I’m just gonna put this out there because it makes me sad: too many people are not reading. They are spending their time on other things, which is great, but I would like to see the average books people read a year climb (see a piece I wrote last year about average number of books people read each year by clicking here.)
I am, however, encouraged on Instagram by all the READERS and WRITERS I’ve become connected with over the last six months. People post books, book art, and their favorite stories in beautiful pictures. It’s been a whirlwind of likes and follows, but the people I’m connected with are building a very strong IG community of writers and readers. It’s a good little #writingcommunity (yes, that’s the hashtag if you want to follow along).
Our writing community has connected through social media, and we talk about writing, we share what we’re writing and how we do it. We share pieces of ourselves and what makes us tick. Honestly, there’s a wonderful, wacky world writers out there. It’s so amazing to see.
I’m hoping that if there’s a world of writers out there, that there will be a world of readers willing to give our books a chance. We may not be Nicholas Sparks, John Grisham, John Green, or Jodi Picoult, but we do have stories to share. And we’re putting them in print or on e-readers just for you.
This wacky writer is nearing completion of NOVEL NUMBER 4…and I’m excited to share it with you and unveil the name of the novel soon. I tend to complete my novels in the summer, and I’m aiming to do it again in Summer of 2019. I’ve been working on it off and on over the last several months, but I’ll really dive in once the semester finishes, and then we’ll see where it takes me.
But please, don’t discount us as writers just because the word “independent” comes in front of the word “author.” We work hard—REALLY HARD—to bring you our best work, our best stories, and our very best efforts.
The world of publishing is in a state of change, much like newspapers and the music industry, and we writers are a part of the new way things are done. Everybody has a fair shake at this thing, it’s just getting people to pick up a copy of the book is a little more challenging.
But we’re just wacky enough to give it all the energy we have…and then some.
