This week, I created a Fan Page for myself at Facebook, and started a Twitter account. It’s a strange feeling to be promoting myself like this. I’ve gotten used to have a small following at my display site, but these are my first steps outside of the protective bubble of that site. So far, I have sixteen fans, and I sincerely hope to grow that number this week.
As a writer, I have struggled to share my work with people out of--what? Fear I guess. Fear that people won’t like it, that they’ll think I’m foolish for wanting to be a writer, or wanting to be published. But, the reality is, writing for myself just isn’t that fun. If my writing never finds another audience, I won’t stop--I can’t, I love it too much. But let’s face it, every writer dreams of seeing their name in print.
In the information age, part of the skills set of a writer is to have an on-line presence. And, I’m very serious about doing this on a professional level, so here I am. It’s been a liberating and a terrifying experience to have people find out what I’ve been doing with all my free time, but the response has been overwhelmingly positive. It just goes to show that the boogeyman is rarely anything more than a pair of pants draped over the back of your chair, or a trick of light. My worries about the opinions of my family and friends have turned out to be illusion.
I’ve been thinking I should use this blog to do something more than spill the contents of my brain on the web. My friend Jessie uses hers to talk about the process of writing. So, starting next week, I’m going to work on sharing a bit of my process with you. Hopefully, it will be interesting at least and helpful at best. If anyone out there is a writer, or would like to be, I hope you’ll be able to find something thought-provoking or useful as we delve into this area together.
Stay tuned.
