May Accountability

Emerging out the other side of the depressive fog that's been hanging over me since last autumn, I made the mistake of thinking hard about myself. This is a mistake largely because I'm riddling with self-doubt at the best of times, and the past few months (with a few small exceptions) have not been the best of times. I started analyzing what I'm writing, how I'm writing, whether I can do more as an author, whether I should change my focus, change my habits, change my identity...

(Never let it be said that I am not privately deeply melodramatic).

The main reason for all the worry and overthinking (besides that just being how I roll) is that being a writer is the only thing I've ever wanted, the only ambition I've ever had, and I want to do it as well as I possibly can. I think that requires regular revisiting of where I am, where I want to be, and what I can do to keep moving forward.

And after a few anguished internal debates and a few more books on How To Be A Writer, I realised (late in the game, to be honest), that the best thing I can do for my writing career is what I'm already doing. Write. It sounds ridiculously simply, but sometimes I lose sight of the woods for the trees. That feeling that I need to be marketing myself and my books, that I need to be "on," that my social media needs to be the magical mystic blend of Self Promotion and Self Deprecation to lure people in and sell them my books, that can become all-consuming. And it takes time away from writing.

And frankly, I don't have enough time as it is.

So, May Accountability - I am narrowing my focus. I'm not disappearing from social media. You can still find me on Facebook and Twitter, and I've love to virtually hang out with you and hear about your cute pets. But I'm going to be blogging a lot less. I don't blog much anyway, but I constantly beat myself up about that, and the best way to cut that shit out is to just officially decide not to blog much. I'll still be hosting my fellow authors for their books and posting news about my own books as it comes, but that's about it.

Writing. I'm going slow on Chaos Songs because I've had edits for an Amber Morgan project, and because all that overthinking really interfered with my ability to sit down and write. But I'm really hoping I can finish it by the end of June at the latest (don't hold me to that though). After that, I'm not sure what I'll work on next, but I've decided not to worry about that until Chaos Songs is done anyway. I have more ideas that I know what to do with, and planning too far ahead never works for me.

And finally, I decided to start a newsletter. You can find the sign up link in the blog sidebar. Currently my plan is to use it for announcements and giveaways tied to new releases, but I may also include a serial story (it will have werewolves!) if the interest is there. So feel free to sign up if you're curious and want to stay up-to-date!