WHY I DON'T TWEETER, FACEBOOKER, OR SHOUT FROM THE HIGHEST MOUNTAIN

I was reminded the other day of a meeting with a writers group. I have no idea why that would pop into my mind as I walked along a country road, but that seems to be the way my mind works - erratically!

Anyhoo....

The folks at this group were all published authors and were discussing the marketing of their masterpieces. They mentioned blogs as a way to bring people to a website dedicated to the book. The idea was to comment on the blog and hopefully direct readers to YOUR site. They mentioned twitterish type things that I actually tried for about a week, but found it was like talking to a wall that was ignoring you. I tried Facebookery, but found the money-grab  of their IPO distasteful and de-friended it. I actually HAVE a resume on LinkedIn but I don't network.

With all this talk going on, all I could think of was "if THIS is the path to success, I will end up using a detour". I had no desire to play at that end of the pool and was OK with it.

Psychocholologists would probably say that I have a fear of failure, a lack of self-realization, or possibly just one too many bowls of Fruit Loops. What can I say, I followed my nose! hahahaha

I'd say to the trained professionals, I'm not failing at all.

This site you stumbled onto is a window to the mind and heart of an average, everyday, ordinary guy who sometimes makes up words that help make a story.... or maybe just confuse people. Some may find it life-altering (still waiting for them to show up!). Some may find it interesting enough to keep looking through said window and risk being labeled a peeping-Jane. Some may not even be able to get through a solitary posting.

All would be right... for them.

I realized long ago no one, the least of all ME, could please everyone all the time. "Everyone" is too diverse, from too many backgrounds, having too many personalities, and too many opinions. It's just not doable. Even the award-winning actor Tom Hanks has folks that claim that "Wilson" was more convincing that him in Castaway...

soooooo........

Back to the point. "this site you stumbled onto blah blah blah...." I started to put my ramblings out there strictly to entertain. Not to fix our broken world, not to heal the sick, not to pick up chicks, just to put a smile on a strangers face or enable a thought to cross their mind. The first couple months, I was shocked to find people actually enjoyed reading those words that I formed into almost coherent sentences. Literally dozens of real-life human beings somehow found me out in the intrawebverse and some even responded with a polite "it's not awful".

I was hooked.

Like a drunk with a few dollars in my pocket, I wanted more.

The words spilled out. More folks stopped by for a visit. Surprisingly, they WEREN'T on work-release from the Looney Bin. They did seem to find value in what I had to say..... wow.

Deep down, I looked at using social media as a shortcut. Too easy. Unearned. I want to be interesting enough to have people share naturally, not just give a "like" or "re-twitter". As I write the words, I can see how many might look at me - a real dum dum. I get it. Using the tools available is no different than using whatever tools were available when I was younger.... before they invented air. I realize that trying to reach out to more folks will NOT get me on the Tonight Show, especially since Leno re-retired.

Maybe I'm just lazy. Maybe I didn't want to create yet ANOTHER password. Maybe I got tired of trying to follow the latest, greatest, hottest, internet whiz bang, which seems to change monthly.

Whatever it was, I guess I'm ready to compromise. No not by shouting from the highest mountains, but taking a small step. I will googlify a bit. Not that I am judging, but I am already a googlemite so it's easy to transition and incorporate, and use bigger words.

The first step is to ask you, dear reader, to share if you deem this worthy. Share with your friends, relatives, (even the one you tend to forget about in prison). Share with the neighbors, your pets (but not the fish - that might end tragically). Share on your tweet machine, share facebookily, share is NOT a 4-letter word, so share, if you please.

The second step is to figure out how to googlify.  I googled it but nothing came up.... hmmmmmmmm.....

Of course, I'll let you know how it goes.

UPDATE: I joined twitter a couple months ago. I have to admit that the initial motivation was to say hey to Monica Reymund, but I decided to run an experiment and see if I could steer traffic to here. Well..... it ended up being the most widely-viewed month I had EVER. It was a lot of work. It was a lot of self-promotion, which I find less-than-fun. The results speak for themselves. I am staying on to see if I can spread the word wider.

I am THERE to promote so I am going to keep personal friends out of it. I feel as if I have the same circle EVERYWHERE, I will gain nothing. What is the end goal? I wish I knew. I feel if I DON'T do it though, I will regret not trying hard to see if this writing thing may amount to something other than an interesting hobby...

UPDATE 2: 5/11/2016 - I rejoined Facebook a few months ago to connect with someone and also to see if using it could drive more eyes to read HERE. I waved the white flag to my protest of Mark Z and faced up to the fact that a LOT of people use FB in one form or another and I dove back in. I have to admit, that as I got more involved, it was a way for me to interact with people even as I stay around Mom. The unfortunate side-affect is that I use some creative energy there and haven't been inspired to write much HERE.

UGH...