To Tweet or Not To Tweet

As writers, and particularly if we enter the world of self publishing, we are told that a presence on social media sites is essential. We need to market our stuff, bare our souls and shout about how great we are. Not so hard, right? Given the number of social media resources, it should be a breeze.

I find it really difficult. I start of with good intentions; but soon fall from the path of good social media. I start to blog daily, the it falls to weekly, then sporadically. 

I visit Facebook far too often and get distracted by posts wanting a puppy or kitten saving, or reading about jolly jaunts, gaze longingly at pictures of my grandchildren in the UK, keeping up with what to plant in the orto (veggie garden) or how to rid the lettuce of slugs and bugs. Then there are the writing sites, with advice on all areas of writing, books to buy - ever so easy with a kindle, just a click away!- and updates from writing friends. That's half a morning gone in a blink of any eye and I still haven't posted anything. 

I do have a Twitter account and read recently that you can schedule 'tweets' ( and as they are short posts, I thought maybe I could manage that. And there aren't any pictures to distract my eye. So I made a plan of subject areas I can tweet on a daily basis, and  just spent an hour on Tweetdeck, writing tweets for the next few days. That was of course, after my Facebook session. And I can schedule my blog, this one, to be exact.

As to the other social media sites, I haven't even explored them for fear of never lifting my head to write another word. What media sites do you use and do they help your writing? Or are they a bit of distraction and take more time out of your day?