Writers! Write!!!!

Holy crap! Has it really been two and a half weeks since my last post? What a slacker, eh? Writers beware - this is a profession that easily sucks you into a) procrastination (like we need any help in that area anyway, right?), b) slackerdom (my own word - different from procrastination in that a slacker actually DOES something albeit in small quantities), c) self-esteem issues (again, like we didn't have those to begin with...), and finally d) panic mode (brought on, of course, by the aforementioned big three...).

I suffer all these yet I write. The key is write. How the hell many times do we have to be told this? I visited Ann Rice's FaceBook page and she's on there repeating the mantra. I even friended 6 people (mainly because when I clicked on "like" as I've done hundreds of times on other peoples comments, a box popped up asking me to friend the 48,000 people on her FB page). 4 people actually friended me back! I have no clue who they are, but I'll be finding out soon I suppose.

What is interesting are the two who did not friend me. One in Texas wanted to know when we met and the other clearly and concisely told me it was apparent we did not know each other but we are currently writing back and forth on each others wall because she is interested in my connection to writing. I may have actually made a friend. Too cool!

I have to answer the one who wants to know when we met. I'd hate to have her think I was a one night stand she had while bingeing or something of that ilk. On the other hand, I've never been a one night stand. This might be the closest I ever come... Hmmm. Ethical dilemma...

Back to the post at hand. Creating content that drives people to read you is tough. You must step out there and make yourself vulnerable to criticism. This is something that comes very hard for me and I'm sure many others. If you can't do it, you need to move on. I've tried to be the nice, vanilla kinda writer that doesn't offend or challenge people negatively. No one wants to read my shit. That's the bottom line. Yes, I put the word "shit" in there on purpose. What a rebel, eh?

Post consistently. Find your niche and invite people in. Crap! That's precisely what I'm missing here! I haven't invited other writers to my blog. Oh yeah, I invited people, but not specifically writers. I must do this. If you are a writer reading this, then that means I'm doing what I need to do.

Hub Pages has been my most successful outreach to writers. I need to get out there and write more articles. I also need to promote like by fellow Rogues Gallery Writer - Rebekah Hunter Scott. Check this out. She landed the following radio interview scheduled for May 2nd. Here's the link: http://www.blogtalkradio.com/esteemyourself

It's stuff like that a writer must do to get recognized and sell books. Consistent blog posts are another. I need to post like Rebekah - two to three times a week. I also need to write something that grabs. This is good advice for all writers. Step out of comfort zones and safe places. Hey, if they throw tomatoes at us, at least these days they're virtual tomatoes, not nearly so messy...

As promised, I will be posting the next portion of The Cold Bite of Autumn this week. Come back and see if I'm as good as my word...

Wow! Publishing can take a toll on your writing career. I need to pick up my story where it left off and allow it to grow like I know it can. Instead, of course, I pursue the business aspects of writing - especially publishing - and let all that creativity die on the brain stem.

The Cold Bite of Autumn aspires to be my manifesto work that grows from my innermost mind into the most ultimate of writing complexities - a novel. At this moment the story is nothing more that a cheap trinket in a curio shop.

The power needed to complete the writing cycle of nothing, creation, refinement, re-creation and finally nothing overwhelms the writing mind with visions of impossibilities rattling around their cortex...

Writers create from nothing but the space between their ears and the maze within their hearts. Writers understand each other up to a point. We all fight our demons. We all suffer our pathetic excuses. We all nod our heads and even forgive others of their time-management conundrums. Yet we seldom forgive ourselves purely. We do it temporarily, but ultimately we blame ourselves for not pressing forward in a more timely fashion.

These types of things are apt to happen to creative folk. We bounce around in our right brained world never considering how poorly this world melds with the analytical left brain universe. We wander around, staggering buffoons for the world to see and we have the audacity to ask this same world to read just how inept or imaginatively corrupt we are. Fiction's Footsteps appear to be less than baby steps at this point, but if you've never attempted to write a book, don't come bitchin' to me about dangling participles and incomplete sentences. At least I'm giving it the old
heave-ho!

Until next week...