You may have noticed that I’ve changed something on my website.
Touch just one person and it’s all been worthwhile.
Don’t worry, I’m still all over the place in the space of a mind, but I’ve been thinking why I’m still doing all this and the new sub-heading seems to be the answer.
It’s the little things. The nice words here and there on my work, both in my writing and in my day job.
I hang out mostly in two places online: Twitter and LinkedIn, which I call Linky Ding. The nice thing about Twitter is that you can follow whomever you like without having to enter into a Fezbuk friend thingy, yet friends can be made there and friendships maintained. And via Twitter I was even asked to travel to France to run a writing workshop.
Linky Ding is a bit stodgier and I’ll never forget when a real-life woman colleague way back once told me that I’d be better off on Fezbuk because Linky Ding was for “professionals”. I took her advice and went to Fezbuk which I left a couple of years ago, but stayed on Linky Ding where the “professionals” hang out who are not all necessarily from the same echo chamber.
And it was there that I was approached about writing an article on the Austrian Presidential Elections. I thought about it and asked whether I could write two. One, before, and the other, after, just to give the whole thing an edge, sort of like writing without a net. The editor went for it and distributed the two articles much more widely than I’d expected, both on Linky Ding and on Twitter and even on Fezbuk.
So here they are – Part 1- Before and Part 2 – After.
People everywhere are planting trees despite all the bulldozers and “faux gold”, despite the goals of doing well rather than doing good; they may only touch one person, but that´s all it takes.
So with a smile on my face, I have to confess that I pinched “planting trees” and the “well/good” nuggets from a former colleague I´m glad to have got to know now that I´m no longer hung up on being a “professional” in the terms of that lady back when, but just doing what I do in a pro manner, and so leave you once again with onwards!
It sounds like you barely dodged a bullet. I wish those of us in North America had been more nimble. Now I’m depressed again… sigh. It’s a crazy crazy world, a bad time to be a citizen, but perhaps a good time to be a writer, eh?
That´s an interesting comment, Jim. Maybe writers need this stuff to jolt them about. Methinks there is only so much one can write about the navel even if it is universal. How much mind-blowing stuff has come from safe countries and safe times? OK. You nudge me. Hope I don´t let you down.
Thanks for your comment, Ginger. Like with the news sources one follows one can be selective on social media yet also knowingly step out of the echo chamber.
I am only on Pinterest and my blog. Anyways, you do what you have to do or want to do. I find most social media sites as fake or being force fed with information overload. So best to invest in what matters.