Last night at drinks in the Upper West Side, my friend/business contact discussed why she’s keeping her place, saying, “I have a 1 bedroom for under $4,000,” (and here I almost spit out my wine), “where am I going to find that again?”

This is why I choose not to live in New York. I highly respect the hustle, but it’s not for me.

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Even when I lived in Seattle, I tried to go to New York City, the mecca of the writing world, at least once a year. I might up that to twice a year, now that I live in Gainesville, Fla. Each trip, coffee date, and introduction pivots my career in a more exciting direction.

The face-to-face time is wonderful, but it would not be enough to maintain my relationships. For that, I need Twitter.

I know, there’s a lot going on with the platform. But, for me, the writing world has put too much time into carving out our space to abandon it.

There was recently an article in the Atlantic, about how Twitter is this ladder in the walled garden of publishing, and if the model is that we have to live in NY to make it as a writer, that will radically skew whose voice is out there.

Twitter is all about building your platform, building your audience, and having your voice heard. I don’t care that a billionaire bought it and threw a tantrum. I don’t think it’s going anywhere, and it’s still the best way to find your community and get your work out there.