Wiley Wednesday—Five Ways to Manage Twitter Overload

Writer Zen Garden Posted on by

With Twitter’s exponential growth over the past five years, many users are feeling overwhelmed by the sheer number of tweets that show up in their stream.

As a corporate social strategist, I had to find a way to manage multiple Twitter and Facebook accounts without feeling overwhelmed. These five tips turned a mammoth task into something manageable.
1. Use a 3rd party client like Tweetdeck, Seesmic, or Hootsuite. All three can be used on the computer or on a smartphone. Hootsuite is the only one that does not have a dedicated desktop application; you use it online.
For personal use, I’d recommend Tweetdeck, as it has the most intuitive user interface–it’s easy to understand and customize. In addition, it now has a tweet scheduling function, so you can pre-arrange for any message to be sent at any time on any day. It’s a huge time-saver, especially for those informational or promotional tweets.
2. In your twitter client, set up a column to follow pertinent hashtags (If you’re new to hashtagging, Mashable has a great post about it). That way, you’re following a more focused conversation. For writers, #amwriting is informative, but very busy. I prefer to follow #MyWana (writer support and community) and #1k1hr (groups of writers aiming to write 1,000 words in one hour–great support and motivation). You can also follow genre-specific tags, like #romcom. To find your ideal hashtag, use the search bar in Twitter, or use a site like Twittag or Tagalus. By dedicating certain columns to certain topics, you’ll feel less overwhelmed by a slew of disconnected updates. This will also make it easier to follow and join conversations–just remember to include the hashtag in your replies!
3. Create Twitter lists to group the people you follow. Then, in your twitter client, you can set up a column that shows updates exclusively from one of those lists.
If you’re new to listing or have NO idea what I’m talking about, these three resources will help:
4. In your client, consider removing the full follower stream (the column that updates you with every tweet by everyone you follow) or at least move it to the far right of the columns, so it’s not the first one you see.
Here’s what my Hootsuite dashboard looks like:
My columns, from left to right: my social media list, my attorney marketing list, the general twitter feed, mentions, and sent messages. In Hootsuite, I keep a separate tab just for hashtags, but that’s only because there’s a huge number that I monitor. For personal use, I’d eliminate the “home” and “sent message” feeds and replace them with my favorite hashtags.
Tweetdeck and Seesmic work in the same way, but Tweetdeck would be more simplified–which is almost always a good thing.
4. Arrange for your tweets to be sent out for you so you’re not spending time throughout the day getting sucked into Twitter. For personal use, I schedule tweets throughout the week, then dedicate a time each evening to actually socializing and connecting.
You can break Twitter down into three types of tweets: informational broadcasting (like sending out a link), promotional broadcasting (sending out information about you and your books; should be less than 20% of your total tweets), and conversation. I sit down on Sundays, usually, pick a handful of links I’ve found useful, and include them in my tweets–adding, of course, appropriate hashtags.
I have a feeling my next Wiley Wednesday will be the anatomy of a tweet!
Some tools that help you schedule your tweets: your twitter client; Buffer, which calculates the times of highest activity for your followers and sends your list of pre-arranged tweets out at those times; Timely does something very similar.
5. Don’t feel like you need to read every tweet that gets posted. Sometimes, to filter through the chatter, I’ll use blURL to give me a list of my home feed tweets that include hashtags; that way, I can browse for useful information and pass over most of the “this is what I had for lunch” tweets. Other times, I’ll set an age limit on tweets, i.e. I won’t read anything more than an hour old. That way, I have fewer updates to read. This is especially good as most tweets have a shelf-life: either the content won’t be relevant anymore, or it will have been retweeted, and you’ll see it in more recent tweets.
Twitter should be fun–not an obligation. Hopefully these tips will help 😀

Lessons I’ve Learned About Promo

Writer Zen Garden Posted on by

My first book, BURNING BRIGHT, written with coauthor Rachel Wilder, comes out next month. One of the things I’m learning as a new author is how to do promo. In fact, I’ve started talking about it like that – “do promo” like it’s some kind of jargon term, some in-crowd thing that I’m part of.

But it’s sure easy to get overwhelmed. I talk to people in my writing group who are mystified by even the small efforts I do, and I know authors who are so on top of their promo that I despair of ever catching up (Delilah Devlin and Xakara are two examples). So what have I learned? Here are three easy steps that anyone can take to dip a toe into the promotional waters without diving directly into the deep end.

Step One: Start Small

Don’t try to drink from the fire hydrant. Find a small drinking fountain at the park instead. Pick one outlet and play with it for a month or five – a blog, or Facebook page, or a website. Learn how the technology works and practice.

Step Two: Invent a Framework

Instead of staring at a blank screen waiting for inspiration, come up with a list of ideas that you can use as a framework. What works for me is this: on a clean sheet of paper, write in a column the days of the week:

Sunday
Monday
Tuesday
Wednesday
etc.

Then, next to each day, write an idea of a topic. Play with alliteration, (Sunday Silliness), or with some kind of one-through-seven sequence (chakras, musical notes, or subjects). Use those as your theme for the day, if you post daily, or for the week, if you post weekly.

Step Three: Play Well With Others

Join a forum in your genre of choice, or something targeted for writers. Read other writers who work in your genre, and comment on their posts. No one likes talking to themselves in an empty room, so give as good as you get: commenting on others is a good way, and sometimes the only way, to encourage others to comment on your own stuff.

That’s all it takes. Just start with something simple, and build from there. A well-done but simple presence is much more effective than a broad scatter of disconnected blather.

Above all, have fun. After all, that’s why we write, right?

Free Reads

Writer Zen Garden Posted on by

Lately I’ve found myself gobbling up most everything slashy male on male written by Jet Mykles. Yesterday, I discovered her website features a stash of free stories, many a click away on the website Fiction with Friction.

While it is not family or work safe, I thought I’d plug her free reads today. If you like hot m/m action, check her out! In addition, you can read an interview she kindly granted me for the Nightlight blog here: Nightlight Featuring Jet Mykles

Jet Mykles Free Reads

Happy reading!

Wiley Wednesday – Mechanics Over Muse

Writer Zen Garden Posted on by
Often of late, it seems all my writing has been confined to emails for the day job. I’ve been going home without even the inspiration to sit in front of a keyboard or pad of paper. Despite this, I have made up my mind to look at the bright side.

There are positive aspects to my daily tasks. For example, every email typed is given proper grammar and spelling. Many also take a special skill at diplomacy or succinct explanation. And there is some self expression involved, though neither particularly fun nor the least bit fictional. At least I am still honing my craft if only in a mundane way.

How about you? Are you up to anything interesting these days? If not, I hope you’ll take to heart that your creativity will eventually find a way of expression. While waiting for my own muse to take over and demand an out, I’ll work on the mechanics of writing.

In addition, I’ll try to keep my spirit primed by way of Julia Cameron’s “The Artist’s Way”. That means artist’s dates to entertain my inner child and morning pages to channel negativity. Want to know more? You’ll find tons of resources on the web in general as well as this very blog. Whether or not you need the boost, I hope you’ll check out her valuable tools to creativity.

And Now, For Something Completely Different…

Writer Zen Garden Posted on by

I know, I know. Usually I post chapters of The Night Is a Harsh Mistress. I promise, I’m working on it. I even am doing so with the collaboration of my coauthor, Rachel! I think we’re going to come up with some good ideas for it that will interest you.

But for today, I want to share with you the results of a challenge from Romance Divas. For those of you that aren’t familiar, Romance Divas is an online forum of writers, authors, and readers. It consistently is listed as one of Writer’s Digest’s Top 101 Websites for Writers, and has received accolades from the writing community – and not just romance. Composed of authors writing in many genres besides romance, it is an excellent place to learn, grow, and network.

The challenges are great fun. Authors who are interested post that they would like to play, and challengers give them a scenario. The writer must respond within 48 hours with a flash that is under 750 words, meets all the points of the challenge, and that is PG-13. It’s a good way to practice writing quickly, and one can use an existing or new WIP (work-in-progress).

My challenge this go-round was from author Jason Linetsky. The particulars were:

  • Genre of choice.
  • Scenario: Your h/h has to travel over a great distance for a very important meeting. It must be a straight through trip as in no layovers/stopovers in a method of your choice.
  • Required elements: An old owners manual, a helium tank, a fake id, and a chihuahua … KIDDING! No chihuahua! … and a bottle of Grey Goose vodka.

Here is what I came up with. Enjoy!

Untitled

Zeta woke to the lovely strains of Chihuahua in full bark, accompanied by the symphony of shrill hungover White trash. God damned trucker hotels. The barking cut off with a yelp and sympathy for the stupid animal burned through Zeta’s chest.

Figured.

He rolled out of bed and took a piss, then set the coffee on to brew. He moved the owner’s manual for the ancient Helium tank back onto the bed. The tank itself sat there like a huge, half-rusted torpedo from the sixties. Here’s hoping the thing worked as well as a torpedo, or Monroe was gonna kill him.

Thank God that dump had water pressure.

Then again, heavy water pressure on bruises wasn’t the sort of thing a man wanted to wake up to…

He managed to grab the bottle of vodka from the counter next to the coffeemaker without dripping too much water everywhere. Some half-drunk yuppie kid gave it to him last night at the bar, wobbly with martinis and Zeta’s blowjob. Kid wasn’t half-bad at it himself, Zeta’s lower brain reminded him, but he swigged the vodka instead of focusing on his morning leftover reaction.

Didn’t taste nearly as good as it had the night before. The label read “Grey Goose Vodka” with a picture of a fjord and geese flying overhead against some mountains.

Mountains…

Hell, he tried everything else…

Then he heard it. The door rattled and jiggled, then the unmistakable turn of a key. He snatched his gun off the towels by the toilet and waited, heart pounding.

“Hey, gorgeous, I’m back!”

The aroma of eggs, bacon and coffee hit Zeta’s nose like a steam train and his stomach yowled like a starving cheetah. Christ. Why did his assailant have to bring food? He’d be a helluva lot easier to shoot if he’d been some snaggle-toothed asshat with body odor.

Of course not. It was the yuppie from the bar.

Christ. How the hell much Vodka did Zeta drink?

And what the hell was the kid’s name?

“I know you said you’re in a hurry to get to Oxnard, so I got breakfast for us. Oh, good. You’re almost done.” The yuppie set the food on the table by the window and grinned at Zeta. His large brown eyes crinkled at the corners, and smile lines just starting by his mouth gave him a friendly appearance.

Yup, he was as hot now as he was in the bar, vodka or no vodka.

And he was stripping… A steady pile of discarded clothing littered the floor behind him as he approached Zeta. “You just let ol’ Chico wash your back, hmm?”

Zeta stubbed his toe getting out of the shower. “No, I really can’t. Monroe will kill me if I’m late.” He paused, a towel in his hands. “You go by ‘Boy’ in Spanish?”

Chico shrugged, stepping into the water but not quite closing the curtain all the way. Man, he had a nice ass!

“My nickname is Chico, so that’s what I put on my fake I.D. You really go by the letter ‘Z’?”

Zeta flushed. “My name’s Alex.”

“’Xander’ begins with an ‘X’.” Chico winked. “And my name is Pedro.”

“To my best friend in grammar school, Xander sounds like a ‘Z’.”

“What was her name?” Chico finished in record time and joined Zeta on the mat to dry off. He pulled the towel out of Zeta’s hands and finished his back with quick movements that reawakened all of Zeta’s senses, then slapped his ass. “Go eat while I finish. We have to get on the road.”

“How do you know it was a girl?” Zeta dressed in jeans and his Elvis t-shirt, sandals and a belt. He stuffed the rest of his clothes into his duffel and then went to investigate the food.

“Because no dude would name you Zeta.” Chico bent and kissed his neck, then whispered in his ear. “So hurry up and eat, will ya? I want to see if you make as much noise driving when I go down on you as you did last night.”

Zeta’s heart started pounding. This was seventeen kinds of stupid, but damned if he wasn’t gonna do it. Monroe didn’t have to know about his new partner, and besides.

It would make the drive go a lot faster.

He grinned at Chico, chewing a bite of bacon and eggs, and the most gorgeous yuppie latino on two legs grinned back.

Damn fine truck stop.

Wiley Wednesday: Mapmaking

Writer Zen Garden Posted on by

“No, put it there.” “No, over there.” “On the bureau, can’t you see?” “What bureau?” “The one in the bedroom!”

Discussions about space sometimes plague us. Where do we file that client information? Where do we put the new hire? Where do we store all the books that we bought? We just bought a new TV, now where do we put it? What about the bin for recycled goods?

This is true for our characters too. The worlds we create for them to inhabit are places that need to be as real to us as our own home. If we put a tree in the front yard in the morning, it better be there in the evening when our character comes home from work – or a neighbor cut it down, it fell over in a storm, or the city came and trimmed it. It can’t just go “poof.”

So… How do you keep your trees from going poof? Because, after all, tree poofage is a leading cause of stress among writers, according to a recent poll.

Maps!

That’s right, I said maps. Draw a map of your space. You can draw a map of a room, a house, a street, even a planet. Even if you can’t draw very well, you can at least sketch in the main points. Where IS that pesky tree, anyway? Who lives to the right of the house? The left? What’s the name of the street?

This is an old trick of fantasy authors, to draw maps of their worlds for readers to use. Some of them are quite elaborate and beautiful. But it can be useful even for “regular” world building. For example, in our upcoming release of BURNING BRIGHT, Rachel and I have a restaurant and bar called the Factory. We sat down and drew out how many tables there are on the main floor, where the bathrooms and kitchen are, the stairs, elevator, back door, and other elements are. That way, when our characters move around in the space we know what direction to turn them, what they see when they do it, and how to avoid walking them into walls.

Try it with your house. Take a piece of paper out of your printer, and a use a pencil. See if you can’t draw your home, starting at the property line. Mark where the driveway is. Where do you park? Imagine coming home from the grocery store, and follow yourself from the moment you shut off the engine. Do you go in the back or front door? What’s the room you enter when you first come inside? Where’s the kitchen? Bathroom? Bedroom? What’s in the back yard? (A tree?) Fill in details as you go and don’t be afraid to erase and start over. It takes practice, and it doesn’t have to be pretty – it just needs to be clear.

Tell me in the comments if you tried it, how did it go? Or, alternatively, how do you manage your imaginary worlds?