I’ve been bouncing around the internet checking on writer blogs, publishing blogs and just general frivolity blogs. I’ve been reading posts on everything from the digital age writer to writer integrity to the pressures writers are feeling in this new age of publishing. *sigh* It’s so much to take in.
There is just so much to do. I like blogging. I like hanging out on twitter and facebook. Heck, I’ve even become enanmored with pinterest. But man, do they become a time suck. And you know, half the time when I’m visiting those sites I feel like I’m marketing even when I’m trying not to. I’ve lost the ability to just hang out, have a margarita and talk about nothing. Nothing. I don’t mean in real life, I mean on the internet.
Sometimes I feel like I’ve become one of those writers who walk into a social media room and no one makes virtual eye contact because even an innocuous conversation about soda consumption in the US evolves into eating sweets which of course I can segue right into a pitch about the kinky sex scene involving whipped cream and ginger root (yeah, google that one) in my newest release. Okay, no, I’m not that bad, but you get the idea.
It’s all so overwhelming. And oh yeah, I actually have readers (bless all three of you) clamoring for another new book which means I need to sit down and write. A scene. A chapter. A new story. But there’s so much to do! So many places to be and so much to do when I get there. (I won’t even tell you what fun I’ve been having with Amazon this week which has sapped all my energy–you’ll get that story next week when it’s resolved.)
I don’t like it. I want to sit down at the computer and not feel like I have ADD … Author Data Deluge
I had the pleasure of meeting a woman this week who has become a major player in the world of publishing. And you know how she did it? By not marketing. Not always trying to sell something. She did it just by being her sweet, quirky, effervescent self. Now big name authors, large review sites and heck yeah, television personalities are clamoring to meet her. (And small time authors want to be her.) In this case it wasn’t luck that skyrocketed her, but just a sincerity that showed through even the flat screen of the internet.
I think she’s got something there. It made me sit back and think. I just need to let the books out there percolate and move forward with something new. Stop worrying about selling and take time, focus on one of the stories sitting partially done and just write. Something. Anything. I’ve got to stop feeling so panicked about sales of already published books and find the joy of creating something new.
How about you? How goes it? How are you defining your success these days?
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