Down to brass tacks

You will have heard from many people that writers need to be on Twitter. I don’t disagree. I’ve been on it for 11 years. I’ve also been the voice behind the handles of everyone from co-working companies to lingerie retailers to literary magazines, and, of course, I write my personal feed.

After all these years, I think I’ve finally figured out what makes Twitter work for me as a writer. And although I started using it with the idea of platform and personal brand, it’s ultimately not either of those things that makes Twitter the right medium for me.

Back in early 2008, I was doing a lot of freelance writing that involved low-hanging fruit. It was stuff I was interested in and had expertise in already: writing about the environment or about corporations and their sustainability efforts. Writing about the places I had