When you can’t see it happen

Is a writer really writing if they aren’t posting about it?

For a long time, I was creating ‘writer’ content on my social channels — silly little videos about querying, or the writing process, or teasers about my three LAST NIGHT novels so I could drum up interest.

As an aspiring writer, I hear (constantly) that it’s super important to build up a strong social presence so you can have ready-made book buyers for when the time comes.

But I didn’t want to create content about specific manuscripts anymore.

My social followers seemed keen to buy the LAST NIGHT series whenever I’d post about it, but that couldn’t happen unless I got an agent and a book deal. And it felt weird to keep talking about books no one could buy.

And I didn’t want to create content about the writing process.

I did the cutesy Reels and used all the trending sounds other authors were using, and then I just … didn’t want to anymore. It felt forced.

What I wanted was to be quiet.

Turn inward. Focus on myself. Do what felt natural, instead of what I felt like I should be doing.

Sit quietly at the dining room table. Think. Breathe. Fill pages and pages of whatever popped into my head. Type long, rambling journal entries to stop myself from overthinking and understand my feelings. Write novel ideas, snippets of stories, ideas that might become novels someday.

So this is exactly what I’ve been doing. Quietly.

For someone who spent literal decades writing about my life, photographing my life, editing videos about my life, and sharing practically every detail — both in newspapers and magazines, and also on social media — it’s been very different. But ‘good’ different.

Someday, when I sign with a literary agent and things really start to happen with my writing career, I will be BURSTING to share it all over social media.

Someday, when I have a book deal and a countdown to when readers can actually buy my books in their local bookstore, I will be crying happy tears on a livestream somewhere.

Someday, when my book(s) are out in the world and I have actual readers (!!!) who want to hear about my writing process or my characters or my next project, I will be delighted to post regularly and promote the heck out of my book babies.

But for now, I’m here.

Quietly working away on my latest project, creating what I hope will be ✨THE ONE✨ that changes everything.

Spending time with the people I love, without sharing it online where anyone can see it.

Doing what feels right for me.

(For more on this, please feel free to subscribe to my newsletter. In this latest edition, I’m talking about what went wrong in the spring with my latest project, what I did about it, and what I’m doing now.)