Thankful for Twitter

I’m (hopefully) going to keep this short because there’s this big holiday tomorrow and I have a Pitch Wars submission to tweak (and tweak and tweak so more). And before anyone gets all grumpy at me, I’m also thankful for the usual things. I have a great house with a garage and heat and a roof. I have awesome family and friends. I married in May and have the best husband I could have hoped for. I work for a fabulous company that pays me to eat and drink and play with chemicals all day. But the newest thing I’m thankful for? Twitter. This isn’t me telling any of you not already on Twitter to sign up now. It’s just that Twitter has changed my writer/reader life in more ways than I thought possible. Here are my reasons why, quick and dirty and bullet point style:

·         PUBLISHED AUTHORS. I read what published authors are tweeting. I’m learning what it’s like to be an author with the traveling, publishing, writing amidst all the other life stuff. I can tell authors how amazing I think their books are and they tweet me back. Also, authors like to talk about their WIPs and when they’ll be on the market, getting me all excited for books I otherwise wouldn’t know existed.

·         AGENTS. Agents like to tell aspiring authors what they want and don’t want so I can decide if they might be the right one for me and my MS. They say what works in a query and what doesn’t, which helps me improve my queries. They talk to other agents, who I add to my list of agents to query next. Their tweets promoting writers they’ve newly signed give me hope that someday I’ll be that writer and they’ll be promoting me just as hard.

·         EDITORS. It’s so informative to know what bugs editors. Get rid of this word. Don’t use this phrase. Stop with all the adjectives and adverbs. It helps me write better so that, someday, when my MS lands in their hands, it’s better than it would have been. I also like to think it means my MS is more likely to catch an agent.

·         CONTESTS. I didn’t know of this contest world until I joined Twitter. I had no idea that writers are often putting their work out there in a fun, competitive environment for agents to grab. Yes, I was disappointed when I didn’t get into Baker’s Dozen—but there are always more contests, more way to improve my pitch and my MS, more ways to meet other writers. Like Pitch Wars.

·         OTHER WRITERS. Holy %$*&! I knew there were other writers out there, but I had no idea how open the community is. I’m trading my stuff with them and it’s making my writing better because of it. We cheer each other on and share our disappointments. We understand what it’s like and are determined to help each other get published.

·         PITCH WARS MENTORS. Speaking of other writers helping other (other?) writers, there are these people who have just landed an agent/published their first book(s) and who are beyond determined to help the rest of us get there. They want to read what we’ve got and help us make it better. They share links to helpful websites and give us honest advice. I ask questions and they answer.

There are probably more reasons I like Twitter, but this short week has been a busy one and I’m wearing down fast. Plus, as previously mentioned (many, many times…sorry), I’ve a submission to tweak. Have a wonderful holiday, all. See you on Twitter.