E-mails, Twitter, Dyslexia…

Today was one of those days. I sat down to my computer, opened one my four e-mails, and had to attend to business.

What I mean by attending to business is responding to e-mail inquiries, requests for me to do guest blogs, and answering acceptances from writers and authors whom I have invited to host  on my my blog talk radio show, Book Talk, Creativity and Family Matters.

All good stuff. But it takes time.

The life of the 21st century writer.

Much like answering people who are now following me on Twitter with Thank-you’s.

This is what I do each day.

And much more.

Today’s world requires writers and authors to wear many hats. We must multi-task.

And yet we cannot forget our writing.

Answering our Tweets, thanking our Facebook friends and fans, checking our goodreads and shelfari invitations, and then seeing what’s new to read, constitute the new package of what we do.

Some bristle at this increase of activity to which it behooves us to apply our best writing talent, time and energies.

I find that while challenging, engaging with fellow writers, authors and others  though these new social networking sites offer one more place to extend my writing arm.

While YouTube videos abound, writing remains the primary form of communication on the Internet.

Interaction on the Internet also teaches much about what’s happening in the world, i.e. provides excellent ideas for new plots.

The challenge also makes me focus while providing a relief, thought not always welcomed, from keeping my nose to the grindstone of just writing.

Psychotherapists and mental health workers do our clients a world of good by coming out of our offices and examining the worlds in which we and our clients live.

Writers too owe it our readers, potential ones, and our stories to see what’s truly taking place in the world around us, and not simply the universe of  our minds. This is how we come to understand and appreciate the lives, thoughts and beliefs of others.

Engagement and interaction with the physical and virtual worlds stirs our imagination in new dimensions.

While we must never forget or forgo our writing, we must also use new developments in technology that we cannot afford to ignore and that work in many ways to our benefit.

Have you taken a closer look at what your friends and family are up to  on Facebook?

What was last Tweet you read and/or re-tweeted?

Who wrote it?

Did you follow them? Did they follow you back?