Joining LinkedIn

After years traversing MySpace, Facebook, and Twitter, and spurred by receiving three requests from people I respect in the last two months, I finally decided to join LinkedIn. My main concern upon that decision was which picture to post in my profile.

Part of my aversion to joining the site had to do with my own lack of validated feelings about being a writer. What makes a person a writer? Why is the traditional chronological job list so favored, and where do I put the articles that show what I’ve actually done? You can’t put up a profile under “Aspiring Writer” and list the hours you’ve spent creatively toiling, or the number of pages you’ve written but haven’t yet published, or the number of drafts you’ve thrown out.

Now I have a professional profile that, in my opinion, hardly quantifies the work I’ve done, my qualifications, or who I am as a writer. However, I think it is a necessary step, and only the beginning of tracking my career.

I chose black-and-white, at first (more writerly), then scanned others’ photos, which were all in color, and switched to the popular option. Here is the current profile header, and the link to my profile (which, by the way, you will only be able to see fully if you are a member of the site yourself).