When the ‘Social’ Drops Out of Social Media

“The more followers and friends you have, the more awesome and important you are.”
–Clive Thompson (In Praise of Obscurity WIRED Magazine, Feb 2010, page 30.)

This begs the question: Is it true? (Sure!) Or more importantly, what is the impact of being that Pied Piper of Social Networking Awesomeness?

According to Thompson (quoted above), somewhere beyond having a few hundred/few thousand (depends on various factors) Twitter followers the social aspect of social networking breaks down. When you have a small gathering, like any social event, conversations happen and the group becomes a bit of a community with regulars throwing out ‘crazy’ ideas, bantering, and the building upon the thoughts of others. But once the event reaches a certain size, it becomes difficult for conversations to happen over the din and for those who know each other to meet up and converse. The example he uses in his article involves a Twitter maven who lost her small town feel around 13,000 followers (which is quite impressive actually–how she managed to keep that feel among so many followers makes her a rock star!). For her Twitterverse things went from a social event to dead silence.

To bring it down to a more personal level, when you see a blog with a ton of comments, are you likely to leave a comment? Or do you feel as I do–there is nothing left to comment upon and that you will simply get lost in the shuffle? As Thompson says of big audiences, “Not only do audiences feel estranged, the participants also start self-censoring. People who suddenly find themselves with really huge audiences often start writing more cautiously, like politicians.”

I’m not saying that amassing followers, friends, or blog commenters is a bad thing, however it is an interesting idea that the social aspect can reach its limits and fade away. I suppose there are limits to everything.

Blog Break…Sorta

Hiya blog followers! I’ve got some good news and some ‘other’ news.

The good news is I got a job! For the next few weeks I will be back in the library world again! Yay! And the best part is, I get to play with pre-schoolers! Double Yay! I’m going to make some more readers! Yay! Readers!

The ‘other’ news is that I am not going to have quite as much time for my blog. So, in case you feared that I had forgotten about my blog and you, my lovely reader, fear not. I haven’t forgotten, I just don’t have enough hours in the day at the moment.

Feel free to talk amongst yourselves. (As well, for a low, low, introductory price, you can pay me to brainwash these little ones into loving the genre you write in.)

Kreativ Blogger Pass Along

Yesterday I mentioned I had been awarded the Kreativ Blogger Award. I also mentioned that I was having troubles figuring it out. However, I failed to mention that I am a good sport and would be passing along the honour.

Therefore, I participate to the best of my abilities.

Here’s what I have to do:

1) Copy the Kreativ Blogger Badge onto my blog.
2) Thank the person who gave it to me and link to their blog.
3) Write 7 things about myself that my blog readers don’t know.
4) Choose 7 other bloggers to pass the award to.
5) Link to those 7 other bloggers.
6) Notify my 7 bloggers.

Sooo…without further ado:

1)

2) Thank you to Jemi Fraser and Cate Woods. I appreciate you both thinking of my blog. I’m flattered, to tell you the truth.

3) Seven things you don’t know about me:

I still have baby teeth (in my mouth). My favourite colour is blue. In my years as a volunteer at the Humane Society, I used to let all the cats loose in the back room. Freedom! They all got along remarkably well, believe it or not. My favourite board game as a kid was Trouble. I hate shopping for clothes. My favourite flower would be daisies because they are unassuming and beautiful, as well as cheery. And finally, I’d rather have a few really good, true friends than many false friends.

4 & 5) Seven great writing blogs for you to discover. Some have been around a long time, some are new:

Amy Sue Nathan –A chick lit and women’s fiction.

J. Lea Lopez — A commercial fiction writer.

Matt Sinclair — A writer, editor and freelancer with several blogs.

TK Richardson — YA author.

Rhonda Stapleton — YA author and one of AgentQuery’s first chat guests.

Robert K. Lewis — I think this badge will look lovely on his gritty, noir blog.

Prairie Chicks Write Romance — I have no clue how they will handle part 3 of this as it is a communal blog–and a cool one at that.

Enjoy!

Noah Lukeman is in the Blog House

Noah Lukeman, literary agent and the hero of all newbie writers (Lukeman’s the author of the stellar book The First Five Pages) has started up a blog where he answers all our burning questions about writing, agents, publishing and likely a whole lot more. Space Monkeys? I’m really curious about them. And women in the Klondike in the 1800s. That sounds interesting too. Anyway, check out his Ask a Literary Agent blog and sign up for his free newsletter (left hand side of the page) and while you are at it, add him to your follow list on Twitter and heck, why not read his free ebook on How to Write A Great Query Letter as well as order The First Five Pages: A Writer’s Guide to Staying Out of the Rejection Pile.

There, you can’t say you never got anything great for free (or almost free).

Enjoy!

Shop Indie Bookstores

Hey, I’m off

No, I don’t mean that I smell bad…I mean I’m going on a little holiday. I had meant to make a bunch of blog posts for while I was away, but I had too much fun in the past few weeks visiting family. Therefore…I only have one coming up in a few days…then silence. Sorry.

I do have a bunch loaded and ready over on my Kid’s Play blog though. So if you get to missing me, check it out. Oh, heck. Even if you don’t miss me, go check it out!

Enjoy and have a happy, safe July!

What Fills Your Writing Bathtub?

Bathtub analogy: You have a tub representing your energy or creative skills. Your goal is to fill it. Good things that help build you up (energy or skills) fills the tub. Things that drain you (criticism, rejections, etc) empty your tub.

While you may have heard of the bathtub analogy before, Brad R. Torgersen has put a distinct writer’s slant on it by arguing that a writer wants to fill their tub to the top where the ‘professional line’ hangs out. To fill your tub to that line, you need to build your skills and work hard.

My mom’s version of the analogy is more of an “energy” tub instead of a “skill” tub. Who or what fills you up so you can do your work? Who or what creates holes in the bottom of your tub so you have to struggle and work extra hard to keep water in your tub?

Both analogies are good. As a creative person, you need both to succeed. You need to build your skills. You also need creative energy. If you have brick walls in your way, it makes it harder to fill that tub. Maybe you don’t have access to the resources to build your skills. Maybe someone is constantly telling you you’re no good. These create holes in your tub, making it difficult to fill the tub.

So, what fills your tub? Skillwise and energywise? For me, writing itself is a tub filler. Writing gives me energy. I also have a family that supports my writing. I have great critique partners. I have a pile of buddies on Agent Query who fill me up. I have places to discuss writing. I have writing books, access to online classes, and great, informative blogs to follow. There is always something to help me build my skills and get me thinking about writing in a new way. In short, I got it good baby. My tub is filling up.

How’s your tub doing? Does it need a repair kit? Is it close to overfilling?

P.S. There is a conversation going on about this over on AQ. Join in or leave a comment here.

Enjoy!

Update your RSS, Please

For those of you who use rss feeds to read my blog, you need to update your rss link in your feeder. I apologize for the broken feed. The software upgrade from a few weeks ago broke the old rss link.

Here is the new link you need: http://jeanoram.com/blog/?feed=rss2

Sorry for the inconvenience!

Be An Agent for a Day

Holy Poop!

I had forgotten. Literary agent Nathan Bransford is holding a ‘Be An Agent for the Day’ contest where folks try to pick the 5 queries that are from published authors and which are not.

Well, not only did I forget that I had zipped off my query for his contest’s slush pile, but I actually got picked. A friend over at AQ brought it to my attention and by the time I got over there, guess what? 109 comments on my query!

Wow! Amazing!

I will let you know which one it is when the contest is over as the queries are to be anonymous.