Tag Archives: Twitter

Fewer Words

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Blogging regularly requires finding a subject and crafting a post about it worth reading. The subject can be something significant and newsworthy—or it can also be mundane and personal. As my sister commented the other day, “there is almost no topic that can’t be worked into an interesting post.” That’s what it takes to keep creating content, consistently.

When I got serious about my writing, I realized that writing regularly was part of the process required to develop my craft. Actually, Stephen King shared that secret with me. Since then, my blogging track record dating back to 2003 (although some of that blogging is no longer with us, at least not on the interwebs) demonstrates that commitment.

While I’ve continued to build narratives of 500, 1,000, and upwards of those word counts, the world seems to be moving in a minimalist direction regarding communication. How many words does it take to tell a story? I’m not sure. Probably 400 or 500 would be on the lower end. I’m a firm believer that it takes more than Twitter’s 140 characters to communicate effectively. And I’m no fan of communicating by emoji via Facebook. That probably identifies me as old-fashioned.

No one writes letters these days. People can’t even be bothered to email.

Then there are days like today when life gets in the way and there’s not enough time to tackle something larger. I’ve been ruminating about things I observed during recent work-related travels through western Maine that I can’t do justice to today, so I’ll hold off ‘til a later date.

Life’s Lesson Plan

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This has been an interesting week. No two days were the same. Come to think of it, the routine and boredom that were part and parcel of the days occupying a seat in a cubicle farm are long gone. I also don’t miss working for people I couldn’t stand.

That’s not to say that life always comes up roses in the free agent economy. August began with a great deal of optimism and the herald that things were trending in the right direction. Then, a major car repair on Tuesday chewed up a week’s worth of income and I was reminded once again that life (at least the life of a freelancer) is always going to present a bumpy ride now and then.

This is what I tweeted on Tuesday.

A successful #freelancer becomes comfortable with ambiguity, is able to juggle/prioritize, remaining the same during feast/famine.

I felt like I captured 2015 from my perspective in less than 140 characters. Twitter-rific! Continue reading →

I Don’t Want to Hear It

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We all have opinions. Most of us have strongly-held ones. The desire to share my opinions, as well as some of what I thought was foundational information behind those opinions, were reasons why I started blogging back in 2003.

I still have opinions. Many of them have evolved over time. Having an opinion and sharing it is also seems fraught with danger, 12 years later. Now, I’m less likely to add my two cents worth to whatever battle is being waged over symbols, or people’s preferences.

Being hesitant to weigh-in on the Battle Royale raging at the moment also leaves a limited amount of topics to write about at times, or so it seems. Also, that’s what Facebook and Twitter are for. Spending time wasting words via a blog seems so 2006. No one seems interested anymore in reading several hundred words. 140-character tweets are now de riguer with the cool kids holding court, ruling the turf formerly held by bloggers. Who cares if they have nothing behind their prattle except their strongly held opinions?

"La, La, La, La..."

“La, La, La, La…”

My previous post touched down on binary thinking. I’ve mentioned the topic enough before. I won’t go there again today. I will only say that our inability to have a dialogue on a variety of tough subjects, even those deemed by our arbiters as “controversial,” doesn’t bode well for us. Screaming louder than your foes, or using your newly-found majority status doesn’t indicate rightness, either.

Perhaps I’ll just blog about the weather and puppies—no one is opposed to sun and cuteness, right?

Obama’s Got a Twitter

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Well, it’s official. The president has a Twitter account. Great to see @POTUS yucking it up with @billclinton about Hillary’s run to be Obama’s successor.

This is big news in a nation where we no longer have the means and the will to fix our roads, bridges, or other infrastructure. No, let’s just reduce everything to 140 characters and be done with it.

President's on Twitter.

President’s on Twitter.

Continue reading →

Step Back

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It’s easy to react, especially if you’re a reactive person. That would be me.

There have been numerous times when I experienced something and my first reaction was criticism. Later, after reflection, I came to a different conclusion. Then, there are the times I thought something was great, only to debrief later and my assessment had changed. That doesn’t mean I’m wishy-washy, but that space and distance often delivers a different sense of an event, person, or circumstance.

Our ever-present, ever-on technology platforms allow us to emote, bloviate, and impose our opinions on others—in real time—without any space or distance to ruminate. Our media channels do the same thing. No one reads newspapers, and few people subscribe to thoughtful publications offering opinion backed by facts. It’s simply garbage in, garbage out via Facebook or Twitter.

The natural world is a perfect place to reflect.

The natural world is a perfect place to reflect.

Continue reading →

Tweeting Backwards

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Paris Review No. 181 Cover-Norman Mailer

Paris Review No. 181 Cover-Norman Mailer

Some criticize Twitter for being too brief and even superficial. However, those critics lack an understanding of what Twitter is often best at–aggregating news and other information.

Five minutes on Twitter Sunday morning allowed me to read a tweet linking to a terrific interview with the late literary icon, Norman Mailer. The interview with Mailer, from 2007, was one of The Art of Fiction series, No. 193, from The Paris Review, conducted by Andrew O’Hagan. Continue reading →

Getting the Most Out of Your Convention Experience

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MEHRC logoEvery May for the past four years, I’ve been attending the Maine HR Convention at the Samoset Resort, in Rockport. The reason this has become a must-attend event for me is that year after year, this week-long HR-centric convention continues to deliver value. I’m not sure why I wasn’t attending before then.

While I’m not able to spend the entire week in Rockport, I always try to pick the best two days for me and stay over, and then hit a third day’s workshops and events before making the drive back home.  Continue reading →

The Twitter in five easy steps

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The Twitter

The Twitter

I really like “the” Twitter. It’s better than “the” Facebook and many times, it rocks a lot harder than “the” Linkedin.

Is my use of “the” annoying you? It’s how my sister and I talk about “the” social media networks and many other things. It’s a long story and it involves too many sordid details to represent here, but let me tell you, Mister Man, it’s a cocker of a tale that I’ll tell you about in some later post, so don’t change that channel, chummy! Continue reading →

Mowing, thinking, tweeting, blogging

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The Toro 22″ Recycler–a lawn-mowing machine.

Mowing my lawn allows me two hours of uninterrupted thinking time. Often, I’ve developed and framed ideas that eventually became blog posts, like this one.

Yesterday afternoon, with the late afternoon fall shadows casting and covering most of my two-acre lawn, I was contemplating Twitter (of all things) while pushing and cajoling my Toro 22” Recycler around my grassy knoll. I was also hoping that this would be one of the last times I have to do this ‘til the spring, especially anticipating the forecasted, first hard frost that evening. Mainly, I was pondering why Twitter still seems so unfathomable for people that consider themselves social media savvy, mainly because they maintain a Facebook page. Continue reading →