Anyone within screaming distance of my hovel vile is well aware by now that I’m in the process of writing a children’s novel, revising another as well, writing the second book in a two-volume fantasy, and have in hand the mss of the first finished ha ha book that needs editing the way a dog likes bacon. And yet day by terrible day I find myself drawn inexorably for hours to the online objet called Twitter.
Why this should be so I haven’t the foggiest. Oh…okay, actually I do have a fog, a giant one, the kind of misamic dank that could cover the entire eastern seaboard in pea soup of the dankest, darkest variety, completely socked in.
It’s a massive hoot, first if all, the most fun this writer’s had in quite some time. I kind of feel like I was born for it, the class clown’s heaven, and a wordsmith’s paradise, as long as the smythe is a dedicated procrastinator like myself. Most writers clasp procrastination to their souls with hoops of steel. Anything to keep from facing that dreaded blank page, all by your lonesome. And Twitter is a blank page with words already on it. Other people’s words for goodness sake, that you get to respond to! You can write and not be alone. Whoo-hoo!
There are some terribly attractive sorts on Twitter, the pageant of humanity in all its scruffy glory, scrolling downward on your screen avatar by avatar, as they post their witty words or imaginative links or favorite tunes or daily tasks and habits. I’ve made some delectable friends there. And it’s the perfect place to share some of the quotes from my Extracto Literarium – another one of my favorite procastinatory delights, gathering goodies from other people instead of going through the grueling process of making them up myself.
Plus I have this really fun thing I do that gives me the chance to work with God, word-to-word. Yep, William Shakespeare. There’s a guy on Twitter named @IAM_SHAKESPEARE who is tweeting the bard’s entire body of work, line by line. So when one of his tweets pops up on my screen, I giggle and go for it, taking a couple words or three and using them as seed corn for a 140 character-or-less harvest I call twitoetry, or poemitters, or poetweets, or something.
Here’s an example from yesterday:
@IAM_SHAKESPEARE BERTRAM. I’ll lend it thee, my dear, but have no power
@TomYHowe Lend it thee, I’ll give it back, as soon as I am done, though I may play with it a bit, because it is so fun. Who needs virginity anyway?
Ha, could I have any more writer-laughs?
No,
LWIII
teehee!
Ha, my most zen-like comment yet. Thanks Azyh!
Yes, I started following you on twitter a few days ago and noticed that possibly the only other person I follow that tweets more than you is Kevin smith (that guy must have a wire going directly from his brain to the internet).
Man, thanks for telling me that, Jake. I need to cool my jets on the Twitter thing. It’s just the ultimate in procrastination. Never found anything that made me feel more like I was doing something when I wasn’t.
ahh… to twit or not to twit, THAT is the question.
love the twitter myself – though I have been down in the dumps for a little while now and have not been my twittery self. soon though! now I have to follow @IAM_SHAKESPEARE
now, I’m all a-twitter.
xo
lala
Hey la, I say twit, as my followers know. Sorry to hear about the dumps. Know how that goes. I’m not sure what play @IAM_SHAKESPEARE is on right now. I don’t recognize the lines, but it sure is fun to play along.
Happy tweeting!
xoxo
“not sure what play @IAM_SHAKESPEARE is on” ——> it’s “All’s Well That End’s Well”
one of the funnier plays in my humble opinion.
(am following now
hugs!
la
xo
Hey, good one, la, thanks! I’ve read a good portion of them, but that was way back in the day, and doubt I’d recognize any of the comedies anymore. Good to know. I’ve seen some lines tweeted that were so bizarre it didn’t even sound like Willy.
All’s well that ends well!
xoxo
You are brilliant darling — this is why I adore you so. Need I say more?
Nope, that’s plenty, thanks!
LOL.. I think twitter has improved my writing actually.. forced to relay a message in 140char.
Although it is undoubtedly addictive.
Watching twitter techniques is facinating. I’m sure everyone starts the same way with a ‘I don’t get it’ face and slowly find their own use for it. Then the number of tweets.. some trickle tweet and some are like the Battle of Britain.. which are you do you think? ;-P
When I started Twitter I would go there and just sit there stunned, looking at the screen, going what the fark is this? It took me a long time to figure out what it was good for. I didn’t know what to say.
Finally I just started posting quotes, then eventually got the hang of it. Now I can’t stop myself.
I think I’ve become like the Battle of Britain. Never have so few done so little for not much.
Thanks Michelle!