WHEN YOU KNOW YOUR WRITING IS ON FIRE!
Posted on January 10, 2014
Here's my dilemma. 2013 is the year where I realized my writing is exactly where it needs to be. It was a year of numerous breakthroughs. I know what I'm doing. I write books overflowing with creativity and pretty darn delightful characters. I know how to construct a scene and how to deliver an impactful ending.
The problem isn't a question of confidence or talent. I know that sounds cocky, but I have truly put the work into get my writing to where it is now. In my mind I've arrived.
The difficulty: Hardly anyone else knows I've arrived. How do I build a readership amid so much product vying for the reader's attention?
And I'll tell you a huge negative in my corner: I am terrible at marketing myself, at advocating for my books. I'm not going to be the guy who gets in your face or screams my worth on rooftops. For one, I'm afraid of heights.
So how am I going to build this writing thing into a career that gives me more than just milk money?
A numbered list is about to drop into your midst. Everything seems so much more official in a numbered list, doesn't it?
Here it is:
1.Sincerity: When I sit down to write, you're getting the real me. I'm investing myself in every word, sentence and punctuation. And it's mighty tricky insinuating your persona into a semi-colon, let me tell you.
2.Productivity: I'm able to put a book together every four months. Seriously, I have no issues with writer's block or avoiding writing. When I sit down to write, it gets done.
3.Creativity: Every book of mine has gobs of it. I don't do your normal zombie book. I don't tell a tale of tame, humdrum gargoyles. Everything is brimming with creative elation. Don't believe me, sink your teeth in Norton the Vampire and tell me you don't love a scene wear a basilisk dons swim goggles and precipitates a disastrous pool visit.
4.Sticktuitivity: I'm not going anywhere. This is me for the next thirty years regardless how many pile into my oversized stationwagon of fun. Hop on board. There's a great view out the back.
This post was more for me than the dozen or so of you who check in here. My hope is I can look back at this little rage against the machine and chuckle. I'm hoping to do that in the expansive mansion my book royalties have earned me, of course. And you know that place is going to have secret passageways and rooms. And a batpole. C'mon, help my sixty-year-old self realize his dream of arriving to breakfast courtesy a bedroom fire pole.
Now go buy one of my books or send a friend a write-up about one of my favorite books you've already read.