Fun with Twitter

Two or three weeks ago, a writer friends and I both had Twitter accounts with perhaps 20-30 people following us, maybe following about the same number of people.  The other day, I clicked on her name and she was being followed by about 300 people.  I was amazed.  I don't know if that's good, but probably it is, especially when both of us have new books out we hope people will read.  So, I asked her how she did it.  She told me she picked two categories she wanted to emphasize and followed lots of people in those categories.  Then, she used hashtags to recommend these people to each other for following purposes.  I had no idea about hashtags, but I've spent about a week playing with them on Twitter, and found out some interesting things.  If you see a tweet with #something in it, you can click on that (it's a hashtag) and get a list of messages about that.  So since I wanted to find memoir writers, I clicked on #memoir and read the tweets looking for ones not YA, not over the top, not boring.

 I followed a lot of those people.  I also tried other categories, and some of the people Twitter recommended on the special tab at the top of my home page.  I soon was following 100 people, with 30 following me.  Then, I picked out a few really good ones and listed them after this hashtag, #WW  or #FF.  They thanked me for recommending them, and some followed me back.  I retweeted some of their special comments.  More followed me.  I'm creeping up, now at sixty, which is twice where I started.  It's a bit addictive, though, you can lose an hour if you're not careful.  But I suspect just a few tweets a day will keep things going once I've ratchetted up a few rounds.  It's very interesting to read the tweets about writing and see all the energy that goes into writing and reading in these days when we keep hearing that books are dying.  I think they won't, but ebooks are growing more and more important.  Anyway, in case you need to have a Twitter presence, I thought I'd pass on the glory of hashtags.  Have fun!

Interview with Emily Rapp

LH: Emily, how did you get interested in writing?

ER: I’ve been writing since I was very little. My first crack at writing was a “rewriting” of the Christmas story! =) But I think I really became interested in writing when I learned to read. I have always been a voracious reader. Before I decided to pursue writing as a profession, I was a theologian and a pastor. My very first “shorts” were sermons!

LH: What was your first success?

ER: I actually think my very first story, called “Double Deception,” written in the third grade, was my first feeling of success. The story felt complete to me; in other words, I rewrote it several times and finally felt like it was done. And I still like the opening line, “A shot rang out in Beverly Hills.” Fun stuff. I think my first “taste” of adult writing success was being accepted into an MFA program.

LH: What kind of things do you most enjoy writing?

ER: I’m working on a novel at the moment, so I’m very most focused on long-form fiction. I also love to write letters.

LH: Do you have an agent? Tell us about your experiences with/without agents.

ER: I do. My experience with agents has been nothing but positive. An agent is a writer’s advocate, because the business of publishing has very little to do with the work of writing.

LH: What are your thoughts about marketing? Do you have any great tips on how to do it well?

ER: I think every writer has to find venues in which to promote her work. That said, I’m not inclined to focus a lot of energy on that. Sure, it’s great to make money as a writer, but I’ve never expected to make a living at it. A great deal of my life is devoted to teaching, which is much more up my alley than devising marketing strategies. I try to be strategic, but I don’t make myself crazy trying to figure out how to sell myself.

LH: If you could go back in time and start over, tell us one thing you have learned that would help you to succeed better/faster/with less struggle.

ER: I would not worry about what other people are doing, and focus on my own work. A thoroughbred runs her own race. Envy is a waste of time.

LH: Any other thoughts to share?

ER: If you want to be a good writer, read as much as you can, and learn how to be a fair and thoughtful critic of another person’s work.

Glories of Memoir Writing

Last weekend in LAT book review section, Susan Salter Reynolds reviewed three books in short paragraphs, each stimulating my brain in different ways around the theme of memoirs. The first review was of Natalie Goldberg’s Old Friend from Far Away. From her book, the reviewer selected this line, “Writing is the act of reaching across the abyss of isolation to share and reflect.” Goldberg is not talking to me about where I am, but instead inspiring me to try to go where she is.

In the next section the review of Sven Birkerts’ book, The Art of Time in Memoir, shows him excoriating the navel-gazing of memoirists. He apparently feels that only the reflective insight, revealing “what Henry James called ‘the figure in the carpet’”, sets memoir above talk show chatter. I hate to be harangued and probably will not read this book, but Reynolds’ image from James is memorable and will stick in my mind. It’s so easy to walk over a carpet, even for years, without seeing the pattern. But if you describe the room for someone else, you look more carefully and it jumps out into view. How many times I’ve seen the pattern of what happened to me only when writing about it for the second or third time!

The final review was of Julia Cameron’s The Writing Diet. I wish that review matched my experience! It said creativity, as well as falling in love, takes the appetite for food away. Not so for everyone, more’s the pity.