Confused and Mystified

Bill Chitwood

Confused and Mystified

Participating, watching others participate, wondering what and where is the magic in this digital mind-boggling world. You are a writer. You write because of need and because you have identified writing as the talent you most likely possess more than any other, because just maybe that activity keeps you alive and in tune with the world around you. You go through the spasms of depression, frustration, and an occasional adrenaline rush of encouragement and excitement.

Then, you take a look at the marketing aspects of selling your books, the various providers of platforms, tools, and applications. Perhaps, like me, you become aware of the specialized and confusing language used in the digital market places, things like Avatar, widgets, SEOs, RSS feeds, URLs, hash marks, and all of it somehow cannot seem to make sense to you. You become angry with yourself, with the computer and its devious foreign language, and with the madness of minds making life so much more complicated than it really needs be. You wonder what you should be doing that you are not doing but most of all how to do it. Could you have been selling more books and yourself if you had joined this group, used this platform, done this, done that?

Sure, you can hire someone for a tidy sum you think you can trust to take the marketing worries away that allows you to concentrate on your writing. Yet, you either feel not quite comfortable among the so-called professional or you are too money-tight to give it a try. So, you muddle on, writing good books – books that should be selling – and attempting a one-person publishing house. Is there an answer? Is there a Nirvana out there for you?

The odds might not be great, but you figure to keep on writing – because that’s what you love to do. Hopefully, before the grim reaper comes calling, a benevolent event, a magic will come your way and finally make all those moments at the laptop pay off. A Publishing deal with a handsome sign-up bonus? An Amazon selling spree that puts your books virally in the top echelon of the Indie market? Okay, more realistically, beautifully written and sincere heartfelt reviews may lack the money and fame but they do make you soar for a few moments in those heady clouds of success. Maybe that is all we can hope – that and learning the foreign language that is the internet.

Writing mimics life and weather! Just wait a few moments with the emotion you are currently feeling…it will soon pass and be replaced by another. Time is the arbiter of all things – it is here and gone!

Just in the time it took me to write this blog post, I became a famous writer! Talk about an emotional uplift… A good caring and loving spouse can do that for you.

Keep Writing! Good things can happen!

 NOTE:

My NEW BOOK,  A Common Evil is set in Mexico along the Sea of Cortez – murder, mystery, suspense as good fights evil among the drug cartels. The initial reviews are 5-Stars – Hope you can enjoy it at Amazon Worldwide 

http://www.about.me/brchitwood

http://billyraychitwood.weebly.com

http://twitter.com/brchitwood (@brchitwood)

http://facebook.com/billyray.chitwood

http://facebook.com/billyrayscorner

http://linkedin.com (billy ray chitwood)

12 thoughts on “Confused and Mystified”

  1. Yep, sounds like the writing life, Bill. Here’s how I look at it: with the Internet and indie publishing we are way better off than we were before them. Guess what I don’t do? I don’t write query letters to agents and editors and then await their rejection (if they bother to respond at all). No, I write, I publish, I reach a small audience, and live the dream. I guess the question is how large does the audience have to be. I’ve discovered that I’m going to write regardless of audience size. I hope for more readers, but don’t need more readers. The way things are today is way better than tossing a manuscript into a drawer with the pile of rejection letters that I was going to wallpaper my office with. This is the dream, brother. No pressure on us, we just get to write and put it out there. As Flounder said in Animal House: “This is grrrreat!”

    Like

    Reply

  2. Billy Ray,

    Wise words. There is no magic bullet.

    Promoting and selling books may take away the joy of writing if it does not meet your expectations, but never forget what feeds you. From what I can tell in your post, it’s the love of writing that keeps you going, and you will do this regardless of sales, regardless of whether you know the difference between RSS or URL or KFC (wait, that’s Kentucky Fried Chicken, isn’t it?). Whatever.

    The point is, I know it can be disappointing at times, but keep on doing it. Few will ever accomplish what you have done as a writer. And that means you should be VERY VERY proud.

    xox
    eden

    Like

    Reply

  4. I haven’t yet entered this arena, Billy, and I can’t say I’m in any hurry. I never wanted to be Hemingway (I lie- I did, but without the shooting and killing things). So far, for me, it’s the joy of interaction. Maybe I’ll be content with that 🙂

    Like

    Reply

  5. Writing for the love of writing is the only way to go, Billy Ray. The marketing side is too confusing for me so I rarely spend time on it. I have no idea what SEOs, RSS feeds, URLs and hash marks are about and maybe I’m just too lazy to find out 😉

    Like

    Reply

  6. I would have to agree with what most of the people have said here: the main thing is to enjoy writing. The marketing side of things can become awfully time-consuming and problematic (if we let it). I feel that it is better to concentrate on writing well and, hopefully, the books will spread by word of mouth.

    Like

    Reply

Leave a reply to eden baylee Cancel reply