Networking

Just the word sounds important as it stands alone up there.
 
Networking is defined as: the practice of making contact and exchanging information with other people, groups or institutions. Usually, networking occurs with other people who have interests in similar areas. The goal of the networking relationship may be to further your personal employment opportunities or to cultivate new clients or the expansion of business relationships. Networking is also a term of art used in the computer industry.
 
Monday we figured out that we have the procrastination bug, and I devised tricks to get that little thing nipped in the bud! Then on Tuesday, I gave a few tips on how to Prioritize your schedule so that you’ll have the time to write and take action instead of putting things on the back burner and making all your time about playing on facebook.
 
Now today I’m here to tell you, to GO to facebook. But I’m also here to tell you that you will not be going for fun and games. You’re not going to visit your friends, wink, hug, LIKE, and pretend you’re in the worldwide playground of the internet. You my friend, are going to NETWORK! If you want to do all that stuff, go ahead, but if you’re a writer and trying to NETWORK, I would not advise making Facebook a Farmville of a place with animals popping up, crops of people on your list (unless they are writers), and the abundance of games absorbing your wall.
 
Networking with like minds takes a certain finesse. When my friend from Finland told me about facebook and how I should network to jump start my writing career, facebook was the place to do it. Another writer friend, M.D. , introduced me to things like Twitter and Weebly, and Ping! All in my arsenal of networking my way into my writing career.
 
Someone had briefly mentioned MySpace but I quickly learned that place should have been name MySmut! So I quickly blocked that place and all the trash it carried with it. Facebook quickly became my virtual world for networking. But I  was new to the scene and did all the wrong things that got me nowhere in my writing. I played game upon game,  I poked, preached, ranted and raved, hugged and ignored, only to realize, I’ve lost the Networking battle.
 
Or did I? Something happened a few months back; I realized I was NOT prioritizing and making my writing come first. While I was off mentoring and facilitating, helping out other writers, editing and whatnot, I lost my love... of writing. I got so caught up in being self-righteous, I lost something along the way and only recently found again. Something I’m not letting go this time in my pursuit of Networking.
 
My list of five things to propel you into NETWORKING on facebook?
 
1. Accept friends of like minded ability. Not the ones who want to play; the ones who are as serious and professionally minded as you!
 
2. Make a separate account for family, games and the playground mentality.
 
3. LIKE, everything Writing related!!!  Then your HOME wall will be filled with vital info, instead of game updates or who went to pee and felt you needed to know this.
 
4. Participate! Actively participate in your writing pages that you have LIKED. These people are professional, welcoming, and they love sharing.
 
5. If you want to rant, rave, preach, and stand on a pedestal, either make a blog for just that, or make sure your network of friends is of the like mind, or surely you will lose some portion of your networking capabilities.
 
Maybe this warrants another post...at another time. :)
 
SUPPORT YOUR FELLOW WRITER and THEY’LL SUPPORT YOU!