I’ve been concerned, of late, with the state of my author blog. I haven’t posted much over the past half year or so because I honestly have no idea what to put here. Do people just want to see book updates? Do they actually want personal, behind-the-scenes stuff? (I mean, does anyone really care about an author’s rambling monologue on the state of her garden or her latest experimental recipes?) Do people expect writing advice or tips, even though there is already a glut of that sort of thing floating around the interwebz?
So, then I thought about where I actually do post a lot of stuff. (Bluesky, in case you were wondering. It’s the only social media site I’m really active on.) And what I post there is all over the map. Recipes. Baking, gardening, and cat pics. My thoughts on the news of the moment or the effects of hydration experiments on the rise of a loaf of bread. General philosophical and political ramblings. And, of course, book stuff.
So much thinking.
And this got me to thinking some more. Because the whole reason I’m on Bluesky is because I left Twitter when it turned into an alt-right hellsite and I didn’t want anything more to do with it. And then I left Facebook and Instagram (the accounts are still there, but I don’t post to them anymore) when they ended their Community Safety efforts and explicitly started promoting right-wing propaganda that harmed vulnerable groups. Bluesky seemed to be the safe haven that worked more or less like old Twitter, and still had moderation. But what happens if (when, most likely) Bluesky gets sold to another billionaire who will do the same thing?
So then I thought, maybe I should start posting some of my Bluesky thoughts here, to my own blog that I control.
And then I thought (bear with me, I’ve been doing a LOT of thinking lately… may post about more about what, specifically, in future posts) that would be a spectacularly stupid thing to do since the one thing authors are definitely NOT allowed to do is be political in any way, lest it utterly destroy their careers.
And that made my blood run cold for a few seconds.
Yes, I talk to myself. Find me an author who doesn’t. 🤨
And then I said to myself, “Self, this is foolishness. Politics affects every single aspect of ALL our lives. To expect authors (or artists in any field) to have no views on things that directly affect them is ridiculous.”
Also, I don’t sell anywhere near enough books to even break even on what I’ve already spent on editors and cover art, so worrying about damaging my “writing career” seems kind of pointlessly laughable anyway. (The life of an indie author, especially one who writes kids’ stuff, is not the fun, glamour and riches people seem to think it is. Trust me.)
So, then I decided that sharing my thoughts here might a) give me something to actually post at least semi-regularly, and b) maybe make someone else, somewhere in the world feel slightly less alone if they have similar thoughts.
Also, such posts might give people something to think about. And that’s not a bad thing.
Which is all a VERY long-winded way to say that I’m going to start posting about all sorts of stuff here. (New content! Yay!) But I will do my best to set up a category and tagging system so people can zero in on the stuff that interests them and avoid the stuff that doesn’t.
