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Join me at The Popculturedivas for Honesty on Twitter Always the Best Policy?

Thursday Thirteen - 242 - 13 People I Follow on Twitter

Until I went to the writers' conference in New York last June, I used Twitter only sporadically. I had my blog set to feed all posts directly to Twitter, and that gave me automatic status updates, which suited this blogger perfectly.

I don't have a cell phone or any other sort of mobile electronic device - what did I need Twitter for, really?

Apparently, my writing life needed Twitter desperately. At the conference, I discovered that everyone involved in publishing was a heavy Twitter user. So, if I wanted to dance, I'd better get myself to the party.

Since July, I've been steadily increasing my Twitter followers and am closing in on 1000. I've discovered lots and lots of great book review bloggers through Twitter, plus all manner of arts Twitterers, writers, film industry folk, Twitterers from television, comics, publishing, social media, local Halifax and Nova Scotia Twitterers, Toronto Twitterers, and some who are just plain interesting folk.

I've already noticed a huge impact on my blog and Facebook stats since I stopped using Twitter as a parking space and hit the open road instead.

In celebration of my impending 1000th follower, here are thirteen Twitterers I follow, with a sample tweet:

1 - @evilpez4

Carpoolapalooza starts tomorrow. Dust off your small talk & hide that WHAM! Cd. #Halifax #Dartmouth #transitstrikeisgo

2 - @canadiancynic

Sure, experts might disagree bit.ly/xf5aIL but Stephen Harper is a "trained economist" with a rigid, throbbing mandate.

3 - @porterthereport

The key to Apple's success: Chinese Sweatshops, where workers are available 24/7 for $17 a day! Such enthusiasm! http://tinyurl.com/7qktjkr

4 - @mlhelliwell

It's Feburary. February. Whatever.My spell checker is going to get a workout this month. #cantspellfebruary

5 - @jessied44

@RealHughJackman . It really is happening. After decades. You and Colm making it come true.

6 - @nationalballet

Hey @metromorning fans watch National Ballet’s Guillaume Côté in int'l viral sensation Lost in Motion, over 250K views bit.ly/At5Pb6!

7 - @Browne Tom

Still don't know ur writing voice? What's ur personality type? Sad/depressed/dark - try comedy. Happy/content/pleasant - go for a thriller.

8 - @portentint

10,001 followers. It works forwards AND backwards.

9 - @jumblejim

Maybe I should become a hairdresser so my daughter Maddie wouldn't look like a goat's been sucking her hair.

10 - @AjayFry

My fly was down the whole way to work this morning. Hope you appreciated it Toronto.

11 - @RAnetdotcom

I've been asked to run a poll about characters from classic novels you'd like to see Richard play. Suggestions for the list please?

12 - @ParanormalRead1

Come by and leave a teaser of what your reading or writing on our wall. Paranormal Reads

13 - @GothicNet

News: The Top Ten Horror Films of 2011 top-ten-horror-films-of-2011"

Thursday Thirteen - 110 - 13 Things I'll Enjoy Now That I've Got My Computer Back

I'm sitting at my desk in my living room, basking in happiness in front of my newly-restored computer. Sigh. It's been a lo-o-o-ong week-and-a-half while it was in the shop. And there's so many things I can do now!


1 - The first sign of trouble came when the latest Flash Player upgrade came up. I couldn't install the new version, no matter what. I suspected that a run-in with a virus a few months previously had corrupted some of my hard drive. And that is precisely what did happen.

My best friend's husband has rescued my computer and my sanity. He's got Flash Player installed and now I can watch video on the computer again.













2 - Before we handed our tower over to Mark, the little blue bar showing available memory on the C drive was the complete opposite of this new one. We had no memory to speak of. Yay! Thanks Mark!

3 - I can get back to my Robbie story. Haven't been working on that since the computer went into the shop. Instead, I've been concentrating on my Scorpius story, collecting pictures for a collage I'll be making on Saturday at the all-day writing workshop.


4 - And while I'm working on my Robbie story, I can listen to my YouTube playlists. Oh, how I've missed those!




5 - At last, at last, at last I can watch the third season of BBC's Robin Hood!! I've been watching bits and pieces at work while I kill time waiting for the bus at the end of the day. But now my husband and I can settle in and watch the whole thing!! Here's a preview.



6 - We can watch DVDs on our computer media player. Our regular DVD player bit the dust a while ago, so we watch movies on the computer. The computer is across from the couch so it's comfy, and we get a really good picture on the computer.

7 - I can visit racier blogs and sites at home than I obviously can at work. Yay, me! A writer needs a little inspiration...

8 - I didn't bother saving the image files I'd made up of my fictional characters. I figured they could all use a bit of housecleaning, so now I'll be on the hunt for new ones. I find it very relaxing to gather pictures.

9 - I can visit all of my favorite blogs again! My blog-hopping was down to nearly zero, as I attempted to continue posting from work during my breaks and lunch. That was only marginally successful, because it's been very, very hectic at work. I couldn't push my break times too hard - sometimes I needed a rest from it all.

10 - Considering that I went to film school, you would think I would have posted some video on my blog by now. Well, that lack of memory was definitely a deterrent to that idea. But we've got lots of new memory. Now, to figure out the whole uploading thing.

11 - The endless research - do you know how many times I thought 'Oh, I'll go look that up on the computer' and then realized I didn't have access to the internet? For curious need-to-know people like me, it's such a relief to be able to google again.

12 - I'll be able to Twitter again - not too much of that this past week-and-a-half, since I don't have a cell phone or a blackberry.


13 - And I can update my Facebook, too. That's been pretty haphazard lately. A break and a lunch goes by awfully quick if you're trying to blog, Twitter and Facebook. Ah, the luxury of not having to check the clock, check the clock...

Alice Audrey says I have a sudden urge to back up my files.

Carleen says I can't imagine life without a computer anymore.

Chris says I recently experienced a week without my computer and it was hard!

2009 Blog Improvement Project - 6 - Taking My New Social Media For a Test Drive

Kim at Sophisticated Dorkiness nudges us to explore our chosen social media tools for our next improvement quest.

"Week 6 for the Blog Improvement Project is going to be pretty simple: trying out a new social media tool.















1. Pick out a new social media tool, or reacquaint yourself with a social media tool you already use. If you’re new, sign up and create an account.

(Check! I joined Twitter.)

Make sure to include your blog URL in your new profile so you can connect across social media platforms.

(Thanks to Cathy at Kittling: Books for mentioning Twitterfeed. That gave me instructions to link my blog to my Twitter page.)



2. Update your blog to include your new social media contact information.

(Check! I've got my tweets in my sidebar with a link taking you to my Twitter page.)






3. Spend the next three weeks actively using your new social media. For example, set a goal of tweets per day or how many comments you’ll leave on GoodReads reviews to make sure you give it a good shot.

(Check! I've just learned how to use the @ feature, which allows me to respond directly to a tweet from someone I follow or one of my followers.)













4. Don’t be afraid to connect with other people. Find authors, publishers, famous people, or bloggers that are 'bigger' than you and connect with them via social media. Don’t be intimidated, just try it!

(Check! At the moment I'm following 50 people, and 26 people are following me. High profile people I'm following on Twitter:
Gerard Butler - he's got 7599 followers
Stephen Colbert - 114,159 followers
Jon Stewart - 6931 followers
Kevin Smith - 115,411 followers
Seth MacFarlane - 13,167 followers
Seth Rogen - 10,386 followers
Ellen DeGeneres - 12,041 followers
Quentin Tarantino - 364 followers)

5. At the end of your three weeks using more social media, write up a post about how it worked for you. I’ll do another Social Media Carnival post at the end of March wrapping up what everyone learned." - Kim

So far, so good. I'm enjoying Twitter far more than I thought I would. It will be interesting to see if I notice any more traffic here at A Piece of My Mind in a couple of months.