A Change In Course: Avoiding The Land Of Misanthropy

This month marks my one-year anniversary on Twitter.

I recall my silly pre-Twitter days.  I remember asking, “What’s that?” and “Why?”  I also remember thinking, “That sounds complicated.  I don’t think that’s for me.”

Yeah, I was scared to be on Twitter.  My hands actually shook when I opened my account.  Why did I do it?  Because I read that you can’t be a successful self-published author without it.  Little did I know what Twitter would actually mean to me!  About 3/100 of what I get from Twitter is related to my author platform.

Early life experiences led me to believe that most people are untrustworthy and dangerous.  As my life progressed, I was delighted when I found a few other humans who were kind and not trying to hurt others.  Still, I was a cynic.  I’ve always expected ulterior motives and underhandedness from most humans.  In many ways, I’m still cautious about people, but Twitter has turned me away from the misanthropic destination I was dead-set for a year ago. 

I’ve discovered that there are hundreds and thousands (probably hundreds of thousands) of good people on Twitter who genuinely wish well towards other humans and are willing to take action individually and in groups to make good things happen.  Every single day, I am awed by the kindness of my Twitter friends; by their emotional support, their interest, their humor and their wise words.  I am not overstating the case when I tell you that on Twitter, I feel like I’m part of a movement.  This is a movement of global citizens who are socializing and having fun while shrinking the world and tearing down the barriers of culture and geography. 

I owe a thousand thanks to each of the wonderful people that I’ve met on Twitter. THANK YOU!

In celebration of this anniversary, I am delighted to announce that next week my friends @nycmoon and @CoolPawMickey will be guest posting about Twitter etiquette!   

Also in celebration of this anniversary, my short memoir Head Buckets & Hashtags: An Alaskan Childhood In Tweets, which I first wrote on Twitter this past March, is free from Amazon Kindle through this Thursday, 7/11/13!

The other big news in my life is that our wonderful local indie bookstore, HearthsideBooks has agreed to carry the paperback version of my novel Magic All Around and to host me for my very first book signing on Tuesday, July 23!  For more details, please check out my new EVENTS blog tab.

Have a joyful week and don't forget to pay attention to all the perfect moments that come your way.