From the series: Life on Dog Hill
I’ve fallen into a love trap called social media. Yes, I’ve tried to hold myself back, tell myself just one minute more… but it’s not working. I’m in love with the access, the knowledge and the convenience of having so much at my fingertips.
In honor of mi amour on this Valentine’s Day, I offer you the top ten reasons why I LOVE social media.
10. Social media makes it easy for me to dream… for example, of Spring. Just last week, I spent an hour putting together a board on Pintrest called Things I love about Spring. You can check it out here!
9. I learn all sorts of secrets about people that inspire my writing. PostSecret is a community art project where people mail in their secrets anonymously on one side of a homemade postcard. Some of them are rather macabre…. Is this weird of me?
8. Speaking of writing, I get to follow some really inspirational indie writers like the one everyone should know — JA Konrath!
7. I can get my dog fix anytime since there are a gazillion dog videos on the internet to make me smile! Check out this cute little puppy pinwheel! Cutest thing ever from The Daily Muse blog.
6. And kids… yep, I love them too and when my own kids aren’t nearly entertaining enough, there’s Niecy Nash. She made me laugh in this cute interview she did with kids about love and marriage. “You think marriage is fun? Who told you that! I don’t want to shatter your little dreams…(laughs madly) By the time you get some stretch marks, you’ll know what I mean.” Enjoy!
5. Inspiration is a click away. Two of my favorite inspirational sites are Marc and Angel Hack Life and The Miracle Journal with Leah Carey. Every time I read a blog posting from either of these sites I feel miraculously inspired!
4. I can read books for FREE! For starters, there are tons of free books on Amazon and other book sites. You’ll want to bookmark the link I provided because Amazon doesn’t make it easy to find! Just know that some authors invest more than others to insure a well-written book. If an author hires an editor before publishing (like I do), that’s a good sign. Also, look for ratings from other readers as an indication of the quality of the book. Even if books aren’t free, if they are listed on Amazon I can “borrow” them for free because we have an Amazon Prime account. Sweet! Don’t worry, authors get paid even when the book is borrowed. 🙂
3. I’ve made new friends. You want to know where I’ve made the most friends? Twitter! Oh, how I love thee! Okay, so maybe new friends should be number 1 but…
2. I am a subject matter expert of EVERYTHING! When I was writing my first book, Truth Runs Deep, I searched the internet and found Dr. D.P. Lyle, a cardiologist and forensics expert who helps writers ensure their gory murder details are accurate — for FREE! When I emailed Dr. Lyle in October of 2008, I was concerned about the dead bodies I had lying around. Five of them, to be exact. Timing was critical for everything to be believable. Dr. Lyle was already an award-winning author, lecturer and story consultant on television shows such as Westside Medical, Law and Order, Monk, House, CSI: Miami and others. Bottom line: this dude was BIG time. I sent my query in the exact format required and hoped I might hear back in a month or two. Within twenty minutes I had a response with the information I needed. I was momentarily shocked, then elated! Dr. Lyle’s response resulted in a day’s worth of rewrite, but it was well worth it. You can learn more about Dr. Lyle here.
My current area of expertise? Egyptology! Stay tuned….
Finally, the Number 1 reason why I love social media:
I can fix anything! Like this, or this, or this. Yep, if someone’s posted a how-to video on YouTube, I’m there! Just call me, Ms. know-it, fix-it all!
Image courtesy of Stuart Miles / FreeDigitalPhotos.net
Recent Comments