How “real” is your life on social media? Do you present a multi-faceted person? Do you show only your good side, or do you let your troubles and your politics hang out all over and stir up controversy?
I’m not sure there’s a right or a wrong here. Each person makes her own decisions as to what to share—and when it’s oversharing. Authors and others with a public persona usually choose to hold back on health or family problems unless they relate to what we write about.
Does it present a false front to squelch the negative talk? Do our followers and friends think our life is perfect simply because we edit what we share publicly?
Several agents have talked about this lately. Wendy Lawton of Books and Such Agency talked about “My Facebook Life.” This prompted her fellow B&S agent Rachelle Gardner to discuss whether we’re overexposing our lives on social media. On Wednesday, Tamela Hancock Murray of the Steve Laube agency added her two cents’ worth in “My Amazing Fake Day.” Try to discern fact from fiction in Tamela’s schedule!
So here’s My Fictional Life. How much do you think is true?
6:30 am: The alarm goes off and I bounce out of bed. Feed the starving cats. Let the dog out.
6:45-8:30: I sit down at my laptop and write. Witty dialogue and tense action scenes pour out of my fingertips. Let the dog in.
8:30-10: Shower, breakfast, devotions, email, and Facebook. Maybe snuggle a kitty or two. (Or, more recently, three. Don’t ask.) Let the dog out.
10-11: Marketing related tasks. Let the dog in.
11-12:30: Let the dog out. Play with 15-month-old granddaughter and serve lunch for her and I. Remove toddler from the pets’ water dish. Put dish on counter. Change toddler.
12:30-3:00 pm: While toddler naps, back to writing, marketing, or online freelance work. Never Facebook. She heads home at 3. Let the dog in.
3-6:30: Outside work (garden/farm), errands in town, hubby time, or online work. Oh, and supper. Let the dog out.
6:30-9:00: Freelance or marketing work. Let the dog in.
9-9:30: Work out. Let the dog out.
9:30-10:30: Let the dog in. Read. Usually a chapter or two from a nonfiction book, then several chapters of fiction.
10:30 pm-6:30 am: Sleep soundly. No waking up from kitties ricocheting off the walls. No staring at the ceiling trying to remember what I forgot to do or stressing about the next day’s list. And definitely no tossing and turning. Ever.
How about you? What does your day look like, real or fictional?
*snicker* I’m sure you left out at least a few “let the dog in/out” iterations.
The only thing that makes me bounce out of bed is an earthquake, and it’d have to be a pretty strong one. 😉
The bouncing out of bed at 6:30 is the beginning of the fictional part. More like my alarm goes off at 6:30 and I usually have myself dragged out of bed by 6:45, still staring bleary-eyed.
I do have a child who bounces out of bed, usually an hour before that, even. I think he might be a changeling. 😉
I so appreciated the laugh! Yet, isn’t it funny/awful how we all feel guilty when we can’t accomplish a productive day.
Glad to provide a chuckle 🙂
Wow. Your life sounds exactly like mine…except I don’t have to set the alarm. 🙂 And I don’t have a dog or a toddler around. But other than that…
Great post. Needed a laugh after returning from a morning at the ER.
Sorry to hear about your trip to the ER. 🙁 Glad I had the chance to make you smile.
Valerie, Good thing our dogs keep us moving!
So true, Cathy!