Sometimes I feel like I’m putting out content no one cares
about. Do you know what I do then? I keep going. I keep creating and I don’t
give up.
One of the hardest things on anyone who puts out content is
silence. It’s worse than low book sales or even long periods of low sales and
lack of reviews. It’s the kind of thing that makes you want to sit on the
corner with a tin cup with the work “likes” on the side.
In reality, it is just another obstacle. It gives me cause
to regroup and refocus on my goals and remind myself why I’m posting that
content in the first place. Yes, I want my audience to see it. I want to grow
that audience for the art, the stories, and everything else. The only way I can
do that, is to keep building first and foremost.
That isn’t to say I’m not looking for new ways to market myself.
I’m a one man band still and marketing is the hardest part of the job. It
requires people and I’m incredibly thankful for the few I have. It requires
advertising, and that is the one major budget issue I lack.
The simple truth is, if I don’t build and hopefully improve
what people see, there won’t be anything to market in the first place.
And there are a hundred more creators, thousands, just like
me. The competition is staggering and getting people into new characters and
stories isn’t as easy as it sounds.
There there’s my health. With my new diagnosis of diabetes
that doesn’t play well with Multiple Sclerosis, I’m challenged even further in
my abilities to continue. To say that I work through adversity is putting it
lightly. Some days, I can’t create at all and it always feels like a major
setback when I don’t get any of it done because I’m laid up recuperating from
an MS flare up. And now you might wonder if this is all I have to contend with
in my path. It isn’t.
Because I am published through Amazon (yes self published)
there is a terrible conception that a self published author isn’t a real author.
And yes, that statement has been delivered to me more than once. I brush it off
and keep going. When that person goes, “Oh, you’re self published” with that
slight expression of disdain; I just smile and nod.
I keep a list of reasons not to give up. And I value those
reasons more than I give credence to my obstacles. As I keep teaching my son,
attitude is everything.
So I hope you enjoy these black and whites of characters
that I recently finished and maybe can apply this to your own goals in creativity
or whatever. Meanwhile, I have more creating to do. How about you?
