Please help me! Facebook’s taking over my life!

The first thing a new author learns is that “self- promotion” should become your new best friend.

“Okay.  So what’s an easy thing to do to promote my work?” I asked innocently.

“You set up a Facebook account and interact with people.  Social media is how you build a readership.  All authors have them, Raine!”  *feels like an idiot for asking and gets <where have you been living, under a rock?> kinds of looks*

Now, that’s all well and good, but gosh darn, there are only so many hours in the day!  As soon as you set up your account, Facebook sucks you in.  I mean literally within minutes!  There’s a news feed that tells you what your friends are doing.  There are new friend requests, people you want to be friends with, and old friends from high school to reconnect with.   And all of it drags you back to your computer repeatedly to check for updates.  I’ve heard this is not unusual.  In fact it’s the typical response for most new Facebookers.

All of this interacting takes time though.  You have to be friendly and social by posting on your wall and thanking others for “friending” you.  You must be funny and share witty prose and cool pictures for your friends to comment on.  And don’t forget that you have to go around clicking the “Like” button on your friends stuff.  There is a protocol and it must be followed.  Duh!  You don’t want people to think you’re a jerk do you?

What is the point of your rant, Raine?  Why are you telling us what we already know?

*looks sheepish*  Sorry, I just needed to get that out, I guess.  You see, I’m finding it very hard to write when it’s so much more fun to play on Facebook.  Or when I should be plotting out a new story or editing one I’ve already written.  So I’m learning that finding a balance between the crafting and the socializing is harder than I ever thought it would be.  As my Facebook friends have grown in number, my daily word counts have shrunk.  And that is not a good thing if you are trying to build a successful writing career.

I like this quote by Paul Boese:   “We come into this world head first and go out feet first; in between, it is all a matter of balance.”

Yeah, thanks for that, Paul.  That’s really great  advice you’ve–  *beep sounds*  Oh, sorry–  I gotta go.  Just got a txt message… 5 new friend requests waiting for me on FB…

Comments

  1. I love this post. You are exactly right. It is easy to get carried away on Facebook. It happens to me all the time. I think this is the best way to keep up with friends and family. Love all the sharing possibilities. Good luck and congrats on all your friend requests.

  2. Thanks, Buzz Chic! I am trying my best…

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