It’s been almost a full year since my last post so it’s going to be a bit of a long one. Understanding the importance of social media and taking the time to learn it are two different things, and there are three main things I came to understand about my beliefs and approach to all of it.


1st I have to stop thinking anyone else is like me. I read a book; I care about THE BOOK. Nothing else. I don’t need to know the author or anything about them. Nor do I need to know when the next book will be out. It’ll get here when it gets here. That’s just the way I’m built internally. There was an author who said when a book is published the only thing required of its author is to get out of the damn way. I share her mentality but few people seem to, so I have to stop thinking like that. If the process is important to one reader, it’s important to all readers.

2nd I have to stop acting like no one is reading or will ever read what I post. That’s irrelevant. I have to act like everyone is reading it, even if in the end, it’s just for me. I need to treat it like a tool that will teach me how to talk about my book, process, etc. which I am really bad at. So, I’ll be posting weekly from this point on and treating it as if it matters to whoever eventually ends up reading it. I think that’s the hardest part I had to learn; if I write posts like they don’t matter, then by extension, the reader doesn’t matter, and the reader will likely believe they don’t matter to me. But’s deeper than that.

3rd I read that many readers want to feel connected to or even friends with the author. My problem with this is that it makes me feel like a hypocrite, or worse, might actually make me one. I hate hypocrisy more than any other aspect of the human condition. It bothers me to think that I might become your friend only so you’ll read my book or that it’ll be perceived as such. It’s awful and it makes me feel like a genuine liar. Many people throw friend around carelessly but I do not. I maintain few friendships because it matters to me so much.

So, for me, it’s no longer about whether you fell connected to me or that we’re “friends”, it’s about respecting your time. Time is our most valuable resource. And if you need to feel connected to me to feel more connected to the universe I am trying to show you, then I have to respect the time you are going to invest in it.

Some will think parts or all of this were a mistake to post. I can’t. I won’t ever feel that way about this. I need to be honest about how I feel about this side of the industry and why it will always make me uncomfortable. Thank you for taking the time to read it and hopefully understanding where it is coming from.

That’s enough rambling for one day.

The year:
Been a tough one and had to make some brutal choices regarding the Pangaea series. It’s easy to make a mistake and hard to correct it, and I’ve made a few with this series. But now that I have, I believe I need to clarify for those who end up reading and wanting to follow the series.

Starting with next week I will explain Pangaea’s origins. Then the mistakes, the changes, and the need for them.