We all do it. Sit for hours in front of our computers posting on Facebook, Twitter, My Space, Ning, and other social media networks. Face it; it is the best way to keep tabs on all your friends, family, and fans. But do you find yourself playing the tug-a-war game everyday?
I know for me as a writer it is important to have a cyber-face present at all times. Social media is the new way of marketing. I teach this in my workshop, How to Sell Yourself. As a writer, you must have a website, you should join social networks, consider a blog and newsletter. However, finding the time to keep up on it all can be a bit much.
The biggest thing I noticed was when I had a few minutes after putting my two month old down I would do the should I clean or should I hop on the computer just to check this or that. I bet you can guess the answer. I, of course, hopped on the computer to just check email and would end up spending more than a few minutes. Let’s say my couple of minutes normally turned into an hour or two. I wouldn’t even notice until my five year old would come into my office saying, “Mommy, can you make me lunch?” or the baby monitor would go off letting me know my two month old was now awake.
I’m not the only one who experiences this problem. I have a couple of friends who finally closed down their Facebook pages because they spent hours everyday just trying to keep up on all the postings from friends, family, and fans. One friend even told me she had not written in weeks because of the time she was spending on social sites.
So what do I suggest? Well, I’ll be honest . . . I was a social media junkie a few months back. I had profiles on My Space, Facebook, Twitter, Jacketflap, a few different Ning networks, Shout, etc. You name it and I was most likely on it. But I could not keep it up once Sabrina came into the picture. A new baby really makes you stop and relook at your time. Before Sabrina, I would spend hours everyday just trying. It cut into my writing time, my personal time, and most importantly … my kid’s time with me. I had to cut back, make choices, and really look at which internet outlets were performing over the ones that were not. I finally choose the ones I found to work best for my now extremely busy schedule and me.
I have cut my social sites down to Facebook, Twitter, Jacketflap, and two Ning networks (Utah Writing and Kids Stories Online). I still have my author website, my company website, blogs and magazine site. It is still a lot to handle, but it’s manageable. The best part is . . .
Now I have more time to do what I love best . . . raising my children and writing.
Follow Me on my Social Networks:
I’m on Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/people/Virginia-S-Grenier/1199014654
Catch me on Twitter at http://twitter.com/VSGrenier
See what I’m up to on Jacketflap at http://www.jacketflap.com/index.asp
Join Marsha Cook and V S Grenier on September 7- 10AM PST 11AM EST NOON PST 1PM EST as they welcome Barbara Rogan. Barbara has had an incedible career and she is still doing so many things to help writers. This is going to be a great show that will be both entertaing and very informative. BARBARA began her publishing career with Fawcett Books before moving to Israel. One year later she established the Barbara Rogan Literary Agency, which specialized in representing American and European publishers and agents for Hebrew-language rights. With a few years the agency had become the largest in the country, supplying over 60% of the large Israeli market for translated books. During this period Barbara served on the Board of Directors of the Jerusalem Book Fair. Her first novel, Changing States , was published simultaneously in England, the U.S., and Israel. Shortly after its publication, she sold the literary agency and returned to New York. Since then she’s pub...
I so agree with you. I've cut back on my blogging. Writing is my priority, and there's just not enough hours in the day to visit all the sites. Nice blog, Virginia.
ReplyDeleteThanks Beverly for stopping by. I'm hoping this blog will help me be more productive instead of non-productive with my writing. Let's hope it works. :)
ReplyDeleteGreat blog post. A tip I've read, so many times before, is to set a timer to help control the amount of time you spend social networking. I got myself a timer last week and found it does work, as long as I remember to use it, lol.
ReplyDeleteGreat tip. Thanks for sharing Susanne.
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