IWSG: March 2018

It’s IWSG time again. Thanks to Alex J. Cavanaugh and co-hosts for putting this on. When it comes to insecurity, I have a big one: Marketing.

There’s not much more in the world that makes my stomach churn than marketing. I hate it. I know hate’s a strong word, but it’s true. I HATE marketing. I long for the days when writers lived in shacks and slipped their manuscripts into random mailboxes. It’s not that I’m shy. I’m not. I’m actually very social. It’s that I hate talking up my work. I think it should speak for itself. I know I’m a good writer—but that doesn’t mean I need to or should have to tell people that. It wasn’t until recently that I attempted to market at all. Those of you who follow this blog can attest to that—my posts are random at best. But I’ve finally decided I have to, no matter how much I hate it. Decided isn’t actually the right word. I’m being pushed into it. God has had just about enough of my waffling and has drawn a line in the sand. I am to obey or else (I really don’t want to know what the or else is). He’s led me this far, I guess it’s time to dive in. Pray for me.

IWSG

 

Today is the first Wednesday of the month, which makes it IWSG time, thanks to Alex J. Cavanaugh and co-hosts for putting this on every month. If you’d like to join in the fun, you can sign up here.

This month I’m dealing with a fresh insecurity. My marketing director has determined the target population for my books are females ages fourteen to twenty-four, which is news to me, since I wrote them for boys/men ages whatever. Since she made that determination, she has had me set up an Instagram account to reach that audience.

Instagram.

Now, don’t get me wrong, I get it. I’m a visual person—there’s all sorts of inspiration in pictures. But my pictures? I’m not so sure. You see, I’m sort of a strange breed. I have a large garden where I’m trying to grow most of the fruit/veggies we eat fresh in the summer, canned/frozen for the rest of the year. There’s the orchard we planted, and oh, yeah, woods behind the house where I gather wild cherries/black raspberries. And did I mention the chickens? And the dairy sheep I’m getting next month? I mentioned this to my marketing director who hemmed and hawed and said, “Yeah…about that…you may want to tone that down a bit.”

 So that’s where I’m at. I’m supposed to use Instagram to show people who I really am, but unfortunately those people who can relate to who I really am have been dead for a hundred years.

I kid you not. They put up a sign for a spinning class at my work and there was a whole five minutes where I thought they were talking about wool and yarn.  Any suggestions?

And, being Wednesday, it’s also time for this week’s *Ubook installments. I’m also converting Erron to this format, so I’m including that one as well. Enjoy.

 

The Newstead Project, Chapter Eight:

 

The Newstead Project, Chapter Six, Narrated by Nathan Moran:

 

 

Erron, Chapter One:



 

*A Ubook is a patent pending book format where the book is a video set at reading speed and enhanced with music.