Wednesday, April 15, 2009

A new twit joins Twitter


After months of vowing not to, I've joined Twitter. Many, many people said it would be a good way to keep the brand in the public eye. I'm not sure about that just yet, but I had the same view about blogging before becoming a blogger.

After a few minutes of absorbing other people's "tweets," I've discovered that Twitter seems to be far more than a bunch of twits telling each other what they're doing now, like clueless technomopes trying out their new cell phones.

Quite a few writers issue random but interesting thoughts about their trade, about other writers, about literature in general, about sparks of creativity. (My first official tweet was "'Exsanguination.' Just learned that last night. Great word for a mystery novel.")

Ron Charles, a respected critic at the Washington Post, tweeted that he had been promoted to the No. 2 spot at its book review section. That's big news in the ever shrinking pond of newspaper arts coverage.

One guy seems to tweet every five minutes, like a garrulous old fart at the dining table.

But this has possibilities, it does.

My handle on Twitter, if you're interested, is "HenryKisor." Clever, eh? [Right now Twitter is having internal problems and my name doesn't come up in a search. Try http://twitter.com/HenryKisor for now.]

LATER WEDNESDAY: Following a small network of writerly tweets this morning led me to an Utne Reader article from 2005 that I'd never seen before, but which deserves resurrection: novelist Steve Almond's jolly primer on how to write a sex scene.

THURSDAY: Literary journalist Sarah Weinman asks, in a piece for Poets & Writers, "Are authors who Twitter any fitter?"

7 comments:

  1. Henry

    Not finding you on Twitter. Wonder why?

    E

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  2. I believe Twitter is having internal problems at the moment.

    Try http://twitter.com/HenryKisor

    Or you can give me your Twitter ID and I'll look you up. I tried, but there are hundreds of Eric Smiths!

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  3. I already do facebook and have been wondering if I should do twitter also. Let us know what you think of twittering after you've been doing it for a while. That article you referred to is great!

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  4. This is the second positive thing I've heard about Twitter. The first was in a staff meeting this week when I learned that some police departments are using it to 'get the word out' quickly about suspects on the loose and other emergency situations. Until then I just thought it was complete nonsense. I simply don't have time to care if someone is boiling a hotdog.

    It never occurred to me that there might actually be a legitimate use for Twitter. I'm not jumping on the bandwagon just yet, but I'll keep an open mind. I plan to finish my first novel by summer so maybe Twitter could be used as a promotional tool? Hmmmmmm. Very interesting . . . . .

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  5. Quite a few writers are promoting new books on Twitter.

    I had the same doubts about Twitter -- that promotional phrase "What are you doing now?" makes it seem so stupid.

    When people hear or read news, they tweet it right away. (They do the same with rumors, unfortunately.)

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  6. Okay, I just joined. Not sure if I should thank you or blame you! Don't know yet, am not too optimistic, but will try to keep my mind open. Okay, off to explore twitter! Any suggestions?

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  7. Ginger, all I'd suggest is that you use the search box to find subjects you're interested in. That'd be a good start.

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