Can’t We Just Write?

The reason I’ve set up a website, that I’m torturing you with my blathering in this blog (and blogs to come), is the question above.

I’ve always had a passion for the written word, I was the only kid I knew that got in trouble in school for reading too much, wanting to be a writer is a natural progression of that love. I’ve had this dream of seeing my name on book covers for longer than I’ve had boobs. Thirty years later, the dream had not faded, unlike it’s owner and I decided now was the time. However, when I decided to go for it, being an author was not at all how I thought it’d be.

I have very little college education or education in creative writing and publishing so I’m learning everything about becoming an author as I go and what an eye opening education it’s been. I’ve experienced frustration and enlightenment, and dare I say disappointment, discovering how much goes into being an author outside of actually writing. Social media, marketing and if you’re self-publishing like me, publishing platforms and metadata and algorithms and – you get the point.

The rant I’ll take up in this post is the need for an online presence. Or, as one creative writing teacher said, a ‘following’. Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, a website (for the love of money, people!), the list goes on. According to popular sources, to be seen, to get noticed, you need to have at least one social media platform and if you’re real serious about writing, two . . . or maybe all?

For someone who tries to stay off the online grid as much as possible, (no cable, no social media but I do use email) this is a culture shock to me. I like my privacy. I believe that not every thought that enters my head needs to come out of my mouth . . . or my computer. To be completely honest, I wanted to call my website ‘Idontwantaneffingwebsite.com’ but that was already taken.

Just kidding, I didn’t really look into that but the idea remains the same.

First off, maintaining these various platforms takes up time. Quite a bit of time right now, though I’m hoping that dwindles off as I get my website up and Facebook established. Time I could be doing what I love. Writing. Coming up with blog posts and interesting articles and clever little quips cut into the reason I’m jumping through these hoops to begin with. Writing.

Second, part of the appeal of becoming a writer was the solitude. It’s not that I don’t like the world, it’s just that I too often find it chaotic and loud. Is it wrong to want to grab what peace I can find? To stop the noise of the world at my front door?

Apparently, if you want to be a published, selling author, yes.

So, I stiffened my spine and here I am, slogging through the creation of my website. It hasn’t been horrible and it hasn’t been great but then again, I have yet to launch the site. Will I crawl into bed, pull the covers over my head and call it quits once I let the world into my sanctuary?

I don’t think so. I want this bad. Bad enough to sign up for Facebook (still to come) and build a website. Bad enough to allow the world a doggie door into my home. I just need to remember, I can close and lock that door whenever I feel like it.

So, undeterred authors, can we just write? Yes, but only if we’re okay not making money doing it and, more importantly, don’t care that our art won’t make it out into the world.

In the end it doesn’t matter what hoops pop up, we’ll jump through them because we are determined to get our characters, our worlds, our ideas into appreciative hands. We’ll slog through websites and social media platforms. We’ll post and we’ll blog and probably cuss but we’ll muddle through it all, grim smiles etched firmly in place.

Because, if you’re like me, you had a dream and it won’t leave you alone.

Thank you for listening.