Monday 9 September 2019

Writing Life & Hashtags - The Creative Process



WRITING LIFE & HASHTAGS

Last week's piece was a tad heavy and so I decided that this week, I would go for something a little loose and carefree, and that's writing life and all the hashtags of twitter, Instagram and the rest of social media. If you're part of any of those, you'll know that hashtags are a great way to direct the right people to your posts and start a conversation.

One of these that I find myself using a lot on Twitter is #WritingLife. It's basically one that I follow, since I use Tweetdeck which allows me to track hashtags in a different window and still keep up with my feed, along with the funny #WriterProblems and #WritingCommunity, as well as a couple of others that I won't mention. But one thing that always makes me smile is that the community there is so welcoming and so happy to help that it felt like something I should write about.

As you all know, I'm a spoonie, I try and keep myself going when I have bad days and I try to make sure that I follow the goals I set myself on my Authortube channel. Well, this past couple of months, one of the goals has been to post to Instagram and Twitter at least once a day. Part of this was because I have a bigger following on Twitter (and have just recently crossed over to 1K and above!) and part of it is that I feel like a lot more writers, young and old, and readers interact with Twitter because it doesn't have the same algorithm problem that Instragram and Facebook have where it's all about how popular your posts are before they get seen. On Twitter, you see it if you follow the person.

It's been a whole new learning experience and I'll admit to having picked up a lot of tips from Authortube, and from other Instagram big names. Such as making sure you're using the right hashtags, where you put them (in the post or in the comments) and all of that. It's always nice to learn new things, and how they'll help your reach. But one reason I didn't click with Twitter so much was because a lot of the people I was following were just tweeting out buy links and never really interacting. I'll admit that I made the same mistake in the beginning, and then kinda let it sit idle while my Facebook page and Instagram and Tumblr cross-posted and it's really only been in the last three years or so that I've started actively using it as a way to meet people.

And I have met so many nice people, from my CP, to other Authortube friends, to fellow indie authors, to people looking to connect with certain writers. It's a brilliant place to be and I really do feel that a lot of that is tied into the hashtags. And it blows my mind how simple, but yet ingenuous it is. From using one simple hashtag I have found people I now consider close friends. I have made connections with other authors and with other writers who are still on the beginning stages of their process. And it's just an amazing place to be. The idea that we all share one simple thing and yet we all know what it feels like to wake up with an idea, only to forget it in the morning. Or to not have enough time to write something down, make a note of it, and then come back to find that it doesn't work. I could go on and on, but my point is that it's a wide open space out there, and it's so welcoming and it's so friendly, and it's just a nice place to be.

So that's my piece for today, when it comes to meeting other writers, or sharing ideas, hashtags are an amazing thing for that. Come join us on Twitter or Instagram and make friends, you never know you might end up having a whole load of fun and really loving every moment. I know I do!

Lemme know your favourite social media and your favourite hashtag in the comments below!


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