TO BE OR NOT TO BE

To be or not to be a writer
has been the hardest question for me.
Should I continue with my pursuit,
or step away and claim defeat?
One book was written,
one book sold.
It dances around on Amazon and Nook.
It reaches new heights in its niche,
and then it slowly bows its head in silence.
The highs feel good and lofty,
While the lows feel depressing and sad.
Is it worth it? 
Is it worth the aggravation?
I am told that a writer must keep writing.
More books to dance around.
More highs and lows.
Should I keep doing this?
Will I keep doing this? 
Yes, for now
as I wait for the next high. 

TO BE OR NOT TO BE

TO BE OR NOT TO BE

To be or not to be a writer.
This has been the hardest question for me.
Should I continue with my pursuit?
Or step away and claim defeat?
One book written.
One book sold.
It dances around on Amazon and Nook.
It reaches new heights in its niche
And then it slowly bows its head in silence.
The highs feel good and lofty,
While the lows feel depressing and sad.
Is it worth it? 
Is it worth the aggravation?
I am told that a writer must keep writing.
More books to dance around.
More highs and lows.
Should I keep doing this?
Will I keep doing this? 
Yes, for now
As I wait for the next high.

TO BE OR NOT TO BE

TO BE OR NOT TO BE

To be or not to be a writer.
This has been the hardest question for me.
Should I continue with my pursuit?
Or step away and claim defeat?
One book written.
One book sold.
It dances around on Amazon and Nook.
It reaches new heights in its niche
And then it slowly bows its head in silence.
The highs feel good and lofty,
While the lows feel depressing and sad.
Is it worth it? 
Is it worth the aggravation?
I am told that a writer must keep writing.
More books to dance around.
More highs and lows.
Should I keep doing this?
Will I keep doing this? 
Yes, for now
As I wait for the next high. 

THE SNOWBALL EFFECT

There is a snowball effect that authors write about.
It is an anticipated event for an author.
A year after your book is published,
all your hard work and determination begins to pay off.
Finally.
You write your first book.
Then you hope and pray that someone will buy it.
If you’re self-published–like me–you have to think about advertising.
You find yourself blogging and posting on Facebook, Twitter, and Google.
The sales trickle in very slowly.
You make your contacts.
You become friends with fellow authors and share your book with them.
You post about their books on your sites and they reciprocate.
You begin to enjoy writing your posts on your blog.
You start to wonder why you haven’t done this before.
You blog everyday.
You join more sites and find more friends.
You do favors and favors are received in return.
The pace picks up.
Life becomes more hectic.
You’re editing and advertising your book daily.
You must prepare yourself to write Book II of your series.
Then someone asks you to co-author a book with you.
You accept the challenge even while you’re pulling out your hair.
Family comes calling.
Everyone needs help with something.
Then the tweets increase dramatically.
You can’t keep up with all the return tweets.
You can’t keep pace with all the followers on your blogs.
Did I fail to mention two blogs and two tumblr sites?
Your book is doing much better.
It reaches a nice status in its niche markets on Kindle and Nook.
For some unknown reason, it’s listed #3 on Amazon’s top rated for vampire suspense.
Then the snowballs begin to hit you in the face.
They start hitting you from all sides.
What do you do?
The article had predicted the snowball effect.
It’s a year.
The snowballs come fast and furious.
What do you do?
You take a deep breath and begin all again tomorrow.