SHEILA MYERS AUTHOR
  • Books
  • Author Bio
  • Contact
  • My Writing Blog
  • Links and Short Fiction
  • Events
  • Screenplays

My Friends Migrated to Instagram and I'm Still on Facebook

3/15/2018

 
Picture
A while ago I started to notice that my daughter, the perpetual self-promoter of a good time had by all, wish you we here, wasn’t posting as much on Facebook. And I missed her, where was she? Then one day at an outing my friend asked me if I had seen my daughter’s recent post on Instagram.
“No,” I replied. “I’m not on it.”
“Not on Instagram?”
Well how dare I.
So I opened up an account to see what was going on and lo and behold all those friends of mine who I thought were just becoming recluses were posting their life events on Instagram, and I didn’t even know they had left Facebook.
Of course there are those who like to post to all media outlets in one gigantic swoop, which Instagram allows, as long as the photo is from your phone. I discovered that. But my mind is reeling because I sat up in bed last night and instead of counting sheep I counted all of the social media accounts I now have.

Let me explain, I am an author.  Hence, I have to promote my books. I’d had Facebook since my high school reunion years ago, and opened up a twitter account soon after. I tweet. I had a Pinterest account before I began writing, to check out recipes and ideas for my back patio. Now I ‘Pin’ about my book, or my blogs. But things are getting out of hand.

I have two websites. I have a website called The Durant Family Saga that chronicles my research journey for the historical fiction trilogy I am writing. I have an author website page, and I have an outdated Blogger site that I started years ago called LivingintheFingerLakes that I haven’t posted to in months because I am too busy keeping up with all my other social media.

Did I mention I also have a Tumblr account? I forgot the password. I think I am on Reddit. I link to colleagues on Linkedin, I stumble on Stumbleupon, I review on Goodreads, I post to communities on Google Plus, and I have an Amazon Author page which one person started a discussion on about 18 months ago. I answered him. He didn’t reply.
Dear God, help me. It’s pathetic.


I thought Hootsuite would assist me by scheduling my posts, so I set up an account. Now if I could only remember to log onto it once in awhile.

Yes, this is what keeps me up at night. This, and my children, and my students’ grades. And the characters in my book who keep screaming at me about their escapades so that I have to get up in the middle of the night and write down their thoughts in a journal.

Oh, and yes, I have not one, but three journals going right now. My personal, one for a book set during the Great Depression, and one for a contemporary story I’m writing about cigarette smuggling on the Canadian border.

I've since decided to follow the advice I've heard on several writers podcast to focus on two social media accounts for any promotions or community engagement. And although I enjoy the interaction with friends and fellow writers, I also get bogged down a bit by the political discourse. It has changed the whole landscape of social media since the last election. So I've also put things into perspective, I can stay informed but will only take on so many causes for fear of jeopardizing my creative flow.


Comments are closed.

    RSS Feed

    Author

    Sheila Myers is an award winning author and Professor at a small college in Upstate NY. She enjoys writing, swimming in lakes, and walking in nature. Not always in that order.

    Subscribe

    Archives

    April 2022
    March 2022
    February 2022
    January 2022
    November 2021
    October 2021
    June 2021
    May 2021
    March 2021
    January 2021
    October 2020
    September 2020
    June 2020
    May 2020
    April 2020
    February 2020
    January 2020
    December 2019
    September 2019
    July 2019
    June 2019
    May 2019
    April 2019
    March 2019
    January 2019
    December 2018
    November 2018
    September 2018
    July 2018
    June 2018
    April 2018
    March 2018
    February 2018
    January 2018
    September 2017
    August 2017
    June 2017

    Categories

    All
    Adirondacks
    Algonquin
    Award
    Canada
    Chestnut Trees
    Christmas
    Civilian Conservation Corps
    Collis P. Huntington
    Creativity
    Doc Durant
    Durant Family Saga
    Family
    Finger Lakes
    Great Depression
    Hell On Wheels
    Historical Fiction
    History
    Imagination
    National Parks
    Nature
    Publishing
    Review
    Screenplay
    Short Story
    Smoky Mountains
    Snow Storm
    Stone Canoe Literary Magazine
    Thomas Durant
    Timber
    Wilderness
    World War II
    Writing

All materials Copyright 2022
Any reproduction, reprint or publication without written consent of author prohibited.
  • Books
  • Author Bio
  • Contact
  • My Writing Blog
  • Links and Short Fiction
  • Events
  • Screenplays