I am part of a Yahoo group and Twitter has come up for discussion. Like me, before I started to tweet, those who haven’t tried it see it as a huge waste of time. I posted the following message to the group and thought I’d share it here.

My name is Joelle Anthony, and I use Twitter. I didn’t want to, but my agent encouraged me to because “it’s fun”. I actually agree now. He’s so smart!

Anyone can follow me, but I don’t follow just anyone. If you tweet too much, or talk about your family life too much, I’m not interested. Instead, I follow my agent, a couple of other agents, my publisher, Plublisher’s Marketplace, a few writers I like, and some people who are in marketing or are editors. I have over sixty people following me and I only follow 36 or something, and only about 15 of them tweet regularly.

I generally tweet about my writing day. People seem to like to hear how my editing process is going, and at times I can let out bits of frustration in humourous ways.

Also, because a tweet is only 140 characters, I’ve found that it forces me to write tight (I don’t like abbreviations unless they’re really needed) and that’s always good practice for a writer.

I also use it to announce new blog updates (I cut and paste these announcements on  Facebook too – I can’t stand Facebook, especially the new changes, and while I’ve gathered a lot of friends, I do not hang out there).

Here are a few of the tweets I’ve posted recently just to give you an idea:

• Staying in pajamas and in bed with tea, manuscript, RED PEN, and kitties. Now to see  what’s left of this book after all the cutting.
• Shower was worth its weight in gold. The warm water loosened one of my editing issues, gave me a clear, answer and washed prob down drain!
• New blog post at https://joelleanthony.com Also, read about HOW TO BE BAD under the Need To Read tab there.
• Last day of hacking away and cutting the manuscript. Tomorrow I read it & next week I sew up all the seams. Hopefully! Then polishing begins

I also banter with my agents or friends occasionally. All in all, I try not to post more than 4-5 tweets per day. Usually less, and rarely on the weekends. It might not sell books, but it might too. Other people’s posts have led me to interesting articles on publishing and publicity, as well as new books I might want to read. I don’t consider Twitter a waste of time at all because it hardly takes up any time anyway. And because I don’t post personal info, I don’t have to screen who follows me.

If you care to follow me on Twiter, my username is Joellewrites. Tweet, tweet!