Painting With Light

“The Mailbox” © R.L. Herron

I took this picture of a rural mailbox some time ago. I’ve used it before, but it seemed somehow appropriate to use it again today. Why? Because I’ve just been sitting around, waiting, as if there were something coming in the mail I didn’t want to miss.

This morning I couldn’t have told you what it was I might be waiting for. Not even if you held a hot poker to my face and threatened to brand me. I honest-to-God didn’t know what it could be.

I thought perhaps it was that elusive noun called “inspiration” I was trying to find, now that the nine-to-five routine is behind me and I’ve taken to writing full time. But that wasn’t it. My mind is full of stories.

I published my debut novel last March, and completed two different short story collections in May. I tell everyone I’m working on my next novel, but my normal writing routine of a thousand words a day is woefully behind schedule.

For the past two months I’ve been trying to figure out how to get some positive marketing out for those first books. How to drive traffic to this blog or to my web site, Broken Glass. Despite being in advertising and marketing for all those years, it’s hard work.

On the plus side, my novel, “Reichold Street” is one of the finalists for the 2012 Readers Favorite Award and I’ll be heading to the Miami International Book Fair for the ceremony this fall.

I’d much rather be writing, not that it’s easier. It isn’t. It’s damn hard work. It’s just more fulfilling. Not writing feels like giving up. And, as I rediscovered talking to one of my blog followers today, it’s something I promised not to do.

So, I’m headed back to the keyboard for a while to catch up with the number of words I should have cranked out by now. Thanks again for the reminder, Pop.

Tags: amazon books, amazon kindle, Miami International Book Fair, Nook e-books, Readers Favorite finalist, writer

This entry was posted on July 16, 2012 at 9:45 pm and is filed under Award-Winning Fiction, Awards, Book Promotion, Market Your Book. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.