Saturday, November 17, 2012

Author Persona








I am an author, but who am I as a person?

 Do readers care?

 Is it relevant to my craft to say I like rainy days or zombie movies or is it better to keep my likes and dislikes to myself?

 Basically, shut up and write.

I say yes. 

And No.

What, am I a waffling politician too?  God, no. Stay with me now.

Yes, as a writer, I should be writing. Every day. Not wasting time updating my Facebook status or Tweeting Dunkin' Donuts ran out of Pumpkin Spice lattes.

(For the record, I like coffee flavored coffee) 

However, with the rampant use and acceptance of social media, its not necessarily a bad thing that I have become a bit of an addict to this type of electronic interaction. I can reach a broader audience from comfort of my home or while on the go with my smartphone.  Read my my fans are saying. Gauge literary tastes, trends and other data useful to my authorial career.   

And have some fun in between. 

Yes, I may post some frivolous absurdities, or something with more emotional weight, either way, I'm engaged. I'm not just pimping for sales.

I think its critical for an author to show that we are who we are. Makes us more accessible. Hell, maybe more likeable. Yes, we do crawl out of writing caves and yes, take out the trash, change diapers, curse our numbskull bosses and hate the nosy body in Apartment 3G.

I've heard and been the subject of criticisms that as a writer, you have to keep both the persoanl and professional separate.  I say one has to be aware that everything you say and do online has a digital footprint. I subscribe to being prudent, but I done always practice what I preach. Yeah, I've had a  few missteps traversing cyberspace, but I think its iportant to come acrsoo as genuine, not diengenious. If you do the latter, readers will feel a sense of betrayal if they find out you are not who you say you are.

So, with me, ya gonna get the Good, Bad and Ugly (well, not so ugly. I won'y plaster my image all over the Internets.) If a publisher thinks I'm not serious enough or don't have the appearance of writer gravitas, I say, read one of my books. Then send me a Tweet or message me on Facebook. 

We'll talk.

 







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