Every few months *cough* every year *cough* I have an epiphany with regards to my writing and I pledge to find a new love for my chosen career path. Generally as another milestone passes and I realize how long it’s been since I published the last book in The Tribe Novels. I promise myself that this is it.. I’m going to work on the series again. I’m going to finish this story line that I love.
And then I don’t. I’ll tell you why.
I’m overwhelmed.
By the ugliness amongst authors, bloggers and readers. By the pressure that is on authors now to churn out books to an impossibly growing demand. By the urging to follow tropes and market shifts to ensure you write a story that will get you that coveted orange flag. By the constantly changing algorithms, sales platforms, marketing strategies and God knows what else that makes a career as an author unattainable to many.
I’ve forgotten what it is to just write.
I think I know how to start again. And I can only hope that those of you who have stuck with me this far, will stick with me a little longer. I may disappear, to remove myself from all these things that have sucked away my love of writing. But in my absence, please remember, authors are people with families, ailments, commitments and responsibilities away from the keyboard. We have feelings. Life happens. We get bogged down in our own thoughts and insecurities. We are not mass word-making machines.
I’m going to hide in the shadows, dear readers, where the story was all that mattered. Because in the end, it’s the only thing that does. I’ll see you on the other side.
