I think I'm mastering the art of the angry tweet, you know, those little 140 character snippets that you send to whomever wants to read fleeting bits of thought.
For me, my best tweeting comes when I'm venting, and something I vent a lot about is politics, particularly injustices caused by the greed of one particular party, though the other party definitely isn't innocent.
But as a writer, could my political rantings drive away potential customers to my books? Of course, I'm sure it could. But it's just as likely to draw readers, ones that would more likely enjoy the sarcasm and wit in my books.
Other authors freely share their political agendas, Christopher Moore, Barry Eisler come to mind, and if expressing their feelings is hurting them, it isn't evident.
A writer's philosophies and feelings on society and its problems should come out in our writing, if nothing else, to get people to think.
But there are still those naysayers who say it will hurt sales, and being so direct about it will hurt.
In my case, I think my Adventures of Guy books and Bonk & Hedz (my just completed one) are so filled with political humor it not only isn't just all right that I write about politics, but I should definitely write about politics.
I've also received a lot of encouragement from other authors who either don't dare post controversial matter, or they don't feel they can do it adequately given the 140 character limitations of Twitter. One author told me that he/she loses followers if he/she crosses over a certain line. Then urged me to keep doing my thing.
So I'm going to do exactly that: I'm going to keep tweeting, and if it's politics one night and books the other, so be it.
To mine own Bird-heart be true.
Norm
www.normcowie.com
(now with two books for 99 cents on Amazon)
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