Write Your Way Real talk + resources for writers February 2024

The Blessing/Curse of Social Media

Ah, the best/worst thing that's ever happened to writers. 🎭

A haven and foundation for building community with fellow writers. A place to connect with readers as humans. Allegedly, the easiest way to start building an "author platform". A way to feel not-so-alone while pursuing that fabled lonely life of letters. Sometimes you wanna go where everybody knows your meme.

But also a place where real connection can be elusive, where flippancy, meanness, and outrage are currency. A cesspool of bots and trolls, where controversy often thrives over community. Somehow simultaneously a vapid void and a minefield of distractions, unfiltered opinions, and minutiae baiting you for attention left and right. And some folks really notch up the pettiness, vindictiveness, and destructiveness (fake review schemes, bullying campaigns, precious hours wasted).

So, what's a writer to do?

The answer feels simple enough: Just don't engage with the drama, stay positive, and lean into the good — community, kindness, support, boosting what you love. But these apps are designed to play on our negativity bias, to mine us for engagement. They've trained us all to believe that we 1) must have an opinion on every topic we see on our feeds and 2) we must share our opinion and engage with the discourse. Even when it's a topic we haven't considered in depth, and therefore don't have an informed opinion about.

One thing that helps is being intentional and strategic with your social media presence and consumption.

Get decisive about what you do and don't want your "social media presence" to be about, what you share, whom you want to invite into your community on these platforms.

Be mindful of your time spent. Don't just lurk or drama scroll, have a purpose for being on when you are on.

Choose who(m) you follow and make sure they're adding positively to your experience. Choose what you engage with. Unfollow when you need to, mute what's just noise, and block without recrimination.

Spread goodness. Make your little corner of the web a place of kindness, uplift, humor, empathy, compassion, and whatever other good stuff is in your special sauce. (This doesn't mean you blow sunshine up people's butts, or that everything you post drips saccharine; you can share your reality, just don't contribute to the jerkdom.)

Remember it's not real life, and stay off it as much as you need.

Get resourced with...

Social Media accounts offering insights & info on publishing & book trends:

​Jane Friedman is a publishing expert & author who knows and shares all things book industry, with both nuance and clarity. She offers a treasure trove of resources that include trend articles, analysis, tips, webinars, and more on her website, Instagram, and Threads. If you feel like you're missing the plot when it comes to publishing and selling your book, take a deep breath and follow Jane.

She pares down the overwhelm into clear, useful information and wisdom.

​Carly Watters is a literary agent with P.S. Literary, whose online presence is all about frank talk about the publishing process — from query letters to author responsibilities — from an agent's perspective and experience. Carly will demystify things, and clue you in on details you may have (never) wanted, but probably need, to know.

Watters and fellow lit agent Cecilia ("Cece") Lyra also cohost the awesome podcast The Shit No One Tells You About Writing. Their segment "Books with Hooks" goes deep on query letters with tips and critiques. The third host is author Bianca Marais, who serves up her personal experiences and engaging chats with guest authors. The podcast is also fun, informative follow on Instagram.

​Victoria Strauss is the founder of Writer Beware, a blog that details and exposes scams and scammers preying on writers. She covers shady contracts, disappearing publishing houses, fake agents, suspicious marketing and promo offers, and much more. If you're wondering whether someone or something is too good to be true, Writer Beware is a great first place to research. And if someone is trying to perpetrate a scam, Victoria is the person to tell.

With each of these follows comes an opportunity to find camaraderie with fellow writers, maybe even do a little organic community-building through low-stakes earnest interaction.

PS: These suggestions are NOT sponsored and I'm not getting anything in return for you checking out those accounts and websites. My only hope in sharing them is that you find something useful.

Memoir Writers' Book Club: Heavy by Kiese Laymon This is a book about cumbersome things written with fierce tenderness and resounding truth. We're taking it in and talking it out, teasing apart how to write our deepest and most complicated stories with clarity and honesty. While first person is most writers' go-to when writing memoir, second-person can breathe a different kind of life into the pages. We meet on February 29th at 7pm EST. Take the leap, and join us. ​ Join the MWBC ​

Main ways to work with me

Get the sustained support you need to navigate your roadblocks and stay consistent with my 10-session Write Your Book Your Way program. Or, get a quick shot of clarity, direction, and an action plan during a single, half-day Immersed in Intention session. To talk through what you most need and how I can best help, book a free no-strings Discovery Call.

​

Warmly,

Cornelia ✍🏼