Thread by @SallyAlbright

1/ How Writers Can Make the Most of Twitter -Thread from @SallyAlbright and @CapWaterfront Please Retweet

2/ Brainstorming - Scan your TL or better yet, search a hashtag or keyword and see if anything inspires you. Other people's lists are good too. And you can use your TL or list as a prompt ("Write something about the 14th tweet down")

3/ Research - I'm always asking questions on Twitter and Facebook. There's always someone out there who knows, who has been there, or done that. You can also reach out to specific accounts of people who know your topic.

4/ More Research - You can use Twitter to find character names, locations and settings, names of streets, businesses, towns, pretty much anything specific you need.

5/ Focus Group - another variation of Research, you can use polls or ask questions and present scenarios to your readers and see how they respond and where they would go with it.

6/ Editing - I've mentioned turning essays into Tweet threads. When you have to format your text into tweets, it's usually an improvement. Twitter forces you into tighter writing. Like Sudoku, but instead of numbers it’s your own words and thoughts.

7/ Networking - Almost everyone is on twitter, and it's a very non-invasive way to reach out to people you don't know. Run searches and make lists of people in the publishing industry or anything else useful and monitor them for opportunities to interact.

8/ Fangirling - Like networking except it's just for you. Most authors and recent publications have twitter accounts. As I said, @ing someone in twitter is non-threatening and sometimes you'll get a response. I've tweeted with some of my favorite authors.

9/ Dry run - Sometimes I'll tweet all or part of essay before I publish it just to see how it goes over. Depending on the response I can edit or adjust accordingly. Do it at night and delete if you need to.

10/ Give your “darlings” new life - If I delete a passage I love bc it doesn’t work (killing your darlings) sometimes I tweet it to see if it works on its own, so I can maybe use it somewhere else. Tweets don’t have to make sense.

11/ Instant Gratification - Isn't this why we're all on Twitter rn instead of writing like we should be? Likes & RTs boost your confidence and keep you motivated. But limit yourself. Instead of monitoring your mentions, click individual tweets to read the replies.

12/ Improvement - Practice makes perfect. Twitter trains you to be a more concise writer. No really, this isn't like "video games increase your cognitive ability" it really does make your writing tighter and forces you to think about syntax

13/ Lists - I've referred to these before. Run searches and make lists of publications, publishers, authors, useful topics - anything you might need, I'm sure someone is tweeting about it.

14/ Marketing - Publications are always looking for people with a good mailing list or Twitter following to write for them. It gives them an instant audience, and their laziness is your opportunity.

15/ Mailing List - A good TL will bring people to you, and Twitter is a great way to build your mailing list. It will make you attractive to publishers, and help you market your book or other work when the time comes.

16/ Branding - Whether professional or personal, you want an interesting, engaging TL that reflects your personality and your best efforts. Mix up your subject matter. Leave your best tweets at the top before you log out. (I usually hit the top 2 in my mentions)

17/ #Storytime and #micropoetry hashtags - You've seen @owillis tweeting his novel. With this hashtag you'll find haiku, free verse, short stories and novels tweeted one graf at a time. I'm sure there are other tags too.

18/ #amwriting This is an online community of writers who have a work in progress or want to commiserate with those who do. It's a great resource and support network.

19/ Patreon - I just signed up for this, and as the Berners gleefully point out, I haven't done anything with my own page, but I do like the idea of supporting writers and artists and I've enjoyed finding new people to folow

20/ There you go - How Writers Can Make the Most of Twitter. I welcome your feedback. Please Retweet.