Anti-social vs social media.

I was going to title this post Autism vs Social Media, but that seems unfair to the people who are anti or unsocial but don’t have autism or mental health problems as a reason (some people simply prefer to avoid people).

I have encountered a number of discussions on Goodreads recently about the need for and the usefulness of Facebook author pages and other social media, and every time I am left with the same set of conflicted feelings. On the one hand, I know that social media can be a very powerful tool in this globally connected age for enabling a writer to find readers, build a fanbase, connect with fans, etc; on the other, this only works if you are able to use social media effectively.

If, like me, you have difficulty dealing with people on any level (in my case the reason for that is I have autism and a number of other mental health problems, but people have many reasons for this problem) then social media can be a real struggle; unfortunately this means that no matter how good your book is, and I’m not about to claim a Dickens level of writing ability here, but I do believe I am above average as an author, it will be difficult to get people to discover the books you release.

There are sites that will provide authors with a quick boost of promotion, but long-term success will only come as a result of good quality, consistent use of social media. What the solution is, I don’t know, but if anyone out there can come up with a suggestion for how I can market my books effectively, and long-term, without spending a fortune, and without burning myself out trying and failing with social media, I’d love to hear from you.

A preview of coming attractions

Now that 2017 has started, it’s time to look ahead to what’s in store, both personally and on the writing front.

Discounting the release of my first novel, 2016 was not a very good year, I had to have a major operation early last year for a burst appendix; it was good for losing some weight but I’ve seen put all that weight back on, and things didn’t improve after that. I intend that 2017 will be a much better year.

I’m not really one for resolutions, in my opinion they’re made to be broken; I do intend doing something about my waistline, though, that’s an issue I struggle with and which can’t be ignored. I need to lose some weight, so I will be eating a little healthier (mostly that means fewer cakes and chocolates) and getting a little more exercise, especially when spring arrives.

More important than my waistline, is my writing; I am currently editing my next novel, Written In Blood, a serial killer thriller set in a small village, which I hope to release in April. At the same time I am doing that, I am typing up the first draft of book 2 in my detective series, An Eye For An Eye, which currently has a release date of September.

I hope to get it out sooner, and I think it’s possible, but one of my goals for the year is to reduce my stress and anxiety levels; to that end I am avoiding the urge to put too much pressure on myself by setting hard to attain goals.

I also plan on releasing another short story later in the year, part of a serialised vampire story I’m working on; I have two parts of the story written, and a rough idea of where it’s going from there, but I need to flesh it out and get to work on it.

Outside of releasing new titles, I want to read 15 books in the next 12 months and reach the point where each of the titles I have available for sale is being bought at the rate of at least 1 copy per day. To my mind, that’s the first step towards making a living from my books, which is my ultimate goal.

With all of that said, I hope you have all had a lovely Christmas and New Year, and you got whatever it is you wished for, and the coming months are everything you could want.

Mega stressed!

I just knew today was going to be a bad day when I had to get up early for an appointment I didn’t want to go to and found the weather overcast and rubbish. I followed that up by burning my pop-tarts and having to endure a series of very personal questions at my appointment that brought up some unpleasant childhood memories (not that I remember much of my childhood, I’ve blocked most of it out).

The result of that was that I felt an incredibly craving for sugar, so I stopped off at Tesco and bought this

I had calmed down a little by the time I got home and was thinking that I should have shown some restraint, and that my waistline will not thank me for all this rubbish I now have to eat. That reduction in my stress and generally low mood didn’t last long, however, for in the post I received a letter from the job centre, with a form to fill out explaining why they should give me the sickness benefit they’ve already said they are giving me; why I need to fill out this form when they already have a letter from my doctor explaining why I’m not fit for work, I don’t know.

Immediately my stress levels went back up, and proceeded to climb steadily higher as I went through the form and had to provide the same answer again and again to different, but basically the same, question. By the end of it I felt as though my head was going to explode and I was ready to shout at anyone or anything, including the dog, that came near me; I am also now ready to eat everything I bought in one sitting and damn my waistline.