Learning

I have always loved to write. From the poetry and very short stories I put together in grade school and on through junior high through the longer stories and anthologies I created in high school I felt the need to share what I felt, thought and saw with the world. Now as I have gone further down the path I have written and published my first full length novel.


Never Give Up is a personal story I debated writing as well as abandoning for nearly a decade. I was so worried about the creation aspect that I never considered the part that came next would actually be the more difficult part. When the process began Myspace was just beginning and technology was nowhere near the level it is today.


I have a degree in marketing and felt that the channels I was familiar with combined with my education would make the promotion section of writing and selling a book the part I was actually good at. As it turns out though I have had to jump into this whole new world and learn to run without going through the stages of crawling and walking. I have learned how to create a specialty page on Facebook as well as a Twitter account, looked into website design and went through the editing and cover creation process all on email.


I am young enough that I am familiar with today's technology and have evolved with it yet I am still what most would consider "old school". I like making deals face to face and shaking on an agreement. I prefer that my communications be spelled out and not in clipped text designed for limited character allotment. I am having to jump directly in the deep end and it has been a huge learning experience so far.


I have luckily had some wonderful people help me but I am also realizing that it isn't just about if you can get likes on Facebook or followers on Twitter but you have to be able to blend that with a broader reaching perspective. Readers need to see you as a literary force and need to be reminded that you are there over and over. You have to be able to put yourself and your work in front of as many people as often as possible and that is something I will continue to focus on now that I am swimming with the rest of the writer fish hoping I can be one of those that break through and get remembered.