Reaching Farther, Higher, Closer

Tonight I thought I’d just get down and dirty real with y’all 🙂 So beware if you dislike candid, occasionally zany musings from an eccentric chocoholic. Okay, you were warned…

I’ve been reading up everywhere for ways to not necessarily be a better author, but how to make it in this big biz. It seems like everyone is an author these days. You can publish an unedited memoir about texting if you fancy. And I’m sure that somewhere out there, someone is going to purchase it off Amazon. Has the Indie Pub phenomenon taken away the value of what we’re trying to do? Most days I would call it a dream maker. Amazon Kindle certainly answered my dreams two years ago. 

But now I look back with a distanced perspective and wonder if I could and should have waited. Should I have tried to build up a different type of resume instead of books that I continue to change? Even recently, after Silver Hollow came up for free promotion again, a part of me winced knowing it could be better. I even started working on a new new draft of that story, completely revamping the plot. I like to think that in a year or less, maybe more, I can re-release it and give it the kind of polishing I wanted for my first novel in the first place. 

And everyone in this market is always saying how social media is key. How Twitter is essential as all types to get your words out there. But every time I go on Twitter, all I see is a bunch of people shouting at the air. I’ve posted, twice now, asking if anyone out there actually reads these posts and received no reply. So I have to wonder, does anyone actually read other people’s Twitter feeds, or do we just “share” our own news. Before I signed up for Twitter, I felt like it was an even more narcissistic version of Facebook, a way for people to shout out about themselves. It’s difficult for me to see it as a tool, though maybe that’s because I just don’t know how? 

I’ve heard and read all kinds of advice from friends about how to make a mark, to give your stamp to online world. But sometimes I don’t feel like anybody besides a few actually hear me. And aren’t I just as guilty? Don’t I peruse different author sites, looking at books and sometimes advice, but rarely on a regular basis? And how do we even have time to be active participants in the online world? Being absent only a few days seems like an eternity next to the pros who post daily, multiple times a day. I wish I could come up with something just as interesting without repeating myself. 

Some days I wonder if I could have done things differently. And the answer is, yes, I certainly could have. I could have tried to find an agent and publish through a traditional house, where rejection is a common, every-day thing. It might have taken me longer, but I might have been more seasoned and less eager to simply publish. Fact of the matter is, I can’t go back and change things and I can’t simply wish them better. No one becomes a pro overnight and no one sees all their dreams realized in one full swing. Unless you win the lottery and I just know there’s a catch-twenty-two with that. We each have our goals and our individual dreams. And by regretting my past choices, I am kind of slapping myself in the face. Because I have to remember that at the time, my dreams were similar, just not so lofty. And that’s part of learning, part of growing. Every day, I try to seek out new and fresh ideas, ways that can teach me how to be the best author I can be. 

As you can see by this long semi-rant, I don’t have it all together, much as I would like to. It’s all part of the journey and we have to eat away at that elephant one bite at a time. I am grateful for the people who have helped make this adventure possible, and the ones who continue to support and teach and help me grow. Without them I wouldn’t be where I am today, and I mean that much more than a simple cliché.

I know I’m not the only one out there trying to figure things out. I would love to hear from y’all too, any advice or thoughts and opinions you might share. And I’m always open to words of wisdom, be they the length of a dissertation or a fortune cookie.