For those of you who follow me on Twitter (@katrinasspencer) and Facebook you guys already know that my family and I had a wonderful vacation in Florida this summer. Disneyworld was great but my favorite part was the clear blue water at Melbourne beach. When I think about it, I can’t remember the sand between my toes growing up. I mean I remember it, I have it imprinted on my brain somewhere—but the feeling of the sand in between my toes, the cool water lapping on my ankles, the dizziness from the tide pulling the water back into the sea—those details were forgotten as details of laundry, dishwashing (okay, okay I have a dishwasher, but somebody has to stack the the dishes in) crowd in my brain, clamoring for space.

That vacation had a profound effect on my writing. (I always bring a notebook or my laptop with me, even on a vacay. You never know when you could get inspired!) The peacefulness of the ocean waves, the salty sea air blowing my straw hat off my head—all those evoked emotions in me that I had to get down on paper. No, my characters didn’t live at the beach and didn’t take a vacation, so how could this help my writing?

I’ve always been the one to preach that it’s great to have a passion for writing, but writing cannot be your life. Crazy I know, but if writing is all you thought about, all you ever did, then you couldn’t get much living done. And for me, living enhances the ability of a writer. Seeing the world in a whole new perspective translated to my characters and they grew from skeletons to fully, breathing creatures with minds of their own. Because I experienced, they too could experience—taste the turkey sandwich peppered with sand, the sheer glee on my daughter’s face as a wave crashed on her belly and the scream that scared the seagulls when she felt seaweed on her heels. My characters were made richer because of my experiences. I forgot about that, how life translates to art. It’s easy to forget when you get caught up in the hum-drum of life.

Whether it be a weekend getaway or week-long escapade, try to take a vacation this year. Your characters will thank you for it.

Because I’m slow to make decisions, (I don’t know if I’m necessarily slow, maybe it’s just that I’m extremely cautious.) I have made a list of what I consider the pro’s and con’s of joining Twitter.

Pro’s

1. Get to interact with more writers. Being a writer is one of those jobs that only another writer could understand. So getting a chance to rub virtual elbows with different authors has me excited.

2. Could potentially gain more readers for my next book. I’m a believer in, “Only time will tell.” For marketing, it takes time to build a name for yourself. So while joining Twitter may not increase readers for my next book Unbeweavable, (did I mention that it is available for pre-order here? Whoo-Hoo!) but it will draw more attention to my WIP when it get’s published. (And it will get published. Positive thinking, remember?)

3. It reminds me of my favorite show ever, Seinfeld. Seinfeld is known for being “the show about nothing”. Those “nothings” turned into so many “somethings.” (I’m aware that isn’t a word, just go with it.) Talking about what cereal you ate for breakfast, can grow into talking about an article that you read in the New York Post.

Con’s

1. Time consuming. Do I really want another thing that could potentially waste my time? Do I need another distraction keeps me from writing? Will I be able to balance it all? Something to think about it…

2. I need to educate myself on how to use Twitter successfully. I joined Twitter for about a couple of weeks. I followed a few of my favorite authors. I cringe when I think of all the mistakes that I made. One author (who has a very successful blog and who will remain nameless—Don’t you dare tell, Reon!) blocked all my tweets. I didn’t realize that I was tweeting everything to her personally, instead of publicly. Wish I could explain to her that I’m not a cyber stalker, but doing so will only add to my stalker ways. So in hindsight, if I join Twitter I vow to read Twitter for Dummies.

3. I talk too much. Don’t confuse this with gossip. Trust me, I can keep a secret. No, I mean I literally talk too much. When there is a lull in a conversation, my heart beats faster and I feel the beginnings of a panic attack. So I talk to fill any silence. This could be a problem on Twitter. No one wants to know everything about me, and I (or rather my husband) worries that I’ll share too much.

I was worried that I would become addicted to Facebook, but so far I have managed to balance it well. It feels like I’ve been on it forever. Can I be successful in doing that with Twitter? So come on guys let me know, to tweet or not to tweet?

Source: drummersworld.com

My renewal form for my hair license came in the mail recently. I decided not to renew it, because sadly, I’m not a hairstylist anymore. A part of me is truly saddened by that fact, I miss talking to my clients and hearing their funny stories. I miss engaging with people.

I’ve always heard how being a writer was a lonely job, but I didn’t fully understand it until I became one. Being on the computer all day is hard for someone who actually likes to talk. (Change that to loves to talk.) 

Some days I feel like Tom Hanks in Cast Away. I feel like drawing a face on my computer and starting a conversation with it–I’m on the thing so much I’m starting to think we’re friends.

People keep telling me to try Twitter, but I don’t want to communicate by typing, I want to use the mouth God gave me and talk!

Trials of the job I guess.

I know I’m not the only one. How many of you wish you could interact with real people on a daily basis, and not someone in cyberspace?

As a hairstylist you have to stay on top of trends so you can cater to your client’s needs.  So when I saw new hairstyles on TV, I would cringe because I knew sooner or later one of my clients would come in wanting their hair styled like the wacky hairsyle they just saw.  I hated it.

And sure enough they would come in and hand me a photo and tell me that they wanted their hair exactly like it.  With shaking hands I would do whatever they asked of me and watch in horror as they left the salon looking like Marge Simpson.

I didn’t realize that I was doing a disservice to my clients by giving them a hairstyle that didn’t flatter them.  I should have been true to them, but more importantly, I should have been true to myself as a stylist.  So when my clients came in with ghastly photos, I would tweak the hairstyle to fit them, or I would talk them into another hairstyle altogether.  And I felt better about my work because I kept my integrity as a stylist and I still pleased my clients.

The same goes for Twitter.  I know it’s the hottest trend right now, but I have to keep my integrity to myself and realize that for right now it doesn’t fit my lifestyle.  So I’ll be the first to admit that I’m chicken.  Yellow.  Just plain scared to get on the Twitter bandwagon.  I struggled for a whole year with the thought of even starting this blog because I wanted to be balanced with the amount of time I would devote to it.  Because in the end, we all have a real life to lead.  I just don’t want to Tweet about it.