LY #86 More about Tweeting

My friend Stacey Donohue is now at the MLA in Chicago, shivering and tweeting.  I don't tweet, myself, though I recognize the value of that channel of communication.  Stacey says it's a good way to share ideas quickly, keep informed, and keep others informed; that it's useful if one has a cohort.


I feel anxious at the thought of having to share ideas quickly and of "keeping up" with the New and the Now.  I don't want to be "on" 24/7.  That's too much like the journalistic life I left behind at age 23.  And I don't really have a "cohort" with whom I want to be in instant and/or constant communication.  I have perhaps a bit in common with the cat who walked by himself.

I did make an attempt, during November's NCA meeting in Washington (which I did not attend) to find some conference tweeting found little to read.  This is largely a matter of my lack of understanding of how hashtags function but may also have been a shortage of tweets about the actual conference.  I searched for #NCA when I should probably have been searching for hashtags specific to particular individuals or divisions or even panels -- but that seemed like WAY too much work.  I did find a few tweets from individuals excited to be there but nothing that gave me insight into what people thought of the panels they were attending. 

And, frankly, I didn't look that hard.  I'm pretty lazy about performing new and difficult behaviors for which I see no reward.

Painting by Sam Hanson

If my post retirement plans fall into place, however, there will be some rewards for tweeting.  I will need to learn this new communicative behavior in order to market my self-published books.  Self-publishing requires self-promotion.  And all the "experts" today tell us that self-promotion requires social media. learn  So, once I've finished with my first summer project, the edited collection of my Dad's painting of nudes, I'll be reading more advice about self-publishing and then getting that electronic book up at Booksurge,  Createspace, or Lulu.  Dad's memoirs are already available at the latter.  Sadly, in the writings he left behind he said nothing about his post-retirement work as an artist.  I want to fill in that missing piece while leaving behind a little piece of my mind as well.  And that may, indeed, take a few tweets.