Facebook And Our Children

I've always been leery of social networking when it comes to children.  I never thought I'd be one of those moms who allowed her children on Facebook before the posted age of thirteen. However, a couple of years ago, I gave in and created a Facebook account for my oldest. Not for the reason she was begging, which was all her friends were getting one so they could remember each other as they all got separated into different middle schools, but because I wanted her to get to know our family up North.  Facebook is a great way to keep in touch with those you love.

We discussed the fact that she couldn't accept any friend requests without my permission, and I had to be one of those friends.  She wasn't allowed to take any quizzes or play any games that I didn't approve of.  Her privacy settings were set at the highest priority.  I believed I'd thought of everything to keep her safe.

Her younger sister is now of the same age with her own page and all the same rules apply.  Things have gone reasonably well, but she's more of a free spirit. I have to monitor her much more closely and have had to delete a friend or two on occasion.

The problem I've been eluding to happened last week when she declined a young man's request to "go out" with her.  He instant messaged her through Facebook, and she gave him her standard reply.  "Mom says I'm too young to go out with anyone." 

He wasn't happy with this answer, and tried to persuade her.  While they were chatting, his profile picture became her picture.  She was "creeped out" when he did this.  At first she thought she hit a wrong button and changed her own picture.  Before she could tell him to delete it, he disappeared from her screen.  He unfriended her in the middle of their chat because she'd finally had to outright tell him, "No."

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History on Grandmother's Tree, A Short Story by Heather Thorpe

I want to start out by thanking all of my Facebook friends and beyond for their kind words and encouragement with this weekend's posting of my short story, Grandmother's Tree. Click here to read.  When the weekend started out, I had every intention of working on some thoughts swimming around in my head for my sequel, but sitting down with pen to paper, Grandmother's Tree poured out instead. 

I was a little leary about posting my first short story on such a public forum, but the response has been so positive, it encourages me to post more in the future.  If you've never had the experience, you wouldn't believe how hard it is to publish one of your own works.  To leave yourself open to possible criticism is not for the weak spirited.  Thankfully, I've never been one of those individuals.  Backing down from what I believe in has never really been an option for me. 

Still, writing had always been very personal and not something I wanted openly critiqued by strangers, but I'm letting go of that notion.  Writing has been second nature since I was a teenager.  It's almost like therapy.  Unless you were within my trusted circle, this fact was a closely guarded secret of mine until now.  I cannot fulfill my lifelong dream of becoming a published author, without opening up myself and my writing.

I plan to talk more in the future about my writing journey towards publication.  The next time my pen has a mind of it's own, I'll be sure to post the outcome.  For now I'd just like to find the time to write my original thoughts for the sequel.  So many words swirling round.  So little time to jot them down.

- Heather Tweet

Finding My Way

This is my last day of school vacation, and where did the week go?  I did get a lot accomplished on my book, but not so much of anything else. The house is a disaster. Today, I had no choice but to tackle a mountain of laundry that was threatening to take over my bathroom, and I had to run the dishwasher since we were out of counter space in the kitchen.

However, now that the kids are safely tucked at Grandma's for the night, I'm right back to work. This is my last free weekend before life sets back in, and we all go back to school on Monday.  I'd like to finish editing tonight so I can begin the next phase, self publication or traditional. Still deliberating on that one.

As you know, if you've been reading my other posts, this blog is new for me. I've also started my own Twitter page of the same name. Trying to navigate my way through the Tweeting world has been harder than I thought. I have to say I find Facebook so much easier. However, I'm not going to give up. It took me a few weeks to get a handle on Facebook, and I'm sure Twitter's no different. 

I'll find my niche soon enough. Tweet