A Voice Tweeting in the Wilderness

or, There's a Story Here Somewhere

I have officially jumped on the Twitter bandwagon.

(Ok. So that's not true. It would be more accurate to say that I have half-heartedly hailed said bandwagon and grudgingly boarded it because I didn't know what else to do when it let me get on.)

I've blogged fairly faithfully for nearly 5 years. Got on Facebook and figured out both Fan and Friend pages. Love both mediums. But the allure of Twitter has escaped me. To me, the entire concept of "tweeting" smacked of standing on a streetcorner shouting to the world and hoping people noticed you without actively abusing you. I realized, however, that I was making judgments without actual experience. Which led to the aforementioned bandwagon.

So, I became @MuseInks. Let the following begin.

This begs the question "Now what?"

* Does the world really need another writer -- who follows other writers -- trumpeting and retweeting about the same nifty writers' resources? Maybe.

* Does anyone care about my latest book and movie projects? Sure, to a point. But there's only so much blowing my own horn I can stomach.

* Is it that important to my career to have a following? Possibly... Highly doubtful.

I got to thinking. What I really like about social media is the ability to connect with interesting people that I wouldn't have otherwise have met. Thanks to Facebook, I've been introduced to some really wonderful writers -- though not all of them are actively looking for ways to get their words into print. Perhaps with Twitter, I'll be able to discover even more voices.

This led me to my current brainchild. I shall use Twitter to write a multi-authored short story. I shall call this masterpiece of literary brilliance, akin to the proverbial Shakespearean sonnets produced by 100 monkeys at typewriters, a twory.

(Now, I don't pretend to be the originator of the term, but a quick search didn't indicate any online community that was actively using it who would be inconvenienced by my little experiment. I think it serves quite nicely -- unless I hear from someone who tells me that it's actually a vile underground racial epithet that could get me stoned in 15 counties.)

So... From now until the end of the month -- two weeks is plenty of time for a talented core of contributors to create stellar prose -- I'm inviting all writers who feel so inclined to add their two cents' worth to a work in progress.

I'll begin [See below for the opening line].

Any tweet that includes "@MuseInks TWORY" and comes to my attention will be added to the story. People may contribute as often as they like. Contributors are encouraged to follow me (well, of course) and to follow those who actively add to the narrative.

I'll keep a running update of the twory as it evolves on my Facebook page, for those who may be interested. Then, on March 1, I'll post the complete magnum opus on my blog, complete with credit to all contributors. Should be interesting...

The Twory may be entirely written by Yours Truly. (Kind of like the old worry "what if I give a party and no one comes?") But I hope that's not the case. I'd like this to be a group effort!

So -- let the Twory begin. I humbly offer the following as the opening line:

If a Hall of Fame for deadbeats and losers ever existed, Terry Mifflin had a candidate for induction.

Next line? Anyone?