Complete, of course. What a silly question!!
I read a few folks on my Reader this morning who essentially said, “too much too many” and were trying to get back to the basics of writing, instead of social media. The problem, you see, is that social media is a distraction and detracts from creating content.
I’m sorta right with you, there. It does distract. It does use up your time, time that could be spent writing the next best novel ever. Instead, you’re here, connecting with people. Which isn’t bad; it’s great. A blog, social media should be used for conversation, for exchanging ideas, for giving information, and not just for chewing gum for the brain like cute cat pictures. (Yes. I’ve seen a cute cat picture. There is no need for me to look at another. Seen one, seen ’em all.)
Chances are, you’re never going to be known for your awesome Twitter account. Not 5 years from now. Not 10 years from now. But that book, it’s a legacy. It may end up being the Next Big Thing.
Author Matt Bowes and the Dog's Breakfast 
Ah yes, the ever-elusive balance between social media and getting our writing done. It’s tough to find. I try to get some writing done before I open any social media, even if just an hour’s worth. Makes me feel better to know I made some progress.
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I think I’ve been doing it wrong, then. I tend to enjoy the banter and thoughts with SM, and then write guiltily late at night when I should be sleeping. I don’t have nearly the levels of saturation that some of y’all do. I have a twitter account set to tell when I post something here, but haven’t ever used it otherwise; and I don’t use facebook to interact with the author thing. Maybe that’s because I see FB as more of a personal thing, and don’t think most of my family and friends are that interested in writing thing. They’re sort of two different universes.
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I pretty much only use my public FB page, and even that not much. But I kind of like Twitter.
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Why twitter? What’s the attraction? I detest it. 140 characters is too short to accomplish the purpose of getting an effective and correct message across.
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I like it because it’s quick, and I don’t find it as much of a time-suck as some of the other social media sites. But I couldn’t do it without making lists. Too much noise otherwise.
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Like Carrie, I write before I start on social media… Or turn it off to write.
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I think #2. I see astounding levels of interaction by some people, and wonder when they have time to read all their different blogs they subscribe to. That can easily suck up an hour just covering one day, and that’s with following 200 people, skimming most of the posts.
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I love blogging because it gives me an alternative to writing fiction. Plus I get to meet interesting people from all parts of the world. (Some not even from this planet, shuuush, I’ve been sworn to secrecy). I have a couple of weekly photo challenges that I participate in and I have to think about the words I’ll use with the image. This combines two of my favourite pastimes, photography and writing. I find it hard to get my head around twitter but I do try to give it about ten minutes most days. But facebook I dip into in the morning and in the evening, as some of my readers have liked my writer’s page and we’ve become fb friends. I tend to do this when going through my emails.
I would agree with you that I spend a lot of time on wordpress, and other people’s blogs, but that’s a good way to connect with a like minded community. I love when I find content that I can reblog, if I think my followers will like it. I’ve given up watching television, so that’s freed up a lot of time.
I write first thing in the morning, and don’t check emails or social media until I’m finished. I even put my phone on silent and try to give myself at least two hours. Sometimes I’m lucky to get 200 words and other times I’ll manage 1000. I’m so glad there are thirty hours in a day. I couldn’t manage otherwise.
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Say… Jean… where are you finding the extra 6? I think that’s a definite winner for book sales if you can explain it. “How I get things done in a 30 hour day.” #1 New York Times BestSeller.
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I’m running backwards on a threadmill. 😉
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Ferris Bueller’s Porsche!
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I pubbed my book before I started a blog. The distraction would have been too much. ‘Course I did a lot of post publication editing which I figured (hope) was ok since no one knew my book existed yet. At the moment I’m not planning to write a sequel. This one took a lot of me.
I don’t do FB on principle.
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Oh, this is so tough for me. I used to write 8-12 hours a day. Then I started working social media and my writing time took a nose dive. I’ve found a decent balance for now, but it involves discipline! 5 days a week I blog for two hours in the morning 4:30-6:30. I stop at 6:30 no matter what. Then I write until 3:00 pm. 3:00-8:00 is on and off blogging with a break for dinner and “stuff.” 8:00 the computer goes off. I don’t have a lot of followers yet so I enjoy routine reading and commenting. If that number goes up, I’ll have to adjust.
My posts go automatically to twitter, pinterest, FB, tumblr, and google+. I tweet other blog posts of anything exceptional that I think WRITERS might like. I FB other blog posts that I think READERS may enjoy. And I “Pin” anything I may want to reference in the future.
This makes me tired just thinking about it.
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Your system makes me ashamed that I type words. It’s so much more!
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