If I hear one more person tell my I should be cleaning instead of at the computer, or playing with my daughter instead of typing, or cooking instead of writing…well you get the impression. I’m gonna scream!
I do play with my daughter, yes, I know she just spilled her legos across the floor. No, I just put the dogs out. Yes, supper is on its way. Hold on, I need to polish my boots and get into my uniform so I won’t be late. The fish are hungry and the bird needs water. I made supper for my husband and put the baby to bed. Somehow, and somewhere in between I have written a book which I am now up to my eyeballs marketing. I am half-way through another book while finishing the first draft of yet another for a writing course.
Do I get any help? No. Do I get any encouragement? No. I get, “I think you should vacuum” and “what’s for dinner?”
Do I need to blog, tweet, facebook and have a website? Well, if I don’t tell people about all my hard work, how will they know?
Do YOU want to make my facebook page, write my blog post, review a book or develop my media platform? Do you want to follow up and follow through on these things for me?
If I knew half of what was involved in ‘writing a book’, I’m not sure I would have gotten into it. It is overwhelming at times (to say the least) and I am not a computer IT person, so dealing with blogs and websites are exhausting.
Any author can tell you that there is so much more to writing and marketing a book than you could possibly imagine. So, if you are a full time worker, parent, spouse, or student, who is stealing minutes to write, good for you. If your book has just been published and you are at the foot of Mount Marketing
As for non-author friends and family, give us a break, and If you don’t have anything nice to say… don’t say nothing at all. (Thumper, in Bambi)
People won’t flock to our doorstep or website just because we ‘wrote a book’. We have to get it out there. We have to spend hours in the middle of the night writing and marketing, to avoid disrupting your schedule…so give us a break, and even a hug.
Support your local mom-author, husband-author, friend-author…
You get the picture. ;o)
I love this entry and good for you for writing it. I've been trying to work on first drafts for three different ideas and I get very discouraged. Many times I don't feel like I have the time nor the patience and I often feel overwhelmed when I can't squeeze in more than a paragraph before something "comes up". Granted, I don't have kids but I do have a partner, a full time job, and other aspects of my life to maintain. Distractions are far too easy to come by. Anyway, keep up the good work and thank you for your honesty. Remember, you are not alone. :-)
ReplyDeleteCharity, there are days when I come away with only a sentence or two more than before, but I keep at it. It shows those around me that I'm serious, and maybe eventually, they'll take me seriously too.
ReplyDeleteHugs,
Deb
This is a good post. Sometimes I get that feeling too when I don't get the support that I want. Don't give up.
ReplyDeletewww.modernworld4.blogspot.com
Thanks Gina, I won't. I'm following your blog now too :o)
ReplyDeleteI love this post!! It is so honest and so true :)
ReplyDeleteKeep up the great work! I'm following you now too.
I turned to writing more as a form of therapy than anything else. It worked to a degree but I understand your frustrations. I did at one point consider publishing my story but as you state, there is a hell of a lot more to it than people realise. Instead I have contented myself in serialising my story via blogging. A much easier way of putting my point across.
ReplyDeleteI hear you JP, I wrote my novel after losing my baby. It helped keep me sane, and I got to create a world where people did care about one another. Don't ever give up on your dream. Life has a way of bringing us to where we have to be.
ReplyDeleteThanks Samantha!