I love art. I collect it. I attempt to create it. (I have just enough talent to get really frustrated by what I can’t draw. The thing is, I can always picture exactly what I WANT to draw in my head.) This is one of the reasons I think it’s fair to say I’m a visual learner. And from what I’ve been reading about retention and visual learning, it may be fair to say we all are.

I’m finding that this is the beauty of Pinterest. Wait! Don’t stop reading just because you don’t want to add another social media commitment to your already full day. You don’t HAVE to use Pinterest as a social media tool. You don’t even have to connect with anyone. If you want, you can use it just for yourself, to help you with your writing, your research, your cooking, your party planning… whatever! You already know this? Well, okay, you can stop reading now… but only if you’re sure you already know it. 😉

I started a Pinterest account a while ago just to look at the cool ideas that everyone else had.  But I didn’t REALLY start using it until I realized I should be using it for research. Before, if I found great articles about writing, I’d save the URL in a word document, then never return to it again because often the sequence of numbers, letters, and symbols in a URL doesn’t jog my memory enough for me to recall what the article was about in the first place. Now, when I find good articles about writing, they get pinned to my ALL THINGS AUTHOR board.  Here’s a glimpse of what that looks like. And you can visit the actual board HERE.

If you aren’t already familiar with Pinterest, you can see in the screen shot above how each article is filed with a picture, and also a short written description. It’s amazing how much this helps me find the right article quickly. Keeping these articles in one public place also allows me to share relevant articles with my writing students and other writers.

A lot of writers are using Pinterest for research. I have joined their ranks. Take a look at the screen shot of another one of my Pinterest boards. Bet you can guess one of the themes in my work in progress now…

The boards on Pinterest are like bulletin boards. Places to hang (pin) your favorite images and articles… things you like and want to revisit. I’m keeping several boards right now. Some just for fun, some for research, some as places to hold information I might find valuable for my career. You don’t have to be an author, of course, to benefit from Pinterest. I know people who use it as a place to collect recipes, home improvement ideas, and teaching ideas. A search bar makes it easy to find pins on topics you like, but you can also add your own pins by pasting in URLs of sites you want to revisit.

Making the decision not to use Pinterest as a social media tool has been freeing for me. I have fewer than 10 followers, and while anyone is welcome to follow me, I don’t attempt to amass more. (By the way, you can create secret boards that the public can’t see if you want.)

If you decide to start using Pinterest, keep in mind that the links to websites will only work as long as the website is active. If you find an article with absolutely crucial information on it, you may want to save it another way as well.

If you’re a fan of visual connections, you need to spend a few hours exploring Pinterest! Maybe I’ll even see you THERE!