posts on Facebook. If you use WordPress, you can set it up to share your posts automatically. Facebook is actually the top referrer to Paper Beats World.

I also suggest posting stories about your actual life. A story is a story, and some of the best ones are true.

It’s also a good idea to post things from other people that you enjoyed. I post Youtube videos and links to articles that I loved. I genuinely hope that someone who follows me on Facebook will get something out of visiting my page.

For the most part, I try to keep on topic on Facebook. That means that I post mostly about writing, reading and geek news. But I will occasionally share something else that interested me, like a makeup tutorial or one of those Tasty videos.

I also let people know about upcoming events that concern my writing. I post events, cons I’m going to be at and book release dates. And I’ll post if there’s going to be a sale or discount on one of my books.

Finally, I will sometimes run contests on my Facebook page. I give away e-book copies sometimes, or give special discounts.

Don’t spam people

Please don’t do what I see some writers do, though. Yes, you should talk about your writing and your books on Facebook. You should tell people when a book is coming out and if they can get a discount. You should totally give your book away sometimes.

But that shouldn’t be all you do! No one wants to land on your Facebook page just to hear you hawk your book all the time. The standard rule is at least 80% content and 20% promotion. I do less than that, actually. Please, give people who visit your page something of value when they visit.

And that’s it for Facebook. If you have any questions that I didn’t cover, don’t hesitate to ask either in the comments below or through email. Next week we’ll be talking about Twitter. See you then.

Well, it’s been a long year, but it’s almost over. In a lot of ways it’s been a great year. I published four books, a lot of really good movies came out and I started taking better care of my skin. In a lot of other ways, though, it was a crappy year. Politics were dirty and disappointing. Lots of innocent people died in ways that made me angry. People in my area can set their tap water on fire. Lots of celebrities that I love died.

At the end of the year, though, all I can do is control my own actions and attitude.

Meanwhile, I’d like to celebrate the ten most popular posts of 2016. I did this post last year and I really enjoyed it. It’s fascinating to see what’s gotten the most views over a whole year. Sometimes I get caught up in the little details of the blog. It’s good to see the big picture.

Anyway, here are the ten most popular posts of 2016.

10. Flash Fiction

I’m surprised this one made it onto this list, only because it was a pretty straightforward piece of educational writing. I am glad you all liked it, though.

9. A Review of Nightblade

I am really glad this one was popular, because it was a good self published book. I need to do more reviews like this, and I intend to in the coming year.

8. Macro and Micro Planning

This was a really fun piece to write, because I’m a weirdo who loves planning. I hope this helped you guys, though.

7. Seventeen Years

Oh! This was my great big bragging piece that announced that Broken Patterns was finally getting published. Thank you guys for liking this one so much.

6. Seeming, Episode One

I am so glad that you guys liked Seeming so much. I’m always touched when my fiction writing ends up on this list. Since it did, I have a surprise for you. You Can’t Trust the AI will be starting here on PBW on February 15th!

5. Write a Burlesque Poem.

For real, this one was number five on last year’s list, too. You guys are nasty. But then, I’m the one who wrote it.

4. Writing Fantasy Characters We Aren’t All Sick of Seeing.

I was really proud of this piece. I’m glad you all liked it too.

3. Being Flexible Vs. Not Having a Plan.

This is an important distinction. I hope this article helped you.

2. My 17 before 2017 List

Update! I did almost everything on my list except get my hair permed and making a meditation spot in my office. Those things are going to have to go on my January list, I think. Getting your hair permed is expensive, and there are more boxes in my office then I realized. Enough that I might get crushed under them. Pray for me.

1.Tolkien Already Did That

I have to say, I’m really proud of this piece. Probably the most proud I’ve been of any piece I’ve done for PBW to date. So I’m really happy that all of you like it, too.

And that’s it. Thank you guys again for another great year for Paper Beats World. Don’t forget that Days and Other Stories is available for absolutely free as a gift to all of you. See you in 2017.

I’m really about done with 2016.

I was just innocently reading through Facebook when I found that Carrie Fisher died. She was only 60 years old.

Yes, I say only. Mostly because women in my family tend to live into their 90s.

Carrie Fisher played Leia in Star Wars. I’m sure all of you know that. You probably also know that she suffered from mental illness and a past drug addiction. The reason that you know this is because she was open and upfront about it. And that’s why she’s my hero.

Yes, she was an amazing icon for women. She played a tough, brave character that I loved as a child. She was a princess that kicked ass. I loved her, and always insisted on being her when I played Star Wars with my friends. That wasn’t hard, I was the only girl. Leia was a politician, a diplomat, a rebel. Most recently, Leia was a general. But Princess Leia was a fictional character.

Carrie Fisher was a real human woman. Really human. She didn’t lie about who she was, even when who she was wasn’t nice. She didn’t sugarcoat, nip, tuck or shy away from. She was a real human being.

Let me tell you the lessons I learned from Carrie Fisher. The lessons I want to give to my daughters.

• Be honest about your weaknesses. You might be inspiring someone who suffers like you do, and is ashamed. Admitting an addiction is the first step to healing.
• Mental illnesses are nothing to be ashamed of.
• Politics are for girls!
• Don’t feel shame about what time and life do to your body. Smiling and sunshine will wrinkle your face. Children will cause weight gain, even if you didn’t carry them in your womb. (Diets and exercise are hilarious jokes to most parents.) But your sags and curves are yours. You owe no one a damn apology for your body.
• Finally, don’t forget that women can suffer from heart conditions just as much as men. Ladies and gentlemen, pay attention to your heart health. Keep your yearly checkups and tell your doctor about anything strange.

My prayers are with Ms. Fisher’s family and friends today. I lost a hero I never met, they lost a loved one.

Thank you for inspiring me, Ms. Fisher. May the Force be with you.

Alright, Christmas is over now. I’m enjoying a week of getting my ass back to work after my vacation.

I’m also writing out my 2017 goals.

You’re probably doing the same thing. This is going to be your year! You’re going to lose weight, get a better job, become closer with nature, climb Mt. Fuji, breed eyelash vipers in your basement. Whatever you want to do.

I know I have some big plans for the year. I got the Your Best Year 2017 Planner by Lisa Jacobs, and I’ve been carrying it around with me like a favored toy since it came in the mail. It’s really helped me focus on what I want to accomplish this year.

Of course, I want to do more than just succeed in writing this year. I want all sorts of things.

If you’re making your list of 2017 goals, do me a favor. Don’t set yourself up to fail. Keep these things in mind when you’re making your list.

Be realistic. I would love to do so many things this year! I want to learn to speak fluent German, code my own website, write a ton of books, go on a great vacation, quit my job and buy a boat.

Only some of that is going to happen. It’s ridiculous to expect all of this of myself. It’s like that great part of Sylvia Plath’s book, The Bell Jar, about sitting under a fig tree. Each fig represented a fantastical future. She couldn’t decide which she wanted, and so instead watched as each of the fruits wither and drop away.

It made me sob the first time I read it. Don’t do this. Pick a fig. Pick a basket full. But know that you can’t pick them all.

Remember why you’ve failed at this goal before. I be you have at least two or three goals on your list this year that have been on your list before.

I do. Confession time, I can’t drive. I’ve only been behind the wheel of a car twice in my life. Every year I put learning to drive on my list. And every year I get a copy of the PA license test book, then get distracted and forget about it.

So this year, I’m putting that goal front and center. I’m questioning why I haven’t gotten this done yet. Mostly, I think it’s because studying driving rules is boring and I’d rather be doing just about anything else. For real, though, I’m turning 31 this year. I need to make this thing happen.

Don’t make goals based on things that are out of your control. I’m feeling like I gave you this advice last year, but I’m going to say it again anyway. I won’t be making any goals about how many copies of books I want to sell this year. Because I can’t control if you buy a book or not. I can produce a good book. I can make sure that you know it’s there and remind you about it sometimes. I can hold sales, go to cons, do book signings and do any number of other things. But I can’t make you buy that book.

Consider why you want to meet this goal. What will this do for you? D you want to lose weight? Why? To be healthier, or look better? Do you want to join an athletic team? What are you putting all of this effort in for?  Because sometimes, you’re not doing this for you. Sometimes you’re doing this for someone else. In that case, see below.

Do this for you, not anyone else. There may be people in your life who think they know what’s best for you. Sorry, but they probably don’t. You know what’s best for you, not anyone else.

Disclaimer! There’s one big exception to this rule. If someone who loves you is worried that you have a substance abuse problem, there’s a chance you do! The addict is always the last person to know. And this isn’t an easy discussion to have with anybody. So if your loved ones are suggesting that you’re maybe drinking too much, don’t dismiss that.

Other than that, though,you’re probably not going to do something you don’t want to do. Even the best of advice isn’t going to mean as much as a realization of your own. For instance, I can type until my fingers bleed about how important it is to be organized. You probably won’t do it until your sick of missing bill due dates and dentist appointments. Though if you do want a kick in the ass about that, go ahead and add up all of your late fees and missed appointment fines. That should encourage you to grab a damn planner and a pen.

Basically, no change in your life is going to come unless you want it to. Keep that in mind as you plan out your next year.

This is going to get a little personal today. Just warning you.

Holiday traditions are a big thing this time of year. It can be a special food, an event or a decoration that means the whole world to you. If you’re like me you’re probably stressing a little bit making sure those special traditions take place this year.

Maybe you’re also like me, in that Christmas brings back great and bad memories. Don’t get me wrong, Christmas was good at my place when I was a kid. It was just me and my mom. We’d open Christmas presents on Christmas Eve. Then, on Christmas morning I’d come downstairs to find one more big gift. Then we’d go to my great grandmother’s house along with my grandmother. Grandma would have excelled at being a slightly out of touch gift giver who was trying. Except the year she gave me the first four Harry Potter books. That was a win. This is balanced out by the year she gave me Duma Key. Thanks Grandma. My great grandma would give everyone money in those special holiday envelopes the banks give you if you ask. I still have the last one she gave me.

The problem is that, when I got pregnant my loving family changed. I had done something bad and deserved to be punished. That was made clear to me many times over, but never more than Christmas.

Add to this the fact that my first few days on my own weren’t great. I was in a bad relationship, broke as hell and totally suffering from depression. Bad, bad depression.

My daughter’s first Christmas was bad. I worked my ass off, scrounging together as much money as I could. I think I got like thirty bucks. Just enough to get a Shel Silverstein book, a three foot tree and a stuffed fish. After she opened all of her presents I laid down in bed and cried. I kind of didn’t stop crying for about two years.

Then all of my family moved away and left me and my daughter all alone in the state. I actually do have family around here still. They just don’t talk to me.

That left just me, with a boyfriend who wasn’t thrilled with holidays. We also weren’t in a place where we were ready to do family stuff with our kids yet. I was feeling lonely and abandoned. My seasonal depression was kicking in, hard. I was despretly trying to make my Christmas better than the Christmas my daughter was going to have with my ex. (I did win that. I know it’s not a competition, but I still won.) But I didn’t want the kids getting attached to this whole complete family thing if the boyfriend and I didn’t work out. A part of me, a really big part, didn’t want to be stuck with a guy because of kids. So we decided to not have Christmas Eve or Christmas morning together.

Instead we settled on Christmas Eve breakfast. I went out and bought breakfast at a little diner and brought it back on the bus. I brought Strawberry waffles, my step daughter had never had strawberries on a waffle.

That night, my daughter and I opened crackers and watched ‘Merry Christmas Charlie Brown’. The next morning, I made a pot of special coffee I bought my own damn self for Christmas, then watched my daughter open presents next to my brand new six foot tree. After the girls went to visit their other parents, the boyfriend and I got together and watched Bad Santa.

This Christmas will be the ninth one I’ve celebrated with the boyfriend, now the darling husband. We do Christmas Eve morning together, with my mother in law. It was my former mother in law before she moved out of town. Then we spend the day goofing around, or running around fixing little last minute things. The kids open pajamas, and sometimes a movie. Then we open crackers and watch the Santa Tracker before the kids go to bed. I wrap presents, because I love doing it and the darling husband hates it. The last thing I do is put out the St. Jude charity bears the kids get from Santa.

Christmas morning I make special coffee that I bought for my own damn self. Then we open gifts. My daughter in law goes to visit her mom, and we all goof off for the rest of the day.

The point is, I wasn’t fortunate enough to inherit heartwarming traditions. I made up some of my own, the crackers and the Christmas morning coffee. (This year I got sneek a doodle.) The best ones, though, came about all by themselves. Christmas Eve breakfast. The night of the wrapping paper. The bears from Santa. Traditions that are all ours.

At the start of 2016 I was fed up with traditional publishing. I’d been trying and trying at what felt very much like a rigged game for years. So I decided to try the life of an indie writer for a year, with the exception of my novel, Broken Patterns.

Turns out that was a good call.

After a full twelve months of being my own publisher, I have a very different perspective on the world of writing in general. And I’m ready to give you the full report.

Money

Let’s just get this out of the way right now. While no writer writes for the money, none of us return checks.

In 2015 I made no money attempting to sell my writing traditionally.

In 2016 I made $3 selling my writing myself.

So if we look purely at profit, without including business costs, independent publishing made me more money. Most of the money that I spent on my writing this year was on things like pens and notebooks. Things I would have bought either way. The one exception is that I hired an artist for the cover of Seeming. Which, I have to say, was totally worth it.

Publishing

In 2015 I published one story, in an anthology called, How To Trick The Devil.

In 2016 I self-published three books and published so many short stories on PBW that I lost count.

If we’re just basing success on how much writing I was able to get out into the world, self-publishing won, hands down. I could put up anything I wrote, and people read it. That made me feel awesome all year, and you guys were a huge part of that. So, again, let me say a great big Thank You to all of you.

Experience

The good part of this year has been the level of control I’ve had over my writing. It has been absolute. I controlled every single part of my writing from artwork to publication dates. I loved that.

It also made me feel really accomplished. I felt like I was writing for a purpose. Like no one could tell me no, so I was going to just kill it.

However, I don’t love that I had no restrictions. I worry that my writing got really lazy this year. I was mostly just pleasing myself, writing fluffy work without solid foundations. When I’m not trying to write the best of stories, I tend to write what will amuse me a little. I need to fix that.

Final thoughts

I’m glad I spent a year doing my own thing my own way. I’ve gained a lot of perspective and had a lot of fun. But I think, after a year of purely traditional publishing and a year of purely self- publishing, the best path for me is both. To that end, I’m going to spend 2017 self-publishing Station 86 stories. I’m hoping to get two out. I’m going to write short fiction and send it to markets, but I’m also going to write short fiction to put together a new collection for you. In addition to that, I’m hopeful that I’ll be able to work with my publisher to get out another Woven book.

After all this time, I’m learning all over again that I’m a true Gemini in all things. I don’t think I’d ever care to just write one genre, or just publish one way. Am I saying that this path will work for everyone? Of course I’m not. But it might. And it’s something to consider.