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<\/a>2018 raced by at an alarming rate. I appreciate that time appears to get faster with increasing age, but this year flashed by in such a whirl, I could swear I must have slept through a whole month without realising it! In writing terms, I seem to have so little to show for it – in fact, absolutely nothing in the last six months! But, with no more cruise lectures in the offing and Christmas celebrations now over (so no more baking, card making, present buying or major house cleaning to worry about) no more excuses \u2013 it\u2019s time to get writing again.<\/p>\nAt the start of a new year, writers often take themselves in hand and review\/re-establish their writing goals. One year, I meticulously worked out a spreadsheet for myself to keep records on average daily\/weekly\/monthly word counts, monthly marketing goals and programming in regular blogs and Facebook posts. It didn\u2019t take long for it all to go to pot. The writing side worked but the marketing went badly awry by the middle of February!<\/p>\n
Last August, when I was at the Swanwick Writers\u2019 Summer School, following the example of a writer friend, I made a resolution to spend the next year getting to grips with marketing instead of writing the next novel. It seemed a good idea at the time. (Note to self – must check up on how she’s doing. She’s very disciplined so she’s probably well into it.) I love giving talks and presentations, I can cope with a monthly blog, but the whole social media side fills me with horror. I will try to do more on Facebook – I’ve sadly neglected even that these past few months – and I\u2019m prepared to commit a couple of hours a week to trying to master the rest, but that\u2019s as far as it goes. Yes, I\u2019m well aware that established authors claim that a writer needs to divide their time 50\/50 between writing and marketing, but I didn\u2019t become a writer to spend half my time struggling with things I really don\u2019t enjoy. I love writing \u2013 I write to please myself. Yes of course I want others to read and enjoy my books. The sense of elation, pride and intense satisfaction I get when total strangers write amazing 5* reviews of my books on Amazon is worth all those hours tapping away at my PC and agonizing over plot twists while I’m in the shower, scrubbing the floors and cleaning the loos etc. (Writing really does take over your life.) I\u2019ll never be a Joanna Penn, Nick Stevenson or Mark Dawson and quite honestly, I wouldn\u2019t want to be. I\u2019ve learnt to be happy as I am.<\/p>\n<\/a>This year I\u2019m contenting myself with good intentions. I\u2019ll try my hardest to write and publish another book this year (that\u2019s a possibility if I can manage to come up with a plot) and I\u2019ll try my hardest to get to grips with twitter and Amazon advertising etc, but I\u2019m not making myself any promises. Life is far too short to waste time feeling guilty about my lack of technical prowess. With two degrees and a string of letters after my name, I should be able to get to grips with the social media skills that five-year-olds appear to master after five minutes, but is it really worth beating myself up about it? I know it would help to make me considerably more visible and advertising might help sell more books, but have I got the patience to struggle with these new skills?<\/p>\n