Writer's Twitter Chats and How to Join

A number of months ago a group of like minded middle grade writers decided, after frequenting YA and kidlit chats on twitter, that we needed our own middle grade literary chat.  And so #mglitchat was born.

The originators of the chat usually select a time appropriate for the group.  #MGlitchat chose 9pm est on Thursdays to avoid competing with similar chats for writers; young adult genre #yalitchat 9pm est on Wednesday, and picture book genre #kidlitchat at 9pm on Tuesdays.  The group also created a blog as an information point for transcripts and future topics, http://mglitchat.blogspot.com/.

If you have never attended a twitter chat, I highly recommend them.  It's a great place to exchange ideas and information with fellow writers and readers. Recent topics on #mglitchat include, SF in MG, Technology in MG, Violence in MG, and Compelling Villains. This Thursday we'll discuss Religion in middle grade fiction.

Some pointers:

     use twitter apps to follow along during the chat time.  Tweetdeck and tweetchat.com are two of the most popular. 

     Always use the #mglitchat (or whatever the chat's hashtag is) after each of your comments, that way it is seen by those in the chat. 

     Enjoy sharing your own ideas and information with fellow writers or illustrators and HAVE FUN!