Where to invest

I work full time and I’m an author. I need to invest my time wisely. Sometimes it’s hard. Sometimes life has too much unnecessary drama. Other people’s nasty attitudes, ugly personalities, rudeness, and meanness. Too much bad news on TV, too much reporting on Lindsay Lohan, not to mention her mother and father. Who cares? It’s all an incredible time suck and a drain.

I needed a break and picked up People magazine, flipped pages, and suddenly came to a section called Coming Home, about brave Marines and their return from war. Not all of their friends came home. I couldn’t imagine. I see my friends when I want to. I can get on a plane and visit my family. They don’t know when they will next see family/friends, and vice versa. Theirs is a significant struggle, one worth at least a few minutes of my precious time. The article made me stop and think. Where do I invest?  Where should I invest? The stock market? Maybe. For me, I choose to invest in myself, my family, my friends, and those who give selflessly for the benefit of others. There’s enough drama in my books.  Let’s leave it there.

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Twitter Chats

I’m still exploring all the social media sites available, and am fairly new to Twitter. In fact, I was reluctant to join Twitter, and did so because a) I have a novel to market, and b) my publisher requested it.  I’m glad I did. I’ve met some fantastic people.

A few weeks ago, I unexpectedly stumbled across a Twitter chat taking place, called storycraft, and quickly learned this was a great group of like-minded twitter folks all chatting about something we have in common: the many different aspects of writing. I came away from the chat with new twitter friends, valuable information, and a lot of differing perspectives.  Every week it’s a new topic, and I’ve been back every week. For me, it’s like meeting a Sunday crowd for a good chat, and I look forward to it. Twitter has many different chats going on all the time. Those taking part use hashtags (#) and the name of the group to follow whichever chat they want.

Twitter chats are a great way to connect with other people who share the same interests, have the same questions, and can provide you with interesting insight. It helps increase your Twitter following with folk you would actually want to follow back. I’ve found other mystery authors through these chats whose books I’d like to read. Hopefully, some of them want to read mine. If you’re not already using Twitter to grow your online presence and build a network, you should. Thanks Twitter.

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