POETRY / HAIKU

Writers Lift

An experiment in affirming others

Writers lift let’s go Uplift, share with all you know Let’s make some new friends.

I recently became active on Twitter, where I’ve connected with so many writers; both published authors and aspiring, novelists, poets, and bloggers alike. If you’re not on Twitter yet — do yourself a favor and get there. There is a whole world out there for us writers embedded in hashtags like #writing #writers #amwriting #writingcommunity #poetry #poetrycommunity and more.

Writers on Twitter are active not just in sharing their work but in making connections; growing their follower base and their online persona and amplifying and uplifting not just their work but others’ too.

The #writerslift is something I particularly love and appreciate on Twitter; a tactic to increase followers/connections by creating a space (in the form of a shareable tweet) to showcase fellow writers and to allow other writers to drop their links to published books, blogs, or works in progress (#WIP).

The #writerslift can also be in the form of a shoutout to a specific writer you follow, like this guy David does a few times per week — I don’t even know him or why he does it but it makes my heart smile every single time and my followers skyrocket in response, growing my online presence.

I’ve learned from fellow writers on Twitter that growing our online presence is important for some publishers, and as I intend to query one day — why not build today?

And so I thought…why not borrow this concept from Twitter and use it here to grow our followers, connections, and presence on the very platform on which we write?

I’ve seen some authors do this in other ways like Quy Ma’s Why I Want to Support Small Publications, which shouts out to many small pubs (including my own), helping up garnish more readers (thank you), or Heather C Holmes who recently wrote about self-love and then highlighted other writers who do the same (thank you).

But what if we all did this regularly and streamlined under the #writerslift concept, just like on Twitter?

Let’s affirm and uplift one another, growing not just our followers but our connection to one another, our circles, and our spirits — because writers thrive in collaboration!

Who’s with me?

Let’s try an experiment: start a chain and keep it going! If you don’t already — I invite you to follow the writers below, then post your own #writerlift piece, tag this story at the bottom and uplift some writers too.

Today, and I plan to do this regularly, I want to lift the following writers who move me with their words — I invite you to follow them:

Sarah L. Harvey, Sтepн Tнoмpѕoɴ, Connie Song, Samantha Lazar, Haikuster, Carolyn Riker, Aimée Gramblin, Sarene B. Arias, Vixen Lea, Julia Marsiglio, Victor Sarkin, Randy Shingler, Jupiter Grant, JD Greyson, Dr. Marina Harris, Laurie Perez, Caroline Mellor, Suntonu Bhadra, Write Mind Matters, Tina L. Smith, Michelle Marie Warner, Rica Keenum, Rachel Reid, Edward Riley, Pam Gaslow.

Thank you for your willingness to try my experiment! Let’s help each other grow!