Yep, file another blog entry under ‘All Things Sticky.’ Of course, baklava – more specifically Tony’s Famous Baklava – is usually what I’m referring to when I bring up the topic of sticky stuffs. But in this case I’m talking about Facebook and the naughty goings on during weekly hump day celebrations on our wall.

What am I saying? To some extent, every day is hump day on Tori Carrington’s FB wall. There always seems to be some sort of wicked shenanigans going on, up to and including considerable ‘poking’…and I take great pleasure in making the experience as suggestive as I dare.

But every Wednesday is a free-for-all that includes numbered Hump Day Hotties (photos of male cover models in various states of undress), dirty jokes and raunchy YouTube music videos. Oh, and the aforementioned lollipop? It’s a fun application where you invite people to suck on your lollipop until it’s, um, sucked dry.

Gasp! Too suggestive for you? That was Tony’s concern. And it’s the reason why I scaled back a lot of my bad girl activities…save for Wednesday, that is. Although I enjoy pointing out that friends do not ‘un-friend’ us in droves: rather they eagerly come out to play. In fact, it’s become a version of ‘Girls Gone Wild,’ where we, the girls, reclaim and enthusiastically redefine a term originally established by the guys all in the name of fun.

While at the Romantic Times Convention in Columbus earlier last month I was asked if I thought Facebook and other social media were worth a writer’s time in terms of self-promotion. My response was a shrug and a smile. All too often

it’s easy for writers to get caught up in the professional angle of the business. Analyze how they should act, consider what is appropriate to say, focus too keenly on the brand they’re trying to create, and then respond accordingly. Over the course of our lives – much less our career – one important lesson we’ve learned is that if you’re not having fun…well, what’s the point? Readers don’t ‘like’ or ‘follow’ or ‘friend’ you because they want a dry litany of your available titles and coming appearances. They can get that information from a variety of sources. No, they want to know you; enjoy spending time with you. And what better way to do that than by being yourself? Inviting them to pull up a virtual chair and laugh and applaud and ooh and ahh along with you?

Having said that, I’m thinking I need to designate at least one more day a ‘free-for-all,’ girls day out. Today, maybe. What shall we call it? Funny Friday? Funky? Freaky? Oh, wait! Why not Free-for-All Friday?

What do you think? Comment with your response to my thoughts, as well as with your answer, and automatically qualify to win a copy of one of our backlist titles!

Oh, and while you’re at it, come on over to Facebook and give my lollipop a lick, will you? Or at the very least, poke me! http://www.facebook.com/toricarrington

I cancelled my Facebook account yesterday with no small amount of glee. I never could figure out why people sent me invitations to online Easter egg hunts or asked me to fill out surveys about the ten things I last ate for breakfast.

I lost interest in Myspace years ago, soon as I settled on a wallpaper for my homepage. I’ve tried to do away with that account too, but for reasons I cannot fathom, the mysterious powers in control of the company requested that I send them a photo of myself holding up a sign with my name on it in order to cancel my account. Seriously. I’m not kidding.

I’m a spotty blogger at best, and I’ve dabbled in Twitter, but without any lasting enthusiasm. Friends will tell you I’m not even good at keeping up with email (you might get a reply from me right away, or you might never hear from me until one day a few years from now when I finally clean out my email inbox and realize I’ve failed to answer your message).

It’s not that I don’t see the value of social networking. I do. Sort of. (Okay, not really.)

I like to hear from my friends, but to be honest, I’m a bit of a hermit. ‘Socially gregarious’ is not a phrase that’s ever been used to describe me, and all the possibilities for networking with people online make me want to take a nap.

In spite of the hermit tendencies, I have a bit of a Jeckyll and Hyde relationship with my blog/Twitter account/whatever. I’ll be wildly enthusiastic about posting for a while, and then I’ll start to hate the responsibility and vanish. It usually happens when I’m overwhelmed with a deadline. When the impossible workload has been conquered, I’ll sheepishly come out of my cave and post again.

How about you? Do you have a favorite social networking medium? Do you Facebook or Twitter? What do you love or hate about them? Can you explain to me what the surveys and Easter egg hunts are all about? Here’s your chance to convince me of what I’m missing out on.

You can follow me/friend me/whatever on the following links, but don’t be surprised when I disappear. And if I never hear from you at all–don’t feel bad. I understand completely.

My blog: http://www.jamiesobrato.com
My Twitter Page: http://twitter.com/jamiesobrato