Now that Christmas is behind us, what next? I honestly don’t know, so first off, before I deep-dive into an abyss of uncertainty, Happy New Year! I hope this year will be kind to you and bless you with health, wealth, stealth (sometimes moving about quietly has its benefits), happiness, and as much as anything we are able to turn a Covid corner and get on with our lives.
Okay, fine, you caught me; look at the title of this blog, which was indeed the first thing I typed after I sat down. But up until a few days ago I had no idea what I would write about this morning. That’s when I woke to an epiphany and a grumbling in my tummy; I was incredibly hungry while a question lingered: how in the heck will anyone know when I release a new book?
It didn’t take me long to cross answers off my list: passenger pigeons, flyers dropped from old WWII planes over heavily populated areas, strategically situated staff with strong lungs and megaphones, etc.
So thirty minutes later as I sat with cappuccino in hand, my tummy content and having completely run out of plausible etceteras, I resigned myself to the fact a newsletter was a necessary evil.
But is a newsletter really evil? Not really. Or, rather, it doesn’t have to be.
Let’s pull back a second. Up until a few months ago my life was moving along at a happy little hum. As I was in the throes of happily humming along, I was also—and for the most part pretty much still am—a novice at this blogging business. So, like anyone, if you want to do something at least reasonably well, you need to see how the pros do it. I’m fairly certain Wayne Gretzky watched more than his fair share of NHL hockey games and picked up on more than a few tricks while he was developing his talents on the ice. And what about one of my biggest heroes, Jack Nicklaus? If he took up the game of golf one day and then the following day he walked onto the first tee at Augusta National to play in The Masters, I’ll eat my hats. (Not going to happen; I don’t have a big appetite and own lots of hats.) Naturally, he didn’t. Instead he spent years honing his skills, reading, digesting information (not hats) from his teacher, Jack Grout, and watching with a close eye how those who at the time were more seasoned and simply better at the game than him did what they did mainly because they were further along in their development. (There is no substitute for talent, which is why he quickly overtook them.) Naturally, writers are the same. You can’t write if you don’t read. Each time I read a novel, I do it strictly for pleasure but with the knowledge I am learning and bettering myself as a writer. (And that’s another thing, and perhaps the subject of a future blog; you never stop learning no matter how proficient you are at something.)
So, to become a seasoned blogger, I figured I had to see how the “pros” did it, and therefore not only did I read blogs, I signed up for newsletters (or as some call it, “mailing list”; the same snake, just in a different skin) along the way as well.
And I quickly learned something; in the hands of the wrong person an e-newsletter list is evil. Yes, you heard me. Evil. Mind you, the evil I’m talking about here isn’t on par with Lucifer, but it’s an annoying evil that can drive a person bonkers as he or she (in this case me these past few months) is bombarded with emails, as many as four or five a week from the same person! I mean, come on, I know you want me to buy something, but gee whiz, move on as a scorned lover should. It got so bad, some days when my phone pinged and I looked to see yet another email from this or that writer with the “Don’t miss out!” or “Act quickly!” or “Big News!” subject lines, at times I actually found myself involuntarily reacting and mumbling things at my phone in a tone that could best be described as an urgent plea, things like “You’ve gotta be kidding me,” or “Give it a rest,” or “Enough already!” (admittedly that last one has been spoken frequently of late and much more forcefully than in an urgent-plea tone). And you know what else I learned, thanks to those writers? It is rather embarrassing when you get caught by others as you mumble at your phone! When that happens, some people shield their kids from you in fear, others take wide berths around you on the sidewalk, and the odd one will go so far as stammer, “I don’t want no trouble, Mister,” as they hastily scurry away.
So in the interest you don’t develop a reputation that has mothers shielding their children from you in fear (at least because of me, anyhow), here is my promise to you: If you sign-up for my e-newsletter I will only send you news that is worthwhile, like information on a new book release. (My first newsletter will more than likely be sent out to announce when my latest book—The “I laughed. I cried.” Christmas Collection: three novellas—has a firm publication date.) Since I don’t write by any sort of commercial formula and only write stories that matter to me, stories that I know will make a positive emotional difference in my life, I’m hoping they will do the same for those who read them, and that, to me anyhow, is worthwhile.
The second bit of worthwhile news I’ll send will come in the form of free book giveaways (and maybe the odd contest, which in turn will lead to a giveaway—happy dance, people, yes, you heard me, happy dance!), like the book giveaway I did this past Christmas. I think you would agree that that is worthwhile by anyone’s definition.
So please subscribe to my e-newsletter if you’re willing to take a chance on my promise. As for me? I’ll be busy for the next little while not continuing with the narrative on my next novel; rather, in the interest of my sanity, I’ll be spending considerable time un-signing up (I believe they call that “unsubscribing”) to quite a few authors’ e-newsletters.
There you go; I can exhale now knowing by tomorrow my life will return to a happy little hum as my one-way conversations with my phone will soon cease.