I Have To Be...Social?

Okay, I'll admit it. I'm not the best at social media. It took me an entire year to learn how to use Twitter - and I still don't know if I'm doing it right!

The biggest concern as I start towards my goal of being published is that, in today's world, we like our authors and filmmakers to be social. I want to read what R.A. Salvatore has to say about his book tours on Facebook. I want to read what Brandon Sanderson tweets about writing on a flight back to the states. It's all very large and very time consuming.

It's also part of the job.

I'm not against social media - I just believe that there's a lot that I don't know, and I'm nervous to start out. There was a time when I had hundreds of Facebook friends. It was fun! But, that was back in college when people liked me personally. Now that I'm an adult, friends have moved on and they are updating about their kids, their jobs, etc. That's all great, but not what I'm looking to do. The tricky part is looking at social media as a way to make friends, which it's still used for - except now I've got to use it to reach out to people I don't know and provide information about my own job and what I find interesting that hopefully they will, too. That's scary!

Blogging is fun. I write what interests me and if anyone reads it, that's awesome! But social networking is all new territory. I need to be consistent. I need to be friendly and available. Most importantly, I need to have something worth saying in a small text box. As Genie once said, "Phenomenal cosmic powers! Itty, bitty living space."

I think that's what made me scared about Twitter. It's mostly a small "status update" for people who are following you. But, what do I have to say? That I'm eating Doritos for lunch? (So bad for you, but sooo tasty!) Will anyone care about what I'm doing with my day?

Even if they don't, I'm going to give this a try! Ten points to Gryffindor if you follow me on Twitter! No, wait - what am I saying? Pottermore put me in Slytherin!