I’ve been neglecting my blog. It’s not that I don’t want to blog, it’s simply a matter of time. I’m on the road almost constantly. This past week, I visited five states, talking to all kinds of people, Methodists, Episcopalians, Catholics, students, activists, lawyers, community groups. I love doing this. Together with writing and connecting with people who are hurting, it is my passion.
But I want to connect with you, too; you who cannot make it to my talks; and you who enjoy connecting online. So I’m sorry I haven’t had time for my blog.
Now, though, I think I’ve found a way to stay in contact with you while I’m on the road, when I can’t find time to write a full blog post. It’s a little thing called Twitter. Twitter is blogging for the hard pressed. It restricts you to 140 characters - characters, not words! - for each post, and let me tell you, that’s quite a restriction for a talker like me.
The great thing about Twitter is that I can do it quickly, even when I’m on the road or about to board a plane or in a hotel. If I don’t have my computer with me, I call up my friend, Rose, and she types in my tweets - that’s what they call it when you use Twitter - she types in my tweets for me and lets me know if anyone responds.
Rose is the one who introduced me to Twitter. She’s a good friend and colleague who manages the online side of my life and all the technology we use at the Death Penalty Discourse Network. She has her own blog, too, where she talks in terms even I can understand about how to use computers. Rose and I talk most days, and so turning those talks into tweets is a natural extension of what we do.
In fact, I’ve found that tweeting helps me organize my thoughts and take note of events and ideas as they happen during the day, and because I can put my tweets online it’s a way for me to share those things with you.
So from now on, each day I’ll put a list of all my tweets for that day into a post called “What I’ve been thinking and doing” here on my blog. You’ll also be able to see my very latest tweets in the Currently list on the left. Or, if you prefer, you can follow me directly on Twitter. That way you’ll get my tweets as I utter them and I’ll be able to follow you, too.