Celebrating Independent Authors
You might have noticed a new search function on Facebook in the past few weeks. We tipped you off to this new Graph Search feature back in January and now it’s available to the masses.
Facebook’s success is what made this change necessary. Since the beginning of Facebook, everything has been about friends. People have so many friends that nothing makes sense unless you live on the site. That’s what they are attempting to fix with Graph Search. Continue reading “The New Graph Search on Facebook”
I have discovered something about myself in the last year of writing. I suffer from The First Draft Blues.
Symptoms include:
– Thinking your story concept is complete rubbish and no one will like your characters
– Believing your writing rivals that of a six year old’s.
– Questioning every turn your story is taking.
– Wondering why you are bothering when it’s the worst thing you’ve ever written and everybody will hate it.
– Laughing at yourself for thinking you could ever make it as an author.
I had a very bad case of it with Betwixt and I am suffering an even worse case of it with my current work-in-progress. So how do I medicate myself against this rampant disease that threatens to destroy my dreams? Continue reading “The First Draft Blues”
Recently, I got very down. This happens. I get depressed sometimes when we run out of milk. This time, however, I got depressed because writing began to seem futile.
Let me clarify…writing is like breathing…sharing it seemed futile. But something happened. Something that needs to happen for all of us. A lot of people bitch-slapped me verbally…some threatened actual physical harm.
I got to thinking about all that is involved in being an Indie writer. I won’t lie. Part of me yearns for the days when I had a regular paycheck and good insurance and my friend Pat liked my stories a lot. I hate promoting. But promotion has an interesting fallout effect. It works – we hope, but more importantly, it builds community.