Twitter me this - a tongue-in-cheek-view

I visit Twitter once or twice a day and I am not one of your prolific tweeters. I don't have many followers, I prefer my account to be exclusive. I do tweet this blog so that my readers know it is updated.
Today I had a bit more time on my hands, having finished the second draft of my Christmas novella CHRISTMAS WISHES, so I started touring Twitter. I checked out #Fridayfeeling and had to smile. You get just about everything under any hashtag heading and this one is great. I read that writing is a gift, is hard work, is for posterity, is for eternity, is wonderful, is the source of happiness. That left me breathless and exhausted so I got a glass of water.
I checked out a few more hashtags including #heatwave and learned that in #Ireland and #England everyone is affected by these hot temperatures. Water shortages, sunburn, not drinking enough, feeding ice cream/water melon to your dog, crowded beaches, tarmac melting on some roads, tips for sleeping in a hot bedroom. And there are complaints against those who complain that it is too hot. In Ireland people are smugly tweeting that it's hotter than Spain or the Algarve. So I slapped on some more sun cream and topped up the glass of water.
I looked at other tweets and learned that most Britons say "sorry" about 2 million times in their lives. How can you check the accuracy of that statement? I ask myself. And more importantly, do I care? What am I doing scrolling through all these tweets from people who seem to have even more time on their hands than I do? You know what? I'm getting out the suncream, that awful unfashionable sun hat and heading for one of those overcrowded beaches - oh, almost forgot that bottle of water.
Have a fun weekend everyone wherever you are in whatever temperature.

Yes, it's hard not to get distracted

I should be writing. I have loads of editing to do on my current work in progress or as I prefer to call it my baby:  Love At Close Range.  I have finished the second draft and let it for a week to stew around in my head.  I like to look in on the characters and see what they're up to. Boy, they've changed a few things since I stopped writing about them.  Which means a lot of work ahead.  Which is currently the reason why I am wasting time on social media.
 I am browsing Twitter for Tuesday Motivation - I'm not getting any, I have to admit. Who wants to hang off the edge of an iceberg while being stalked by a polar bear just to prove you can get over the hard times?  Yes, I know you have to never give up, keep going, pick yourself up, be kind, finish the novel, persevere to the end, love everyone and come up with a rose between your teeth... gasp! I admit to being hopelessly inadequate. I admit to having a very exclusive Twitter account (in other words, I don't really have that many followers) I admit to being a nobody because I do not have a Facebook account and therefore cannot admire all those cute photos of friends and family which everyone else keeps telling me about.
I just am, really. I enjoy writing but I also enjoy reading, walking by the sea, watching quiz shows on TV. I'm going to the Everyman theatre in Cork on Thursday night. The Factory Girls is a comedy and just what I need. I love to laugh. And I love the atmosphere of the theatre, especially The Everyman, because I feel like I've had a night out.
Having written all that, I feel free to return to my editing again. Just need a cup of coffee to keep me company.  Here's the cover of the new novel. It won't be available just yet. In fact if I don't start work on it, it will never get out there.

Mobile Phones, Stage Two

In case you're wondering - I have half mastered my android!  I did what I should have done in the first place - called the T... help line and asked if I could switch phone number and credit to my new SIM.  In my own defence, I should say that I did read the T..mobile site but they only gave advice on how to move the phone number from another provider and did not so much as hint that the credit could be transferred, too.  Anyway, a nice young man (this expression somehow always reminds me of Miss Marple in the Agatha Christie novels) listened to what I said even if he also got it backwards at first but when I'd explained again, he said no problem.  And no problem it was!!  Within 5 minutes my mobile number and my remaining credit were on my android.  Yippee.  Now all I have to get used to is the ultra sensitive touch screen - one false brush of the fingertip and .....!!!!!  Like to hear an example of what I mean?   I had to reset my Twitter password, mainly I suspect because of a malheur with typing it in initially.  But I'm getting there.

My contacts were not transferred but this is a blessing in disguise because I have names and numbers on there which I can't account for.  Who on earth is Carol C.???  or Joe scones???  Can't remember ever using those numbers for anything.  So I have been spring-cleaning and only tapping in those names which I know I will need. 

I can now sit on the bus and stare at my Twitter feed if I have a mind.  Only thing is, I much prefer people-watching and people-listening.  One of my favourite Dire Straits' songs has a line "all I can do is kiss you through the bars of a rhyme".  Doesn't have to be like that.   Life is for living isn't it?