B is for: Building a platform - pointless time suck or preparing for the future?

One of my favorite blogs to follow is The Intern, a young, editorial-assistant-turned-Big-Six-author who, of anyone out there, is the poster girl for building an online presence. So I read with interest this post on the benefits of social media for budding writers...or lack of them.

To sum up what you can read by following the link, a writer friend of Intern's did an experiment: she social mediaed the heck out of her book for six months, then erased her entire online presence and watched what happened.

Can you guess? Right. Nothing. Her Amazon sale numbers remained exactly the same.


So...what do you think? Is her experience the norm?

And if it is, would it change the way you blog?

A is for : Aphorisms

According to Wikipedia, an aphorism is an original thought, spoken or written in a laconic (concise) and memorable form.

Dictionary.com says it's 'a terse saying embodying a general truth, or astute observation, as “Power tends to corrupt, and absolute power corrupts absolutely” (Lord Acton).'

So basically, an aphorism is when you say something really deep without using a lot of words. It's also very quotable, which kinda takes away the 'original thought' idea of Wikipedia's definition. Aphorisms turn into cliches (a phrase which has been repeated so often, it loses its original meaning/effect) very easily. 

Here are a few of my favorites:

I'd like to live as a poor man with lots of money. - Pablo Picasso

Forgive your enemies, but never forget their names. - JFK

The human race has improved everything but the human race. - Adlai Stevenson

Easy writings curse is hard reading. - Richard Brinsley Sheridan

Find more writing-related aphorisms at Huffington Post by clicking here, including this one:

I am a storyteller. If I'd wanted to send a message, I would have written a sermon. - Phillip Pullman

Do you agree or disagree with Mr. Pullman? Is it really possible not to write with a message?  Share your thoughts - or your favorite aphorism - in the comments!