Spilling Your Heart on Social Media

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As aspiring authors, we strive to gain a following on social media. To be honest, there are many times I have wanted to step away from it for a good long season and the only reason I don't is because I care so much about connecting with the writing community, and my future audience.

So social media is not just a place of goofing off, throwing out your opinions and rants, or sharing family pictures... it is a place of impressions, a measure of your heart, really. In Jesus' day, the measure of a heart was what came from your mouth...and in present day, our mouths have multiplied to not just speaking with the tongue, but speaking with speedy fingers on a keyboard.

Yet, the same concept still applies--from the overflow of the heart, the mouth speaks.

When was the last time you typed something on social media without thinking it through, and then tossed and turned all night wondering how someone took it?

I do it...too much.

How about finding yourself convincing YOU of a stance you took, realizing that you just debated for
debating's sake?

Ugh! Guilty!!

While the pressure gets stronger as we try and use social media not just for play but for dream-building (aka professional networking), it is not only something that can trip us up, but something that can refine us in the most personal, non-work-related way.

Remembering our audience (Facebook friends, twitter followers, future readers and critics), is just as important in that social media post as it is while we write our stories.

Now-a-days, our hearts literally can bleed all over a page...and we need to be sure that they are pouring out truth and not deceit, life and not ego. And I am not talking about posting a Bible verse every 30 minutes...I am talking about authenticity. Be YOU...but do it in a clear, Christ-centered way. And think before you type.

I'll try to take my own advice, too!
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Angie Dicken is a full-time mom and lives in the Midwest with her Texas Aggie sweetheart. An ACFW member since 2010, she has written five Historical Romance novels, has a Historical underway, and is represented by Tamela Hancock Murray of The Steve Laube Agency. Angie also spends her time designing one-sheets, selling Jamberry, and drinking good coffee with great friends. Check out her author page at www.facebook.com/dicken.angie and her personal blog at angiedicken.blogspot.com