Becoming a Social Girl

Recently I opened a Twitter account. In November I started a blog. In December I published my first book. And for the last decade I've been swimming, drowning, and sometimes even splashing around in the sphere of motherhood. There are plenty of moms who stay connected to the world or become more connected once they have kids. My experience was the opposite. My world narrowed drastically along with my social skills. "Cool it with the whining," isn't the best line to win people over. "Chairs are for bottoms, not feet." Another great line for a stinker kid, not so much for anyone else.

Quick one liner commands and a trunkful of expressions I can't school no matter how hard I try make up the majority of my personality. Oh, and there's this one other little hiccup, nothing big, but to quote one of my favorite movies, French Kiss, "I'm an asshole, what can I say?"

So, now I have to be social, via media no less. I'm not a tech girl. I love my sci-fi movies. I love computer games (Lego games mostly). I'm a search engine queen. But texting, tweeting, facebooking...that's NEW. To date I've never sent a text. I have an answering machine instead of voicemail. My cell is seven years old and doesn't have a built-in camera.

I forge this new world of blogs and tweets with a sort of dewy-eyed glee and nervous girl apprehension. What are the do's and dont's? My mom taught me a great deal of etiquette rules growing up and especially right before going to college. But my mom's a wild woman, someone who teaches her kids the smartest ways to tell a person off, not how to make nice online.

My current reference manual I pass on to you guys, Molly Greene: Writer. Her blog is jam-packed with tips and no-no's. I need more brain space to absorb all the information. Okay, all you tweeps and bloggers out there, go on, click away!

 

Photo by Christer Rønning Austad (http://www.sxc.hu/help/7_2)