I usually come late to a trend because I’m off doing my own thing. It’s not because I’m an amazing trailblazer but more because I’m in my own little world.

Still, #TBT crept into my peripheral social media vision, and while it was cute at first, I soon found the trend annoying. I played along a few times when tagged in various games, but I rarely finished.

So here we are, eleven years after the first use of #ThrowbackThursday according to Time, and I still don’t participate in the trend. Until now when I started thinking how can we use #TBT for something worthwhile?

Rather than share a picture of me from kindergarten with my barrettes sliding down my hair and what my husband refers to as my shifty smile, I decided to dig up some of my past writing. That’s what I do, so why not reveal a picture of myself through my chosen art form? So many authors have claimed that they don’t write themselves into their work, but that’s simply not true. We’re in there, somewhere, somehow.

My first goal is to catch the interest of Facebook friends by reposting some of my initial pieces. I won’t share all of them because a few are cringeworthy. Still, one can find them, which is my second goal of encouraging readers to poke around at HL Gibson, Author, especially under the Read & Relax heading where you’ll locate my short stories and flash fiction. If you want to find the dirt, you’re going to have to dig.

My third and most important goal is to draw out other writers. We need to build the writing community, so let everyone know where you can be found. The fourth goal in this process is to give permission to those reading my work to leave feedback. Dear Reader, you never truly needed that permission in the first place because if my writing is out there, it’s understood that feedback is desired, required even. It’s what writers live in fear of and crave at the same time.

Keep in mind that you don’t have to be a writer yourself, but since you do have an opinion, please express it. Be kind and constructive, refrain from insult.

Some in my writing community will no doubt think I’ve gone mental and/or opened a horrible can of worms with my offer. One writing friend is fond of saying, “Let the blood-letting begin.” While I find his misapplied comment humorous, I don’t believe that’s going to happen, and it certainly isn’t necessary. Still, it’s funny when he exposes his wrist at writing group.

Communication is the ultimate goal here. Let’s have a chat in our 21^st century coffee house that is social media. Leave your feedback in the comments section and let’s have a conversation.