WHAT YOU CAN CONTROL

 

With pandemics, riots, 
senseless violence,  

What we can control in our lives
Seems non-existent.

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What you can control as a writer  these days  seems to amount to very little,  too, doesn't it?

You cannot control being knocked down,but you can control getting upone more time than they knock you down.

There is no secret formula to become a best sellerelse we would all be Stephen King.

The common concept of Social Media Marketingis NOT the answer

How tired are you of reading BUY ME! novel tweets?
How frustrated are you of FB requests to like a Book Page?

It is like selling a kiss.
Even if you make a sale,there is no satisfaction to it. 
It is like kissing your sister.
So what control do we have?

We can choose to grow as a writer, as a human being.
Each story we write we strive to make better than the last.

We do not market an individual book.
We market ourselves. We are the Brand that will sell.

If each blog post we write is evocative or funny or touching,then, our readers will feel those qualitieswill be in any new novel we write.

Take   The HAUNTING of Hill House.

Based on the evocative book by Shirley Jackson,the series will inspire you to rise above theordinary limits of whatever genre you are writing.

How do you make each new story, new novel better?
You start with the hearts of your characters.Make them people to root for, to like, to mourn when life extracts its tuition from them.

Hill House is filled with decent, charming peoplein an originally crafted series of dangerswhose explanation at the end will have you crying.

Each of your characters,like each character in Hill House,should have have a scene
where they come alive in the minds of the readers,giving them an  "Yes, I've been there" moment.

What do you control?  What are your chances of success?
You are like a WWII fighter pilot.
All you can do is your best.Fly the heart out of your dream.
You may be shot out of the sky.But before then,you will have flown!