The Magic City

The Magic City

Saturday, April 16, 2011

"Getting It" in Less than 140 Characters

Twitter, you internet Siren.  Throughout the day, in five minute intervals, you draw me to your black hole of productivity and smash my well planned work day against your rocky shores of 140 characters or less.  You are less threatening than the abyss that swallows my "outside of work" time, Facebook, but just as lethal.

But I get it.  Just as the Sirens were the muses of the underworld, given wings by Demeter, Twitter has sparked my inspiration.  I justify my time spent in non-writing pursuits as "research," but the excuse has become the reality. #askagent #askeditor  Both pierce through the Twitter noise and set me on the right course. I get the utility of 140 character posts beyond informing people how long a line might be or what is in your wine glass.

The Sirens' song promised mantic truths with a false promise that their victims would live to share them.  Twitter makes a similar promise:  truth about the writing industry from those who live it.  Now, if I could get my rear off the internet, I might live to share them with you.  Is that a rock ahead?


2 comments:

  1. Twitter introduced me to #1k1hr, a challenge to write 1000 words in an hour, in a race with other authors. In just a little over a month, I've written a 60K book, much of it accomplished through those #1k1hr races.

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  2. I want to try one of the#1k1hr races. I always see them posted about 20 minutes after they started. I love the Write or Die site, so the #1k1hr races sound like great fun.

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