#IWSG: Promotion Commotion

I have a love hate relationship with promotion.

It can be thrilling. It can make you feel successful and famous. Like that time I was on Carolina Book Beat, talking to Mur Lafferty and Samuel Montgomery-Blinn. They were both so gracious and asked the right kind of questions to let me shine, and keep my inner klutz under control. I almost didn't say anything stupid the whole time!

It can be painful, like the time I did a signing at a Barnes and Noble and only signed one book the whole time (HINT: big box stores are maybe not so great when no one has ever heard of you).

It can be fun, but exhausting, like writing some fifty odd guest posts in the past few months, or "womaning" a table at a book fair for hours on end. I'm getting ready to go Atomacon, my first con as an author guest, and I'm excited, and already exhausted just thinking about it.

http://www.realmomofnj.com/wp-content...
2013/03/LiveLeak-dot-com-985c3e95a203-funny-
daylight-savings-time.jpg.resized-300x239.jpgIt can really pay off, and cause ripples that lead to other opportunities, but boy can promotion be a time suck, too!

I'm not lucky enough to be only a writer so far, so time is at a premium. I'm a middle school teacher by day, which is not the kind of job that gives you any breathing room. From 7:50 a.m. when I arrive at school, until 5:00 or so when I (usually) leave, it's jam-packed. I struggle to eat lunch and take bathroom breaks, so I don't think I'll be tweeting about my books during that time.

And I have kids, a dog, a husband, and a home and responsibilities to and for all of them, besides just enjoying their company.

It comes down to about one hour a day for writing. And there are days when I lose most of that to promotion.

How about you IWSG folks? How do you balance promotion with actual writing, in whatever time you have in your day for all these things?

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This posting is part of the Insecure Writers Support Group blog hop. To check out other posts by writers in a variety of places in their careers, check out the participant list. This group is one of the most open and supportive groups of people I have ever been associated with. If you write, you should check them out!