Yesterday evening I participated in my first Twitter chat (#kidlitchat) and had a great time learning all sorts of great things (once I wrapped my brain around it all--it was like sitting in the middle of a room and trying to listen to thirteen conversations going on at once).
But one thing I heard/read from Elizabeth Law (a publisher with Egmont USA) that I thought was interesting was this:
"A thing I learned from Alice Pope: you have to be participating in social networking and can't leap in just to promote your book."
It made me wonder about this whole blogging experience. I resisted getting a blog at first, but only because I knew that once I started I'd love it so much I'd never be able to give it up. (And as usual, I was right.) But are there people out there who jump on the blog bandwagon just for the sake of promoting themselves?
Well, obviously there are. I've even known some. And I think they have missed the point.
Blogging, for me at least, is a way to share a bit of myself with anyone who will listen. I'm silly some days (just read those recent pity party posts if you don't believe me), other days I'm really excited about what's going on in my life, and there are other days when I just need to vent about my frustrations or tell someone about how nervous I am. And sometimes I do want to teach someone something I've learned and want to pass on. I don't mind promotion on a blog, but it should be a natural extension of you sharing what you love (and of course we writers love what we've written).
So this is my shout out to all those who love blogging as much as I do, and who do it for the right reasons, not just the promotional reasons. Blog on, Bloggers!
Okay, off my soapbox.
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