Clicking Our Heels - Social Media

Clicking Our Heels – Social Media

In this age of social media, we thought it would be interesting to ascertain how social media enhances or distracts from writing. Here are the various Stiletto Gang member thoughts:

Bethany Maines – Social media has enhanced my writing by connecting me to readers and writers I wouldn’t have otherwise met. But it’s so easy to use as a distraction from, you know, actually writing.

Cathy Perkins – Social media lets me interact with people on a daily basis but it’s a distraction when time is so precious.

Paula Gail Benson – Both. It helps me to learn about things more quickly, like current events, modern speech patterns, or in-vogue abbreviations. It also is very addictive. I have to limit my time with it or I’ve suddenly lost hours.

Sparkle Abbey – Social media is definitely both a wonderful connection and at times a distraction. It’s so great to be able to connect with readers and other writers, but it certainly can suck you in and then you wonder where that hour went!

Kay Kendall – Social media enhances my writing. As an extrovert, there is no way I could sit in a room day after day and not communicate with people. With social media, however, I can still communicate to the outside world. This keeps me at my desk…and happy.

Paffi S. Flood – Oh, definitely, social media has distracted me, especially twitter. With the election in full swing, I couldn’t seem to tear myself away, but I really needed to. 

Kimberly Jayne – Social media is a double-edged sword. You need it to engage with people and, in particular, your readers/fans, but it’s easy to spend too much time doing that instead of the harder job of writing. You can dedicate an hour a day to social media; then, in the process look up at the clock and find you’ve overshot by an extra hour. And I can’t imagine that the extra hour gives you any more ROI for your efforts than the one- hour goal would have. 

Debra H. Goldstein – Social media is my nemesis. I know I need it to connect with readers and fans, as well as to attract new ones, but the time spent on it distracts from doing other things – usually because instead of using it for work, I check the news and gossip J. 

Linda Rodriguez – I would have answered this question differently not very long ago, but right now, I’d have to say social media does distract me from my writing. This is primarily because of the election and also a number of volatile situations involving African American, Latino, and Native civil rights in the new news. I happen to be passionately involved with those issues. 

Jennae Phillippe – Oh man, it is SUCH a distraction. Honestly, I think about quitting social media on a semi-regular basis because it is such a time suck. And while I rely on it to keep me informed, sometimes the sheer quantity of horrible things shared feels very overwhelming and draining. If I didn’t need it to connect to readers, I think I would abandon it completely.