As I may have alluded to in a previous post, since publishing on Kindle, I feel reinvigorated as a writer. I want to expand on that.
A writer doesn’t writer for him- or herself. That’s what I’d been doing for most of my life and because of that, because I would not allow my work to see the light of day, I’d been running on steam.
But since publishing, I feel reborn. I’ve been working myself ragged on a new true-crime book, putting together a YouTube channel.
To quote 30 Rock, one of my favorite shows, I’ve been “Reaganing.”
And this feeling of renewed purpose is even more valuable than any amount of copies of my books I may give away or sell. In truth “Effusion” hasn’t been setting the world on fire nor did I expect it to.
I’m going to keep promoting it for a while and as I said before, I’m going to keep publishing and promoting and we’ll see what happens.
Because I’ve found that the true value of publishing isn’t about how many books you sell–it’s the sense of purpose and drive and motivation and excitement it gives you, to know that at least some people are reading your stuff.
And, for me, that’s enough.
I write this to encourage you (again, I know) to share your work. The creative spirit cannot thrive in the darkness of secrecy and fear of criticism.
An acquaintance-turned dear friend (whom I don’t speak with much but nonetheless…) messaged me on Facebook a few days ago to say “you following your passion is something beautiful.”
This wasn’t praise. I took it for what it was: Though this person doesn’t really know me, she somehow intuited that this–my writing, sharing my work–is my true purpose in life.
I would encourage you to do the same. Find your purpose in this life, work at it, and share it with the world because, as my friend said, it truly is beautiful.
LIAM LLEWELLYN 