So I woke this morning feeling distinctly incomplete – or rather, I felt that my most recent blog post wasn’t enough to carry me through the weekend. So I was lying in bed in that “I’m awake but not enough to get up yet” state and started pondering the possibilities. You know how sometimes you’re at a crossroads (minor or major) and not sure you’re headed in the right direction let alone making the right turns, and some sign appears? Well, call this the Saturday Morning of Signs!

Nothing came to me while I was in bed. There was only one thing I could do – I got up. Well, two more things: I made coffee and I took my coffee (Starbuck’s French Roast) up to my computer. I checked my email and then opened Twitter.

There they were – the signs! Dozens, maybe hundreds of them! I immediately started retweeting the more startling of them and then pulled myself back – this was not what I came here for. I was looking specifically for ideas for a post. But then I sat back and briefly admired how far I’d come: six months ago I didn’t know the difference between friending and following, and here I was being swept away by tweets I wanted to share and links I wanted to pursue.

First, there was Stuart and his Unlock the Door blog – and what was his topic of the day? “How I Write My Blog Post! How timely was that? Truthfully, it wasn’t earthshattering stuff, but the order and simplicity of Stuart’s ideas could take the most blocked writer through to getting something on paper (or computer screen). His description of his own approach was universal, and could be applied to all writing, not just a blog post.

So as I found myself pondering the simplicity of Stuart’s post, the prose and cons of simple writing, while continuing my quest for another tweet that could scream “idea” to me, I came across Mary’s KidLit.com posting on overwriting. I immediately went back through what I’d already written and considered whether I’d ever really talk that way and changed it to pass the “write like you speak” test.

I found myself drawn back to Twitter in search of at least one more idea. And what to my wondering eyes should appear? Top Ten Signs You’re Addicted to Twitter!
Actually, after I read them I breathed a sigh of relief, because I didn’t rise to that level (yet). I’ve rigidly refused to stream Twitter to my Blackberry (six months ago I wouldn’t have known what that meant). And I still can’t figure out how you really can follow the tweets of thousands. Of course, Twitter manages to limit you on that – another thing I haven’t figured out: what’s the point of Twitter’s limit on your follows, and how can you break through that limit to keep following new folks who sound interesting? How do you keep getting new followers if you can’t follow anyone new? Eventually the spigot of new follows slows (so I’ve noticed) when you’re not following anyone new. So I breathed a sigh of relief because clearly my questions indicate that I’m not experienced enough to call myself addicted to Twitter.

But still, there is a wealth of resources there that I don’t find on Facebook (although occasionally a nugget on LinkedIn, particularly in the Readers Entertainment group). So I continue to check it out and often become completely absorbed.

And voila! A new blog post – hopefully with some tidbits you may not have found had you not read this! Ah, the wonders of social media….