Can someone suffer from a Twitter block? I think I had my very first Twitter block. It’s Sunday and I haven’t slept all night. My face is set in a grimace resembling a desperately grumpy zombie. Maybe it’s because of my mood which has lightened since the last post. Things have been resolved. Or is it simply lack of sleep? Whatever the reason is, when I checked Twitter this morning, I stared at the new posts and couldn’t thinking of anything interesting to say. Do thousands of people out there feel the same sometimes? That feeling of insignificance usually only reserved for the realm of writers – writer’s block or in this case Twitter block?
The initial excitement of playing with something new – and justifying it as part of your ‘job’ has gone down, leaving a different feeling. Do popular tweeters look at the thousands of people following them every day and get that pressure to say something interesting? I have a handful and I feel the pressure.
Perhaps it’s just today.
I’m glad in some ways because I found editor Alan Rinzler’s website and read ‘Ask the Editor: The #1 issue for writers today‘ reminding me that the real deal is and always will be writing the novel, that my focus must yet again go back to writing:
Your own best writing takes — and you knew this was coming – rewriting. It may take a dozen times or more. And if you sustain a consistent, authentic voice of your own, well, hey, that’s you writing, that’s who you are.
In the article he gives tips on how to improve your story. Some of them you and I may already know but sometimes when you’re bogged down by other concerns like marketing and the nitty gritty details in a chapter, it’s good to have a reminder. Here are the bullet points to remind myself – this blog is my notebook – and I’d recommend aspiring writers to read the article fully as it goes into more detail. It helped me. And it might help you.
- Creating characters we care about.
- Telling an emotionally satisfying story.
- Organizing the plot.
- Keeping the narrative voice as clear as a bell.
- Surprising the reader.
- Drilling down to the essential ingredients.
- Getting smart feedback.
Back to the tap tap tap. And it’s a good thing.
[pic taken from here]
Rinzler is good. Betsy Lerner is the best literary agent site on the web. She’s smart as hell and allergic to bullshit. I heartily recommend browsing through her archives.
Hi Stet, thanks for the recommending Betsy Lerner and I’m guessing you’re talking about Alan Rinzler. Just checked out her site and had a quick scan. Definitely going to spend some time there. I didn’t know about Alan Rinzler either so thanks so much for passing by and pointing the way.
You -do- know about Alan Rinzler! You linked to him in your post!
Hey Stet, yeah you’re right – oops – I meant I do know Alan Rinzler. Sorry, typo ; ) thanks for taking time to point it out. You know when you’re brain is thinking one thing and you’re typing out something else – I stand corrected.