Once Conceded—Twice (or Thrice) Deleted: Treats AND Tricks

It’s like trick, and treat.

You know. You discover some deep insight on someone’s blog, and you’ve got to ‘follow’ them.  You laugh out loud at another writer’s experience, and you ‘like’ their humor.  A new picture-book author impresses you with their success so you ‘subscribe’ to their writerly wisdom.

All good stuff.  Encouragement. Inspiration. Information.

The problem is, once I ring that doorbell–meaning once I subscribe, follow, or befriend, I am conceding to a social-media-stream of kid-lit community insight.

And soon I am overwhelmed by repeating waves of alerts, posts and notifications.

My facebook feed stutters.  Really.  Because many of my favorite news-feeders (and I can’t do without them) post to three other pages I liked, and to two other groups I joined.  So each priceless bit of wisdom they freely give appears multiple times.

My mailbox is full.  Not only facebook ‘notifications’  of those same feeds but also notices of ‘posts’ I have followed on a number of blogs, as well as podcast arrivals on my phone.

Don’t read me wrongly.  I genuinely treasure the ‘reciprocity’ that my kidlit heroes and my kidlit peers practice.  I know how valuable our free and open connections are.  Where would I be as a children’s writer without what I’ve learned and the opportunities I’ve discovered through our digital connections?

But wow. I often grow weary from deleting repeating posts and notifications, and wading through what I’ve already read more than twice, or thrice, or more.

Can I ask…how do you handle the onslaught?  It’s like getting a bucketful of candy every day.  Just what, and just how, do you throw some of it away? What tricks do YOU use to handle these delicious sweets?