Friday 27 September 2013

Do you have a life or have you lost it to social media?

I am obviously deeply fond of you but I admit I don't honestly care too much what you do with your life, which is yours for the enjoying. However, I do care what you do in the name of "being a writer". Because, the most important thing about "being a writer" is "writing". And social media can steal that from you.

I speak as one who knows. Trust me!

I blogged about this for Scottish Book Trust here. *whistles a ditty while you go to read it*

It was a short post, designed to be so, as that was my brief. (See what I did there?) So each point is made quite starkly. For example, you might want to question the "don't take advice from social media experts" one. I'm not suggesting they know nothing, but I am saying that, if you are a writer, you need to follow the advice of writers you see using social media well.

Any other tips you'd have added if there were allowed to be more than five?!

Also, do you have a life or have you lost it to social media? Let me know. I'm not sure what the answer is for me. In many ways, I've enriched my life and my writing life, but in other ways I've lost some soul and some creativity.

4 comments:

catdownunder said...

Oh I definitely have a life outside social media...I actually use Twitter for work under a separate account. It's a marvellous tool for me but I had to make strict rules about when I would be available.
I refuse to have Skype and, unless there is a major international emergency and I need to work on it, then I turn the computer off at about 8 in the evening and do other things.
If things stop me from writing then they are never because I have been "socialising" on the 'net.
That said, social media has allowed me to virtually "meet" you and a range of other interesting people and this has expanded my social life in many positive ways - but I keep my paws firmly on it and do not allow it to rule me.

Words A Day said...

i think I've lost some of my attention span, but I have no internet on the computer I write on, that way I'm not tempted to check email, facebook, the blog, twitter... there are so many distractions - but I learn a lot from being online too, so I think I'm here to stay :)

JO said...

It feels to me like there's a dialogue between my writing life, my 'real life' (for want of a better way to put it) and social media. Sometimes social media does far too much talking, and I have to shout to make it shut up. At other times my 'real life' is centre stage, because sometimes it's like that. And the writing - that simply never goes away, it's like tinnitus except it's not irritating - there is no way of imagining Life without it.

Nicola Morgan said...

Words a Day - having no internet on your work computer sounds like a v good idea! My problem is that for most of my work, I'll need the internet. Though I admit that even when that's not the case, I may well (ok, definitely will...) have it on.

Jo - a very good way of describing it!