Twitter = It’s Not All “What I Had For Dinner….’

Twitter. It’s a funny little gremlin. Lots of people loathe it. Others love it. I’m a lover. Not a loather. The beauty of it is that you can create your own little world of friends within it. You surround yourself with people  you want to be surrounded by. Different industry specialists. Stephen Fry. Friends. The Dalai Lama. (I know….it can’t actually be him tweeting from his temple. It must be another brother. But I like to think there’s a little chance.) You become immersed in that world that you made, which is a strange feeling. The moment you close the ‘Twitter’ browser window, that world is gone. Until you type those letters into the address bar once again….h.t.t.p.:././.w.w.w.twitt…….and then…whoosh……20 new messages…..What’s been going on….? What have I missed? Well actually, you don’t miss out on anything….you scroll down, and you read what your world has been talking about in your absence. You don’t even need to be involved. You can simply sit back, and take in what everyone else is talking about. For me though, I like to feel involved. It makes you feel more part of the world you’ve nurtured from your first tweet. I also feel inspired and motivated by what others share. What books people have illustrated. What they’re working on. What’s in their sketch book. Its amazing. What other way would we be let into other peoples worlds, whom we’ve never met and probably will never meet. You wouldn’t. It just wouldn’t happen. I’ve thrown my arms around the Twitter-gremlin. Its my friend and I’m staying a while.

Which leads me nicely onto Carys of Carys Ink. She’s an illustrator, based in Bristol and by following her, I won a little giveaway she was holding. This is a bonus for three reasons. 1) I get to see the work of another amazing illustrator. b)  I won a pack of 9 nicely-printed, beautifully drawn notecards/postcards, which dropped through the door on Saturday morning. 4) I received something in the mail that wasn’t a bill and wasn’t addressed ‘To Someone Who Cares’ for the ‘Save The Worm’ charity.

So I wanted to show you. Because when I won, I got excited. And when I opened the envelope, they made me smile. And I knew you’d like to share my childish enthusiasm.

Thanks Carys, you a doll. (And no, that’s not a typo. I’m saying it in my New Orleans dialect. Obviously.)

My aversion to Luddism

I don’t know about you, but I get a feeling of happy satisfaction from writing with a pen. I almost feel, now don’t laugh, like I go into slow motion the moment I lift up my faithful cartridge pen. Its quite a modest pen. A plastic blue one I relied heavily on at school. I actually think its my sisters, but sssh, don’t tell her. She might want it back. When the black ink starts flowing steadily from the nib, all I hear is the smooth movement of the sound of words being written. There’s no scratchy noise of the paper being dragged under the pen tip. There’s no shaking my pen furiously in an effort to release more ink. Its very cathartic. And especially satisfying  when the words just keep oozing out of my seemingly idle imagination. Before I know it, I’ve scribbled out a whole page of my notebook and I see more black than cream. And these words are all mine, just for me. As a general rule, anyway.

But hold on a minute. I digress. I also abso-freakin-lutely LOVE technology. Thats the reason for this post, thats my point. I’m totally torn between the art of writing versus the simplicity of signing up to a new form of social media. Twitter. Facebook. Blah Blah Blah. Its all hurriedly thrown at us and I just can’t say NO. For the simple reason there’s always a good arguement to come up with a new Username or a new mail or messenger account.

I have notebooks coming out of my ears. Not literally, no, but I’m trying to paint a picture here, so please, just work with me. I love making lists. I love buying new notebooks. I love having the same size notebooks lined up in a drawer, primed ready for filling with more drivel. And bring back letter writing! Hands up who likes getting handwritten letters or cards in the mail. Exactly. You’ve all got your hands up.

But I also love my Apple iPhone. The amount of Apps I seem to be able to download because I convince myself there’s a valid reason for another one. The fact that I can do so many things in one place. I’m so totally impressed that we just keep improving. Of course there are negative points, but I’m taking a positive spin on this today.

So, before Mr Sandman catches you out, lets move on. What this is really all about is Twitter. Yes, I’ve done it. I’ve signed up. Big deal, I hear you say. Well, actually I agree with you. I mean, who knows if I’ll keep it up. We’ll see. I have good intentions. Isn’t that something? I’ve heard its going to be around for a while, so I thought I’d jump on and experience the ride. You can come with me if you like.