Querying Update
I got my very first rejection -- a form rejection.
Phew. I've truly been initiated ! I'm really a writer now.
One down, nine to go and I take hubby out to dinner.
Building Your Platform
You've all heard it. In today's publishing world, if you want an
agent and/or publisher to consider your book, you'd best have an online
presence.
So, you sign up for Twitter, Facebook,
Goodreads, Google+, and whatever else out there strikes your fancy. You
begin to stalk agents and other writers/authors to see what they're up
to.
You begin blogging about your writing journey and
start following loads of other writers, hoping they will follow you in
return. You sign up for bloghops and contests. You're starting to get
some regular followers who consistently comment. And, of course, you
have to visit all their blogs and comment back. That's what it's all
about, right? Networking?
And
you find that you're having so much fun. The Internet has introduced
you to hundreds if not thousands of interesting, entertaining people--and
you've connected to many of them. You can't wait to read their next
posts.
Then
it starts to happen. You wake up in the middle of the night, wondering
if you remembered to schedule your next post. Or worse, you wake up in
the middle of the night because you can't think what to write for your
next post.
The pressure mounts. What if your post is stupid? What if the people who've been commenting find other blogs they like better?
Your
hands begin to shake when you haven't had your daily Internet fix.
You're dying to know what everyone's up to, what things might inspire
you in your blog posts.
And your writing?
When's the last time you actually sat down to
write? Or when you did, your hand moved to the icon for your web
browser? You didn't even realize it was moving of its own volition.
Suddenly, a hour's gone by. Or two. Hours of precious time that you promised
you'd spend on your book.
Because the whole point of all that platform building has been in preparation for your book.
Right?
So, what do you do
to keep social media
from taking over
your life?
