It’s Not You, It’s Me: Why I Quit FB, and WTH is Going on Here

Dear Friends and Readers,

April 26th was my one year anniversary with WordPress. If you’ve been following along, or even if you just pop in from time to time, you may have noticed a few changes. Well, quite a few changes. Sporadically. I’ll get into the blogging and writing bits in a minute, but first I want to address the big change: I quit Facebook.For the past year, I’ve been dividing my time between my family, my hobbies, my writing, and social media networks- and not just the three biggies, either. I’m talking about all the social media networks. While learning never really ends, especially writers who learn (research) as a part of their occupation, this past year has been all about learning and connecting. Specifically, learning how to connect.

As I’ve moved through one platform after another I’ve learned how to find like minded individuals through each and how to interact with them. As a writer, you would think my first concern would be how to use them for effective marketing, and while that is a priority, it’s not my first. The whole point of social media is to socialize, and therein is the problem. Too many platforms have become difficult to manage, on top of everything else. I’ve gone from being a writer who socializes occasionally to a socializer who writes occasionally.

Now, I’m definitely not going to stop socializing, I’d miss you crazy folks waaay too much to stop stalking you. But I realized recently that the few people I actually interacted with on Facebook, I interact with more on Twitter. My decision to quit Facebook was not to cut out friends and chats, but to confine myself to one less medium. For me, it was a choice between Twitter and Facebook, and I simply can not do without my Tweeps. On top of that, Facebook is pretty much screwing over authors who try to utilize their free pages, so…yeah. Anyway, if you’ve noticed I’m missing from your Friends list, be assured it’s not you, it’s me.

Now, for the other changes… I went on a blog creating spree recently, and have come around to three favorites that I’ll be hanging onto, including this one. Well, three WordPress blogs. I’m also on Tumblr and Blogger, but we’ll leave that be for now. Well, three WordPress blogs involving writing. There’s also the photography blog , and a couple of private ones, but that’s beside the point.

I’ve dipped my toes into the world of independent publishing as well. To make things easier for those who follow me for a specific reason, I’ll make a list. I don’t know how many of you have come to this blog looking for fiction and found fact, or vice versa, but I’m getting ready to tidy things up a bit around here. If you’re interested in book reviews, I’ll keep those elsewhere. Looking for my PG fiction? I’ve got a blog for that, too. I’ll be keeping the featured flash here, as well as a few other things, but I’m trying to uncomplicate Write This Way, for all of us.

Without further ado- because good grief look at all that rambling up there- the list:

Write This Way: My personal blog.

The Coffee Shoppe: A book store blog.

Big Tales for Little Ones: A children’s stories blog.

And of course there is my Wix website where you can find all things Jess.As for the independent publishing, I finally got around to finishing my Smashwords Author Profile. Once I’ve published my first book to Amazon, I’ll update all the sites with the Amazon Author Profile as well.

It’s been a helluva year, and I mean that in the best possible way. I look forward to new adventures in the coming year- in writing, in publishing, and in keeping up with you.

May you never run out of coffee,And your muse stay by your side.

Don’t forget to put your pants back on,

And always enjoy the ride!

– Jess

P.S. I spent all day Sunday learning how to format an ebook and publish via the Smashwords Style Guide. I feel incredibly intelligent and brain frozen, simultaneously. I apologize if I seem more like the mad hatter than myself. If you got all the way to the end of this post, thanks for sticking it out with me. 🙂 Oh, and as for my independent publishing endeavor…

The Thief, the Crown, and the Pegasus is available for free at Smashwords. It’s a fantasy short story that’s geared more towards children and also available on the children’s stories blog.