Six Twitter Taboo's

By Laurie Epps

There's a lot to remember when you're first getting started on any social media site, but here to play watchdog for you is Edie Melson. Not only was Edie a pleasure to work for and with, in her book Connections: Social Media and Networking Techniques for Writers Edie breaks it down in simple and manageable pieces for us.

I confess, I'm learning right along with you! But that's part of the whole purpose of this column, to share experiences with one another. We're all in this together. What's wonderful about being a writer is that we're all so different, that we can all just make a little room for each other.

Today, we're going to talk about all the things we're doing wrong so that we can fix them. There's a double edged sword with social media, but there's also a little bit of grace. So let's get serious, and stop doing the six little faux-pas on Twitter.

Teddy Bear Tea

Pictured with my youngest daughter

By Laurie Epps

Sometimes it's ok to blog about something personal. My youngest is a Girl Scout. Last Saturday, a local church had a little tea party for the Daisy Scouts to teach them a little about manners, etiquette, and have a little tea.

It's just my two cents, but shouldn't a tea party have tea? The way I understand tea, not only should it be served in the afternoon around 3-4 pm, but it also should have my favorite hot beverage. Of course, the kids didn't know the difference, so that was fine enough. But no tea? That's something I'm remedying right now. Ok, so I'm not perfect either. I don't have a proper tea service. But I do have a mug from Oxford University in England, that's close enough, right?

Mainly, I'm mentioning this on my blog because I'd like to reach out to other nerds just like me who share the opinion that nothing's more relaxing than a big cup of tea. I prefer it, and spend many of my study nights tanking the hot stuff. But to the chagrin of Oscar Wilde, there are no cucumber sandwiches. (Literature nerds will get this pun.)

Have a wonderful Sunday, and a delightful cup of tea.

The Land of Nod

By Laurie Epps

April is National Children's Poetry month, and since my love for poetry began at such a young age, I see the importance of teaching poetry to young children. If you don't know how to teach your children about poetry, don't analyze it. Just read it. I fell in love with the meter, metaphors, and lyrical quality of poetry long before I knew what all those words meant. Read poetry to your children, it's important.

Robert Louis Stevenson was born in 1850 in Edinburgh, Scotland to a Lighthouse Engineer and his wife. Stevenson was sick most of his life, and caused irregular attendance in school. Most known for Treasure Island and Dr. Jekyl and Mr. Hyde, Stevenson wrote his poetry in his thirties and dedicated them to the nurse that cared for him as a child.

Twitter Etiquette

Cassin's Sparrow

By Laurie Epps

Twitter has a lot more rules compared to other social media outlets, especially in regards to composition. All users have an 140 character limit per Tweet on Twitter. If you plan to re-tweet, you've got to keep it under 120 characters.

Not only is Twitter restrictive on how many characters you can use, there's lots of subtleties that make people mad. As a conscientious blogger, I just know you don't want your Tweets to undermine all the hard work you're doing on your blog.

In Edie Melson's book, Connections: Social Media and Networking Techniques for Writers she gets down to the nuts and bolts of the fundamental unwritten rules of Tweeting.

Making Every Tweet Count

Western Bluebird

By Laurie Epps

Twitter has become more and more popular. This is both good and bad. Here to guide us through the gauntlet is my mentor in her book, 
Connections: Social Media and Networking Techniques for Writers. 


The popularity of Twitter is:

• good, because it's easier than ever to connect with other people.
• bad, because it keeps getting increasingly harder to stand out.

A Tourist in Your Own Town

Me and My Middle Daughter, Ellen

By Laurie Epps

We all have that moment in middle age where we realize that our kids are growing up, that our time with them is limited. This is the case for me and my 17 year old daughter, Ellen. I'm proud of my daughter, but I know my time with her has changed drastically, and will continue to do so. I've got anywhere from one to four years of her clanking around the house in her gym T-shirts and pajama bottoms.

Naturally, being a college senior, my Spring Break doesn't line up with my kids. Mine was the second week of March, Ellen's the third, and my youngest's is the week before Easter in April. Since my middle daughter needed her haircut, I seized the opportunity to turn it into a mother & daughter day date. It also gave us a chance to get out into the beautiful sunshine after a pretty dreary winter for us. I know, it's nothing compared to other parts of the country, but for around here, it was pretty bad.

Happy Spring Ya'll

Intro By Laurie Epps

The first day of spring brings to us many promises of hope and rebirth. My poem selection for today is from Oscar Wilde. I wrote a paper on Oscar Wilde in my Victorian Literature class, and he's definitely one of my favorites of this era.

Oscar Wilde was born in Dublin in 1854. He lived to be 46 years of age, and I celebrated my 46th birthday yesterday. His mother, Lady Jane Francesca Wilde was also a poetess, and wrote under the male pen name Sperenza before Oscar was born. His father, Sir William Wilde was a specialist of the ear and eye. His mom was active in the women's rights movement, and is said to have ignored his dad's affairs. The affairs increased after he was promoted to be the Oculist in Ordinary to the Queen.

Oscar Wilde (1854-1900)