Monday, June 14, 2010

A Double-Shameless Plug

So now I'm at the point where I'm shamelessly plugging a product which I created for the sole purpose of shamelessly plugging my book, but what can you do?

As much as it sucks, humble authors are often unknown authors, and I have to get myself resigned to the idea that in order to succeed, I may have to spend a lot of my time telling people how great I am, shamelessly plugging my own work and (and this really scares me) asking other people to plug it for me.

So, I guess the question I really need to ask myself is is it worth it? Is my writing really good enough to warrant asking other people to stand behind it? I think that it is. I don't think I'm being conceited - I really hope that I'm not - but if I didn't believe in what I was writing, what would be the point? There are plenty of other, better paying jobs that I could get if I was willing to work toward them, but my writing is a part of me, hopefully a part that does me credit.

In a round about way, that brings me to something I've been meaning to mention about our ten rules discussion. When I started writing my post, I had one rule in mind, which, due to all of the other things I came up with, I ended up forgetting about. It was this: Never apologize for your writing. Telling someone something is rough is fine, but don't say you're sorry. Never use the word just about your writing. "It's just a rough draft" takes away from its importance. It's not just anything.

I'm not saying that writers should expect other people to love everything about their writing, or that they shouldn't accept criticism with an open mind, but I think knowing that a piece is important, that it's worth the time and effort to polish it, is good for a writer's soul.

This post got really far off topic. Its original point was to plug the Aigaion Girl tote bag which is now available for purchase. It kind of got away from me - but I won't apologize for that ;)

1 comment:

E said...

That. Is the second most important thing about writing. Because learning how to do it is first,a dn as you learn how to do it you begin to realise how little you actually know, and by the time you're half-decent your narcissistic courage has all but boiled away. Be bold, Athena, we're on your side.