WHAT YOU CAN CONTROL_IWSG post

With pandemics, riots, senseless violence
What we can control in our lives
Seem non-existent.

What you can control as a writer 

these days 

seems to amount to very little,

 doesn't it?

You cannot control being knocked down,

but you can control getting up

one more time than they knock you down.

There is no secret formula 

to become a best seller

else we would all be Stephen King.

The common concept 

of Social Media Marketing

is NOT the answer

How tired are you of reading 

BUY ME! novel tweets?

How frustrated are you of FB requests 

to like a Book Page?

It is like selling a kiss.

Even if you make a sale,

there is no satisfaction to it. 

It is like kissing your sister.

So what control do we have?

We can choose to grow as a writer, 

as a human being.

Each story we write 

we strive to make better 

than the last.

We do not market an individual book.

We market ourselves.

We are the Brand that will sell.

If each blog post we write 

is evocative or funny or touching,

then, our readers 

will feel those qualities

will be in any new novel we write.

Take  

The HAUNTING of Hill House.

Based on the evocative book 

by Shirley Jackson,

the series will inspire you 

to rise above the

ordinary limits of 

whatever genre you are writing.

How do you make each new story, 

new novel better?

You start with the 

hearts of your characters.

Make them people to root for,

 to like, 

to mourn when life 

extracts its tuition from them.

Hill House is filled with decent, 

charming people

in an originally crafted 

series of dangers

whose explanation at the end 

will have you crying.

Each of your characters,

like each character in Hill House,

should have have a scene

where they come alive 

in the minds of the readers,

giving them an 

"Yes, I've been there" moment.

What do you control?  

What are your chances of success?

You are like a WWII fighter pilot.

All you can do is your best.

Fly the heart out of your dream.

You may be shot out of the sky.

But before then,

you will have flown!