Be careful what you wish for

I made a discovery on 11 June 2012.

I suppose this idea had been brewing in my mind for some time, but it was on this day that those small puzzle pieces of the past finally fell into place.

I discovered that I have been focussing on the wrong thing all this time. Being an emerging writer, trying to get a 'readership' is hard work - but it occurred to me on 11 June that
simply trying to get more Facebook fans or being the "I-follow-back" Twitter type hasn't been doing me any favours.
Having thousands of "fans" or "followers" who aren't truly interested in me as a Writer or Poet is actually like having no following at all.

So on 11 June 2012, I decided it was time to share my realisations and announce, "It's time for a Twitter clean-up. I won't be offended if you unfollow me too, rather Thank-You and all the best in your endeavours."
My 40+ followers have since reduced to a humble 23 - and continue to decline further.

And that's okay.
It reminds me of those days in Primary and High-school where having a lot of 'friends' was of utmost importance for our standing in that unspoken social hierarchy that existed. But as we grew older and slowly learned through experience that our True Friends are the ones who stick by us through all our ups and downs, physical-body-changes, financial-circumstance-shifts - that True Friends are the ones who were there during our High Points, yet are still there to break our fall after we have tumbled to the Lowest of Low Points. As we grew older, we began recognising the value of Quality over Quantity, and how having just a handful of loyal, trustworthy, genuine friends makes us richer than even the richest of men.
So as we go "forward" into this new Social Media World we have created, it would be quite sad and even "backward" to not apply the lessons learnt from yesterday.

Thus, my New Approach will be to simply write - and then write some more - as I continue to pray that at least a handful of people may be affected and inspired by my writing, because there is no greater gift than knowing that my words resonate with another human being.

Much Appreciation to my loyal True Friends.