I’m almost done sharing a full week of ways to boost your writing career with Twitter. How many have you tried?
1. Build Networks and Personal Relationships
2. Get Involved in Conversations
7. Tease ‘Em
8. Challenge Yourself
7. Tease ‘em
You know you’ve always wanted to be a tease. Now’s your chance. Twitter is an excellent way to get your work to readers. Tweet an approved excerpt, title or blurb with a link to your site. If you’ve got a long excerpt, tweet a line or two each day with a link to your book, website or blog. Tweet your public appearances and book signings. Tweet an excerpt of your blog posts and link back to your blog.
An extension of this is to add Twitter updates to your social network sites and blog via plug-ins and apps, short for applications. You can do this by going to the “Settings” then “Account” tab at Twitter and following the “You can also add Twitter to your site here” link below the “More Info URL box. Likewise, you can also set up your Blogger, Facebook, MySpace, TypePad and other social sites to update twitter through the use of applications (apps) or plug-ins. If you can’t locate the necessary apps or plug-ins at your social site, try a Google search.
8. Challenge yourself
Sometimes you need a little extra push to get you over a hump or a mental block. Tweet that you’re putting yourself on a deadline or giving yourself a challenge, say, to finish chapter 12 by lunch. Work in a few periodic breaks to update your status (or download a Twitter app like TwitterFox for your browser to update your status without the temptation of reading Twitter posts) and let folks know when you’re done and if you met your goal. For some, this is just distraction, but for those who thrive on competition and public humiliation, it may just be the ticket. If you’ve got other writer-friends on Twitter, you may be able to convince them to join you in your challenge. Never hurts to ask.
What kind of writing challenge works best for you? Set page output? Finishing a chapter? A specific number of scenes? Just getting to your writing on some days? Do share–we love hearing about your goals.
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