I know I can go 101 days without social media. Giving up Twitter, Google+, and especially Facebook isn’t too tough for me. I can go without a telephone, too. (I’m also not much of a fan of text messages.) The one thing I always check daily, though, is email. So…this past weekend, I unplugged it […]
Why Take a Social Media Break?
I like social media. I like staying in touch with friends from other places, chatting with people about writing and publishing, and finding people with similar hobbies and discussing them. Even at my quietest, years ago when I was terribly shy, I liked people. I love the Internet for no other reason than it’s brought […]
Behind the Scenes Kickstarter Peek
It turns out one of my biggest problems promoting myself just might be that I’m uncomfortable spamming my social networks. Okay, maybe spamming is too harsh a word, but…it’s become more evident than ever that I do not like turning my blog and social networks into “Do this, please!/Buy this, please!” calls to action. The […]
What Consumes You?
I recently wrote about the effort many writers spend in pursuit of getting people to know they exist…how the race to create a “platform” or “brand” trumps actually writing for some. It’s a pretty simple formula: spend a lot of time totally connected to social media, being a personality who shares links to great writing […]
A Busy Weekend
This weekend (Sunday), I’m speaking at Emerging Tech Conference Dallas. Sunday at 1:00, I’m talking about the Benefits of Sequential Content. If you’re in the area and looking for something to do this weekend, you can do much worse than coming to Grapevine and listening to all kinds of cool people talking about new media. […]
Promoting Your Writing
It’s not too hard to put out an e-book. Sure, it takes work to write a novel, but as far as turning that into an e-book — even I figured it out pretty fast. The tough thing is promoting what you’re doing. There, I can do much better. A Couple Cases Shawn Kupfer Shawn Kupfer […]
The Importance of Stories
If you’ve ever doubted how important a story can be to somebody, watch this (NSFW: some swearing): The quick version of the story: A guy’s friend has terminal cancer and may be dead by June. So the guy jumps online and explains that it would mean so much if his friend could find out how […]
After the Social Media Break
At 8:00 p.m. last Wednesday night, I returned to social media. I recently wrote about the 101-day social media break here. And now, some thoughts upon returning… The First Thing Upon returning to social media, the first thing I checked was Facebook. And the first thing I saw? A rant about how stupid Black Friday […]
101 Days Without Social Media
Today at 8:00 p.m. is the end: 101 days without social media. I made it. I’d like to say it had a profound effect on me. In some ways, at least initially, it did. Then it was just a no-issue kind of thing I didn’t think about much. It was no longer, “I’m giving something […]
Social Media Break (Day 65)
I haven’t mentioned the social media break in over two weeks. That’s because social media really isn’t much of a thought anymore. It seems like a distant memory. There’s no strong desire to take part, but there’s also no disdain for it. It’s like golf, scrapbooking, or cup stacking (commentary at :24 seconds in) — […]
Social Media Break (50 Days)
This morning, I’d have been back… I’d have been back to Facebook, Twitter, and Google Plus. I’d have been back on social media sites, all the wiser after taking a 50-day break. But CMStewart dared me to go 100 days, and who am I to pass by on a dare? (I’m actually going 101 days.) […]
The Social Media Break (Week Six)
If my 50-day social media break were Lent, I’d be back online. If I hadn’t decided to push the break to 101 days, a week and a day from today, I’d be back online. It’s funny how time’s dragged in ways, but also how it’s flown by. The Ups and Downs I’ve noticed that since […]
Three Weeks without Social Media
Something interesting happened this past week — my third week without social media. An explosion of ideas hit. I’m never at a loss for writing ideas; that always comes first! But I realized that I haven’t really thought about ways to promote all I’m doing because it’s so easy to post stuff on Facebook, Twitter, […]