Celebrating Wordsmith Studio

Virtual Support

Social media was perplexing.

I had barely started texting.

Then, I came across a challenge

to increase my social media knowledge.

Others wanted to do the same.

All of a sudden, it was like a game.

We shared our successes and concerns.

We supported each other as we learned.

When it was time to say goodbye,

the call came out “Why don’t we try

to keep up this online community?”

Many took advantage of the opportunity.

Now, Wordsmith Studio is two years old.

The potential of this group is still untold.

Wordsmith Studio is a web community for writers that grew out of a challenge, "Build your Writer Platform in 30 Days". Take a look  at the website to learn more about the community and its members. We hold weekly chats on Twitter each Tuesday at 6 p.m. and 8 p.m. Central time. Use the hashtag, #wschat, to get into the discussion.

Poetry Prompts and Social Media Nudges

I've mentioned Robert Lee Brewer's April Platform Challenge and the online community that has grown out of it in my last two posts. Well, last week I had a great lesson in social media from my fellow MNINBer, Lynn Daue. Lynn is a novelist and blogger at Rhymes with Tao. One morning, she tweeted that she had gotten off to a great start writing so I tweeted back a "way to go." She replied with what I thought was her goal for doing some additional writing later in the day and I sent back a "go for it." Then she replied "Not just me. You, too." Hmmm. Obviously, I like a good challenge or I wouldn't have been in this situation in the first place so I replied "I'm in."

So, I go to the list of ideas I mentioned in my post "Poetry by Prompt-That's the Challenge",  look at the first one and begin working. I did indeed complete a first draft that evening. After a few more rewrites, I wound up with the following:

Postcards

Pieces of art
that came in the mail.
Photos and drawings
from friends and relatives
showing vacation spots
and wondrous sites.
I still have one
that was sent from Ireland.
But that happened
more than 20 years ago.
Now, postcards carry
messages from marketers
and reminders from doctors.
They are no longer collectibles.
Just another recyclable.

I'd like to thank Lynn for giving me a taste of the best thing about social media, which is making a connection and having a conversation. By the way, that's the best thing about poetry, too.

*****

Want to learn more about the April Platform Challenge? Go to "How to Build (or Improve) your Writer Platform in 30 Days

Learn more about  the MNINBers at the following links:

The MNINB Annotated Blogroll: Poetry in Motion, Part 1

The MNINB Annotated Blogroll: Home Front

The MNINB Annotated Blogroll: Not Only Survivors but True Thrivers

The MNINB Annotated Blogroll: Kids Play

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