Following Twitter

Just another yellow brick road, but Ashton Kutcher is the Wizard

Looking for a rainbow?

There are many colors to find on twitter and if you’ve never visited, think of clicking your mouse to get there; no need to buy a pair of  sparkly red shoes. With the speed of a twister, (and t access to the internet) you’ll land in a very unusual place.

You’ll know that  “You’re not in Kansas anymore” But that’s a good thing.

Twitter is a strange but marvelous world, with colorful people,  from all over the world. I joined in November 2009, and I didn’t even know what a tweet was. It has been a trip!

I’ve met so many great people, in particular authors. The authors on Twitter seem to be willing to share advice and their expertise on writing, as well as links to their wonderful blogs and to writer’s resources.

Its been suggested again and again, that if you are a writer, you need to build a platform to get readers to know you. That platform is on Twitter.

Here is only a sampling of the wonderful authors who tweet in  a land called Twitter, which I nicknamed Oz; Part 2. This land is ruled by Ashton Kutcher, who’ll I’ll just call the Wiz:

• One sweet Dorothy you’ll find, answers to the name, Lori Newman

Here All Along is a story about her own experience with the court system, and two ex’s. She describes it best on her blog so I’ll share what she says here:

“Here All Along is one woman’s struggle to leave an abusive marriage, twice. Her struggle through the court system in hopes of finding someone to help protect her and her daughters from her ex-husbands who refused to let go. Her fight to obtain and keep her restraining order three years in a row and finally learning who she could count on to protect her and her children.

Here All Along is an inspirational story of one woman’s fight for freedom, her desire to protect her children and finding the strength to believe in herself.”

• Another traveler on the yellow brick road is author, Jen Knox:

“Jen Knox is the author of Musical Chairs, a memoir (ATTM Press). She is a graduate of Bennington’s Writing Seminars and works as a Fiction Editor at Our Stories Literary Journal and an Arts Writer for The Examiner in San Antonio. Her work has been published in Flashquake, The Houston Literary Journal, Slow Trains, SLAB, and Superstition Review. She has earned awards from Glimmer Train’s Best Start Competition and The ECC Literary Competition. Forthcoming work will appear in Short Story America, and the 2010 Short Story America Anthology. Jen grew up in Ohio, and lives in Texas, where she is working on a novel entitled Absurd Hunger.”

In my own words; she’s extremely talented and I feel privileged to call her my Twitter Gal Pal.

• Another inspirational author that I’ve met along the twitter road is Stuart Ross McCallum:

He is a talented writer and a very kind man. In his own words:

“My book titled: Beyond my Control is the true story of my life, beginning with my battle trying to beat the slimming disease — anorexia nervosa. While trying to break the vicious cycle I was in, another condition suddenly entered my life — epilepsy. I was seventeen.

I describe my twenty-year journey of living with epilepsy and how the unpredictable disease has not only impacted my life but the lives of everyone around me. For fifteen of those years, I operated my stained glass business and managed staff while battling an ever-increasing number of seizures. As the condition deteriorated and my post seizure responses became more intense, I was often prone to violent outbursts that threatened not only my safety, but the safety of everyone close to me.

I share how the perception of the disease and the socially unacceptable behaviors that occurred as a result of my post seizure responses, eventually forced me to risk everything — I made the life-altering decision to undergo two major brain operations that I hoped would provide freedom from a life of instability, danger, and stares from strangers.

Beyond my Control is an honest, emotional look into a highly complex and all too often misunderstood condition. If you are like me and enjoy reading true stories written from the heart, my highly personal book is sure to be both entertaining and at times — enlightening. No, it is not to heavy, there is humor shining all the way through.”

• Then there is Glenda, the beautiful leader of the pack or better known as: Shelagh Watkins

In her words:

“Shelagh Watkins was born in Lancashire, UK and graduated from the University of Leeds before she moved to Scotland, where she completed a course in Information Technology at the University of Glasgow. She has many interests, including artwork, computing, reading and all forms of writing, but she particularly enjoys writing for children. She wrote Mr. Plane maker’s Flying Machine as a children novel but there is more to the book than just a story, although readers are left to figure out the underlying philosophy for themselves.”

She is extremely talented and very helpful. She is on facebook and has a Ning Network for published authors. You should visit her blog at:

Shelagh’s Blog

• My friend,Tin Man, is known on twitter as :  Writinginrain

He is a talent that earned his blog an award.  He tweets love poems and you should check out his new site on NING called: Rainy Nights

He just added a post today that is on poetry.

There are so many more talented authors that I haven’t listed and yet they color the tweets of the rainbow too. Two many beautiful shades of authors to mention in one post. At least, for  today, I’ve introduced you to five great people  and very talented writers. Hope you’ll visit them on Twitter.

If you’re bored in Kansas and can spare 2 seconds for traveling, go to this land to enjoy the rainbow and look for me too under the alias

Writingsbylu.

Thanks for reading!

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