social media | A Writer's Life For Me.

When I started this blog my main goal was to be honest, I wanted to record this journey and be truthful about how it was going and how I felt about it. This is one of those posts 😀

So, over the past few days I’ve been in a bit of a weird head space!

I love writing and I’m very lucky to be able to dedicate all of my time to it as my full time career.

But when I thought about it, I’m not dedicating my full time to it. I write for around 1.5-2 hours a day, five days a week and though that’s a lot more than most people get the chance to do, it’s still not enough for me.

Most of my workday is spent doing social media.

Now, I’ve gone on about my inability to make proper use of social media before 😀 I’m also not good at using it for marketing, etc.

I’d say I’ve not done bad in book sales, more than some indie authors, but I also have to say that not seeing a rise in sales throughout the year but just a steady stream, kind of put me in a bit of a funk.

Why was I spending so much time on creating my author platform etc, if it isn’t going to help with sales?

Now, my writing isn’t all about they money 😀 But I do want to make a living off of it and though I understand I am a new author, it can be incredibly disheartening to see indie authors put out one book and they get to number 1 without seeming to do much at all, and my books float in the sea with the rest.

It just got me thinking about if I am using my time wisely. If my hours on social media aren’t gaining me sales or getting my name out any further, should I be spending so long on it?

As you probably have heard me say many times before, I really don’t like marketing! Those who do it well are successful, but I don’t do it well, I barely do it at all. The thought of shoving my work in people’s faces constantly really drains me and social media is a part of that. Trying to get my name out there and my work recognised is emotionally exhausting because I’m just not that type of person.

Now that I have established myself with a blog and things, is it time to allow myself to take a step back and wait for my books to speak for me?

What I’m trying to say is, I miss writing.

I could write all day if I could 😀 And that’s exactly what I’m going to do for a while.

I have made the decision that for the rest of the month, I am going to take a bit of a back seat on the social media thing. I’ll have a few blog posts, but not too many I don’t expect. I will still read others blogs, because I always enjoy your guys posts and find some great tips and information! But I probably won’t comment as much as I normally do.

I think not commenting as much on others blogs is part of my hesitance to cut back on blogging and social media. I have made a great many blogging friends and am so incredibly grateful for their support, I like to show mine by commenting and sharing their posts.

The social media side of things is important, I know, it’s the only way to get my name out there, but I really need to just write for a while, to give my everything to the craft I love so much.

So, if I’m not commenting as much as usual, please don’t think I’m not reading, because I will be! I hope you guys understand 🙂

Have a brilliant weekend everyone, I hope it’s a good one!

So, I am back from my vacation 😀 Which was an amazingly good time and I loved it!

Some pics:

Me reading in my amazing colourful pyjamas!

Books we took to read.

Harli enjoying the beach.

A pic of the amazing sunset by my very talented mum- Twisted Pixel on Flickr- Click on pic to go to photostream

I had planned to do some writing and reading whilst I was there, but ended up staring into space for the entire week. I think my brain really needed to do nothing for a whole 7 days.

Whilst on vacation I realised just how stressed out I had gotten. I was so busy and overwhelmed that I was not in a good place! Although I have tried my best to be organised and keep to a schedule, I think I was trying to pour too much into a working day and it was getting too much to handle.

Then I saw this post this morning- http://nhwn.wordpress.com/2014/09/15/remember-to-make-time-for-yourself-not-only-work-and-family/, and it inspired me to make a change that was most definitely needed.

Most of my day is taken up by social media (blogging, facebook, twitter, etc), which I know is very important in building an author platform, but surely, it can’t be more important than doing the actual writing when taking on a writing career, right?

So, my plan from now is to only do 2 hours of social media a day. A big cut from the 5+ hours I was spending on it before! But I really think it needs to be done. It means I won’t be able to comment as much on blogs or re-tweet so much, but I will hopefully learn to utilise those two hours more effectively, rather than letting the social media side of my career drag on and on throughout the day and into the night!

And that was pretty much all that came out of my vacation: a much needed revise of my schedule! I did manage to read one book, but that was about it, I really did just sit, stare, and walk on the beach.

It was the perfect vacation 😀

How long do you spend on social media? Do you ever need to revise your schedule? Are you good at sticking to a schedule? If you have any tips, then please let me know! 🙂

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Progress Report:

Status of fifth manuscript: Editing. (Finally has a title though! 😀 Will do reveal soon).

Books read: 2/4

Mid-September Book Review: Written and ready.