Month: April 2019

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I enjoy Twitter polls and can hardly resist scrolling past them (no matter the subject). There’s something about being part of a poll that I just dig. (I’m a Boomer). I thought it would be interesting to get an idea of what writers think, feel, use in their craft, etc. For the last five weeks, I’ve polled the #WritingCommunity on things that piqued my curiosity. I participated in the polls, as well. The writing and publishing processes are dynamic, and I wanted to see what’s fresh. Some of the polls I ran had only a handful of responses – but some data is better than none. Of course, since this is a ‘non-scientific’ poll, the results are technically misleading. I could even go so far to say some responses may have been for sport (see the poll on 3-12-19 below).  At the present time, I’m content being a part of the #WritingCommunity on Twitter.

TWITTER WRITING COMMUNITY NON-SCIENTIFIC POLL

(Total votes are listed after polling data)

• 2/21/19: Writers, how often does your WIP change genres?
  • 36% Sometimes; 18% Always; 46% Never (11 votes)
• 2/22/19: How much time do you spend reading books every day?
  • 25% Less than 1 hour; 50% 1-2 hours; 0% 3-4 hours; 25% Over 4 hours (4 votes)
• 2/28/19: Novelists, do you create an outline for your novel?
  • 36% Always; 27% Never; 37% Sometimes (11 votes)
• 3/1/19: What writing software are you using, if any?
  • 30% Scrivener; 41% Word; 20% Google Docs; 9% Other (44 votes)
• 3/6/19: Have you ever completely revamped your WIP before publishing?
  • 75% Many times; 25% Once or Twice; 0% Never (4 votes)
    • (I’m filing under questions just stupid enough to ask)
• 3/12/19: Have you ever taken an online writing course?
  • 64% No; 18% Yes; 9% I’m a Genius; 9% Currently taking a course (11 votes)
    • (I’d love to meet the geniuses one day)
• 3/16/19: What are you currently writing?
  • • 80% Genre fiction; 13% Literary Fiction; 7% Other (15 votes)
• 3/20/19: Are you planning a book launch?
  • 60% Not sure; 30% No; 10% In Progress (10 votes)
• 3/26/19: What to do when writing and losing focus?
  • Total 39 votes: 31% Exercise; 23% TV; 31% Read; 15% Other (39 votes)
• 3/30/19: Which of the 4 genres would you buy a book?
  • 41% Literary; 0% Nonfiction; 7% Poetry; 52% Crime (27 votes)

Tweet comments were posted on some polls (summarized below)

• 2/21/19 Poll: “…while it might change, it’s never too far from where it started.”
• 3/1/19 Poll: Other writing software noted in poll comments: New Novelist; OpenOffice; Zenwriter; Hemingway; Grammarly.
• 3/26/19 Poll: Activities when losing focus noted in poll comments: watch videos; housework; write something else; nap; physically move to a new space to write.
• 3/30/19 Poll: I purposely used the four categories of my personal interest in this poll. Two people commented:
  • Sci-Fi
  • Crime Fiction and a split between contemporary Lit.

What did I learn? I learned that I was almost always in the lower percentage of the polls. I embrace being different so very much!

What was I surprised by? 64% of those that answered had never taken an online writing course – I’m one of the 64% (the only poll where I was with the majority).

As much as the poll was unscientific, it helped me interact with the writing community.