Okay, confession time.
I have too many stories.
So. Many. Good. Ideas.
That’s not the real problem.
I don’t have enough time.
That’s a lie. I have enough time, but it’s my fault that I don’t have enough time to write. It’s because I spend way too much time on social media. Sadly, I usually hop onto social media real quick to do a few things and get caught up in the latest updates. One post leads to several minutes of scrolling. Or, I post to one platform and forget to post to another, so I stop what I’m doing and do that real quick and get caught up in more scrolling. It’s not a good habit, but dang, those algorithms are vicious.
While I’m aware enough to see my own faults, I have to admit that promoting yourself on social media is one downside to being an Indie Author. You handle ALL THE marketing, no matter what it may be. I realize that even if I was published, I’d still have to post on the platforms, but my hope would be not as much. It might be a false hope, I don’t know.
Because I have this mindset of I need to post, I need to post; I need to post. I lose time for the one thing that makes me happy—writing. This mindset also has put me in such a state of anxiety from ‘failure’ that I go into a mental shutdown, making it so that I am actually unproductive. It has also held me back from getting the edits to my books done a lot sooner.
I’m slogging my way through edits of book three, all the while paralyzed by the knowledge that I still have a lot of work to do on book two... but I need to post.
The truth is... I don’t need to post. At least, not as much as I think. I can ignore that little gremlin voice in my head. What I’ve learned recently is that I need to be more cognizant of the social aspect of social media, but I certainly don’t need to doom scroll for minutes or hours on end. Having a set plan with the right marketing tools can be far more effective than just hoping for someone to buy my book with nothing more than a wing and a prayer.
I’m writing this post in December because I am trying to stay ahead of posting on all fronts, but you’re not reading this until February. This year, I’m setting myself realistic posting and socializing goals in 2024 so that I can market my book aptly AND have more time for writing. My reasons are two-fold. I need to sell more books so I make an income from them; I need to finish the main trilogy of the broken realms so I can pursue other stories, and I want to have more time for writing.
Writing feeds my soul.
These changes are as much for my benefit as for my current and future readers. If I remember, I’ll post an update about how I’m doing regarding these goals, but I will not stress about things like that anymore. If you’re brave enough to dive into the world of the broken realms before I’m finished, you can find my books Heart and Divided by clicking here.
Until next time, Fictionados!