My husband won’t tell me what to write about on my blog. I don’t know
what his problem his. Something about my interrupting him in the middle of his
busy important work day when he is on a deadline and overstressed and blah blah
blah. Aren’t we all? He’s refusing to discuss my favourite TV or movie or
whatever random bit of crap currently holds my attention courtesy of the
internet. He apparently doesn’t care. Rude, much? I know! Like marriage was
meant to be easy. As. If.
Birthday boy or not, hogging the cake is way uncool, Rodney. |
The propensity for us to curl up into our paranoid, self-obsessed,
anti-social geeky little shells is high given the stresses inflicted by the
abundance of chat thrust upon us. And let’s face it, for writers at least, the
introversion thing generally rings true. Social graces aren’t always rocking
and rolling. Or maybe that’s just me. It’s probably just me. See – PARANOIA!!! F*ck it. Go forth with good
intentions and learn when to back off. Hopefully. But here are some things to
think about...
Be Generous – If someone @’s you then reply. Unless you’re the President
of the United States or Neil Gaiman... you know what I mean. Go on, it won’t
hurt you to make friends. Much. Or it shouldn’t.
Think Twice – I could perhaps benefit from this one. Because that joke
about cat poop I just put on Facebook, well... I don’t think it’s going to go
over so well. But it made me laugh... but then there’s your audience to
consider. And perhaps good taste. Oh well.
Act Appropriate – There was an interesting debate going on about the
content of blogs and such like being G rated across the board. Umm, no. But do
be a dear and give a warning. And remember, there are times and places. Potty
humour aside, maybe the F-bomb doesn’t belong on Twitter and FB. I dunno. Are
you going to peeve more people than you impress? Should it matter? What if
you’re some free radical crazy boozing it up and having a blast? Well? So go
for it. But remember, if people are tuning you out then thems the breaks. Have
you considered the well bred * insertion into your language? I think it looks
cute. I really like it. Yeah, M*t*er F*c*er!!! Or perhaps the abbreviated WTF?
Consider.
I’m not telling you to express yourself in ways that are untrue to your
wholesome loveliness. I’ve been accused of being crass on more than one
occasion. But it can pay to think about what you’re putting out there. We’re
all learning on the fly, this is the truth. And if you’re online in a
professional capacity then it’s worth contemplation. I myself have an L plate
stuck to my forehead and maybe this was all to get it straight in my own head, but
I hope some of this has been of use.
One last hard definite for people of the writerly persuasion...
Don't send nasty crap to Publishers or Agents when they reject you – It
makes me sad that this even needs to be stated and yet I keep seeing it coming
up time and again. Don’t do it. Pointless. Unprofessional. And maybe the
catharsis is not so helpful if you just vent and jump up and down and wave your
arms and sh*t. Maybe you should take some time and figure out if there was
actually something to what they said. You never know. But if you can’t take
rejection then boy are you in the wrong business. This applies to book reviewers and competition judges too. You will never please everyone and not
everyone’s going to love you. Walk away.
So they didn’t get your tortured tale of torrid love between the
Billionaires Undead Virgin Bride and whoever. Move on! If you can’t think of
anything nice to say then thank them for their time and leave it be. Or better
yet, say nothing.
I'm always paranoid about jumping into a conversation on Twitter but then, it's a public forum. It's not like sneaking up to someone on the bus and earwigging on their conversation. It's on Twitter. It's public. And a lot of tweeps post a line just to spark a conversation off.
ReplyDeleteYou're right about the introvert bit. But I've learnt that if I don't dive into the stream I miss out on so much.
Some people post that they don't want to be thanked for every RT they do. Sometimes I thank peeps and sometimes I don't. And sometimes I find myself RTing the same person's stuff several times and feel I'm being all stalkery and creepy. What the heck. They can always block me. Or if I know them slightly, maybe they'll be kind enough to tell me I've gone OTT?
And yeah, what is it with husbands that they won't play ball about blog topics and brainstorming?!?! :-P
It's all so fluid and crazy, I don't think there are any definite right or wrongs with a lot of this stuff. If it feels good, do it. And then do it some more. It'll either work or it won't. I think you're right about diving in. Very right.
DeleteAs for husbands... I dunno. So sad. Like discussing my crap constantly isn't fascinating... his issue, not mine.
Thanks for stopping by, Pippa! Always lovely to chat.
Dog is funny; someone had shared that exact one the other day, and i just laughed, well and truly out loud.
ReplyDeleteAs for the twitter stuff; If someone @'s me, I reply. Not that many do, mind you..
If someone follows me; and they aren't a bot or someone who just adds thousands upon thousands of follows, i will check them out AND maybe follow them..
The act appropriate thing; Well I do try; since a rather good friend told me to cut the crap. Not always easy to do mind you, but I try.
I bet you have awesome friends. The stort that are never invasive and give you unwanted advice with regards to personal issues. And they probably write really great books about unsavoury subjects. Wish I was you. *winky smiley face here*
DeleteOk. Sorry. Got that out. Sounds like you're doing fine and dandy and as I said there's so actual rules. With social media its whatever you can live with really. Whatever works for you. Maybe we should all wonder if we'd do or say it to people's faces when we know then as little or as much as we do. Hmm. Who the hell knows...
I do have some awesome friends; most of which live too far away now.
Delete