Social Media: Rabbit Hole Or Regroup Help?

I participate in social media in pretty much all the ways, and most of the time when I'm on one or the other I see writers talking about how they're supposed to be doing something else... probably writing. There are plenty of methods for blocking yourself from using Twitter, Facebook, Tumblr, Pinterest (you name it) but the easiest one is plain old self-control.

But lately I've come to question whether it's actually necessary.

I love social media and use it to my advantage - and I don't just mean directing readers to my books. I have a certain word count I want to hit every day when I'm drafting, and it's rare that I actually hit it in one bang-out session. Typically about halfway through there's a moment where I simply don't feel like writing anymore. Sometimes I even know what's going to happen next, but it doesn't matter. The candle has been lit, yes, but it burned down to the end of the wick and all I've got left is the little nub of blue flame that's about to be drowned in wax.

In other words, I'm just not on fire at that point.

Like all writers, there are times when I have to force myself to write. I actually make the announcement to the boyfriend, climb the stairs like Anne Boelyn at the Tower and treat opening my laptop like a reverse guillotine. It can be that hard.

Once I'm there, in front of the computer with the WIP up on a Word doc, I know I can't walk away. I won't have the fortitude to go through the process of putting myself in front of it again. But I also don't want to make words when all I'm running on is that little tiny blue flame.

So, I open up a browser screen, and I see what everybody else is up to. Sometimes I just hit up Goodreads for a little bit and look at books I want to read. Sometimes I scroll through Tumblr, check Facebook for any notifications, hop on Twitter to commiserate with other writers.

And you know what? The laptop is already open. The Word doc is hovering behind the browser, letting me know that the word count for today isn't hit yet. My flame rekindles as I give myself a little time away from the WIP, and when I return the next bit of dialogue is more natural than it would've been otherwise, the next step in the plot more evident than it would've been if I slapped something together for the sake of forward movement.

I didn't leave my computer. I don't have to force myself to sit back down in front of it. It wasn't a rabbit hole of distraction, but a much needed regroup - one I take everyday.

So don't treat social media like the anathema to your creativity. It might be the gasp of oxygen that you need.

Run Away! Run Away!

Which, as everyone knows is a much better way of saying retreat.

I took one of those this past week, getting away from floors that need swept, laundry that needs washed, dried, folded, put away (then dirtied and the circle of life continues) weeds that need pulled... all the things that make up daily life.

And getting away from all that is something I highly recommend for writers. I used to think that if I took a writing retreat, I would laze about, act like I'm in a coffee commercial while I sit on the deck of a cabin, watch cable (because I don't have it at home), take long walks in the woods while pretending that I'm in some sort of medication commercial, and other such things that wouldn't bulk the word count in any way.

But the pleasant thing about retreating is that there's no guilt. You don't have to sit in front of your laptop and immediately think about the dishes, laundry, garden, floors, and the multitude of other things that reality imposes upon us. Without the excuse of responsibility (and that's what we like to call it instead of procrastination) you can really make some strides in your writing.

I passed the 30k mark on GIVEN TO THE SEA this week, and that was a great feeling. So if you get the chance, definitely run away.

When You Have A Party & Nobody Shows

When I was pre-published I thought book signings must be glamorous things, with those twisty line corral things like they have at amusement parks, people peering over one another and snapping shots while the author signed the 100th book that had been put in front of her. Yeah, maybe I watched a little too much Castle.

Post-publisehd I've learned this is a myth. Even those of us who are somewhat well known can do a signing with only two or three people showing up - and some of those just happened to hear you tapping on the mic at the bookstore and wandered over to see what was going on. And in a lot of ways this is actually nice because we can give very personal attention to the handful of people that are in front of us.

Much like bad reviews, you build up a callous over the "ouch" factor when your latest signing fell flat. A lot of us travel in packs because of this. It's much easier to laugh off a bad turnout when you go out for drinks afterwards with a couple of writer friends.

I'm three years into published life, and have had some success. I'm happy with my sales, have contracts into 2018, and have a signing or event somewhere or other on most weekends. Do I feel famous?

Um... no.

I recently had the experience of exactly zero people showing up to my presentation and signing.

If this had happened at the beginning of my career I probably would've cried and crawled into a hole. But after three years of speaking to small groups I knew that eventually the day would come when I had my laptop hooked up, a screen pulled down, chairs set up, a display of my books for sale... and no one would be there to see it.

Did it kind of suck? Yeah. It kind of sucked. But at the same time I now have that low as a benchmark. Every signing from here on out will be better than that, or at the worst, match it. It's impossible for negative people to show up to a signing.

So I've hit my low. From here on out, the only place I can go is up.