I am a Word Farmer

Original photo by H. Rigney
September 2012, Intercourse, PA
I am an indie author. I say that with pride. It makes me feel like a word farmer, bringing my homegrown fiction to the world’s literary farmer’s market via Amazon.com and other Interweb avenues.
If you are not an indie author, maybe you do not realize the amount of work it takes to be a one-person fiction operation. You are a writer, an editor, a critic, an agent, a PR machine, a publicist, but most importantly, you are a supporter of your fellow indies.
We pave the way, all by ourselves, in our pajamas (with coffee) to bring you decent fiction made fresh daily.
Therefore, I will strive to support my fellow, pajama-wearing, coffee-slugging, word farmers by featuring their work on my blog.
I found a tweet by a certain well-known author who writes for a well-known magazine that stated, “I’m so tired of tweets that say, Author ______ recommends this book by Author ____.”
That tweet has haunted me. How the hell else is our kind supposed to get the word out? I suppose if I knew that, then perhaps I would no longer be an indie writer. And besides, it saddens me to think that well-known authors work in a vacuum, never supporting one another, never acknowledging the triumphs and accomplishments of those in their field.
I taught for twelve years. In that time, I found that some colleagues were threatened by the success of others, going to such lengths as to mock them for their efforts to better themselves as teachers. It appalled me to my core. “Aren’t we in this together?” I thought. Apparently no, not always.
As an author, I will do my best to support and encourage my fellow writers. It makes us all stronger, more successful, more confident.
And it brings a better product to the literary world.Isn’t that the point?