This couldn’t have come at a better time. I’m currently down for the count and confined to my room because I just ate a whole Cinnabon. One. Cinnabon. And I’m feeling sick because of it. How people can continuously consume these both astounds and worries my frail stomach.
It’s a nice room, so I have that going for me.
Also, I get to amuse myself by writing for all of Sue’s readers! And for that I’m grateful. It’s been so long since I guest posted that my insides are giddy with excitement.
I run a writing blog filled with short stories, letters, poetry, and anything else you could think of when it comes to literature. (Except reviews—oh, I’m awful at those.) While I’ve been writing for the last five years, my blogging career is an admittedly short one. I was fortunate enough, however, to be interviewed by one of Discover’s editors and that brought me a lot of quiet lurkers.
But enough background talk! Let’s dig in to what I wanted to talk to everyone here about.
Writing inspiration and book promotion for indie authors!
I get so many emails from fresh faced bloggers wanting to know how I manage to conjure all these random thoughts every day, and really, I don’t know what to say except find what works for you! There are so many things to write about in the world. Many tend to write from experience. They write about something they consider a big part of what made them—them. They ruminate and expound. Then there are those absent-minded ones that will talk about the kind of shoes a stranger in passing wore. There’s no one way to be inspired, muses are fickle things, but you shouldn’t stop just because you think your writing’s no good or because you’ve hit the proverbial “block.”
No one is great in the beginning, and even I still consider myself a clumsy word dabbler, rather than an actual “writer”—whatever that word means. And writer’s block is just another part of the journey of finding what inspires you. Write what you’re passionate about, if that doesn’t work, write what you aren’t passionate about, write a haiku about coffee or tea…
Make the ordinary, extraordinary through your words, and you’ll find so many crossroads that you won’t even be able to pay attention to all those walls everyone else gets so distracted by. They’re tall and dark and menacing, I know, but oh, the path beyond is so much more interesting. Narrow and curved, wide and empty—the possibilities are endless.
This brings me to my point about indie authors and book promotions. (A rather abrupt change in topic, yes, but not quite for me. Don’t worry! I’ll tell you why.)
For me, pressure and inspiration go hand in hand. I find that when I’m not pressured to do something, I procrastinate. Stagnation seems inevitable. But when I created my writing platform that all changed! I made a WordPress, Tumblr, IG, and Twitter. (Once upon a time, I only used FB because I was a proud caveman.) But now, suddenly, I was pressured to post, and as my Instagram grew in followers, it was expected to post regularly.
And this provided me with endless material to cross post onto my other networks.
As an Indie Author, writing your book is the easy part. Getting word out and finding people that care enough to spend their hard-earned cash on you is where it gets tricky. But just remember… it’s never too early to start connecting with other people.
Put yourself out there, utilize this thing called the internet. Blog, comment, guest post (hint, hint) and find others like yourself that are going through the same struggles and just… jump head first into the community.
We’re nice, I swear.
Magic doesn’t happen to those that don’t open themselves up to it. Strive and try, and just for kicks, try again.
Remember: writing is time-consuming, but marketing is all the more. We wouldn’t have professional book marketers if that wasn’t the case. Start early and get people interested. It’s nice to have people get excited about your book release with you.
As they say, “Patience is a virtue,” or perhaps, “The early bird gets the worm” would’ve been a better ending for this.
You all get it. 🙂
Find and Follow Nicholas
Instagram Tumblr Twitter@NicholasRinth
About the author:
Nicholas Rinth lives lakeside in the southern graces of Savannah, Georgia. Where he spends his time fantasizing about other worlds and working on his next novel.
He has a tendency to stress-eat and sleep during his free time, and is otherwise occupied with his lifelong dream of becoming a character writer for the video game company, Bioware.
The Drowned Tower is Available for Purchase Here:
EBOOK MASTERLINK
PAPERBACK:
BARNES&NOBLE (USA) | !NDIGO (CA) | BOOKTOPIA (AU)
AMAZON: |USA | UK | FRANCE | GERMANY | JAPAN | BRAZIL | ITALY | SPAIN |
Cover By: Fabian Rensch
“If the future was bared before you, would it still be yours?
If the past could chase you, would you run from it?
If the world crumbled tonight, would you carve your own?”
Freedom is out of the question for practitioners of the Institute, and any supporters otherwise are dealt with violently. A system Sylvie Sirx neither refutes, nor endorses—born from an enviable family, talented in her skills, and entirely too content with her position, her path has always been a straight one… until now.
Her qualifications backfire when an elder from the north descends upon her home for a Choosing. He calls upon the Drowned Tower’s most sought after practitioners for a simple job that ends in blood, and then Sylvie’s blissful world erupts. She finds herself in the company of the Elementalist, Jacques Dace, an insufferable but deadly enthusiast of personal reform. Together, they’re swept into a spiral of powerful magic and ancient grudges. Where truth bends, stones whisper secrets of the past, and their home lies at the heart of what could very well be Ferus Terria’s next recorded war.
And for once, she is forced to choose a side, learning for herself what it means to master fate.
Sue Vincent's Daily Echo 
We can’t eat that stuff either. We watch people eat amounts of food that could feed four or five normal adults and all we can do is wonder.
As for pressure and stagnation, I need a little of both. Stagnation give me time to think, but a little pressure makes me finish the project.
LikeLiked by 4 people
It really makes me wonder the kind of iron stomachs some people have. That can’t be healthy. 😔
I never thought of it that way! I can see how that can be good for you though. To each our own.
Thanks for reading. 😄
LikeLiked by 2 people
Thank you for allowing me to guest post, Sue! I really enjoyed writing this up.
LikeLiked by 1 person
A pleasure to have you over, Nic 🙂 Good luck with the tea and buns 😉
LikeLiked by 2 people
I went out to buy everything today! 😁 i found some strong black tea leaves thankfully. I hope it turns out right.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Let me know how you get on 🙂
LikeLiked by 1 person
Definitely. 😄
LikeLiked by 1 person
I enjoyed the post, Nicholas. I can work under pressure, but I can’t create under pressure. Funny how different we all are. As you said, “There’s no one way to be inspired.” It’s interesting to see how others are motivated and deal with the various demands of this vocation. 🙂
LikeLiked by 3 people
Thank you! Yes, I’ve asked a lot of other bloggers about what inspires and motivates them when I was still stating out here on WordPress, I find it wonderful to hear about the different odd things they do to get their ideas pumping! A particularly memorable answer was: “I feed and talk to my birds about my ideas”
LikeLiked by 2 people
😀 Whatever works!
LikeLiked by 1 person
I work more like Diana – *especially* where writing is involved. Can’t stand those “challenges” – hate “how’s it coming?” intermediate deadlines, etc. Just tell me when you need it, leave me alone and let me write. Trust me to let you know if things start going sideways, and don’t hold my feet to the fire if I’m only minutes past some arbitrary deadline.
It took me a while to figure this out about myself, but pressure has the opposite effect on me – shuts me down and I end up mired in procrastination quicksand. I’m much more creative without a gun in my back.
As for Cinnabons – dunno’ since it has been a few years since I went GF prophylactically, but I usually have an iron stomach and just polished off 3 pieces of GF cornbread. 🙂
Thanks for sharing your thoughts about marketing.
xx,
mgh
(Madelyn Griffith-Haynie – ADDandSoMuchMORE dot com)
ADD Coach Training Field founder; ADD Coaching co-founder
“It takes a village to educate a world!”
LikeLiked by 2 people
Oh, I can definitely relate with you there! I don’t find pleasure in writing challenges, though I do like to read what comes of them. Being a binge writer, its hard for me to just arbitrarily come up with something long. Pressure only works for me if what I have to write is some random two to four line thing that I can think up fairly quickly.
Good lord, don’t even get near those swirly buns of doom! All the sugar! It’s giving me nightmares just thinking about it. I regret eating the whole thing so much now. I should’ve gone with half. But my eyes are hungrier than my stomach it seems.
LikeLiked by 2 people
Nice to read – I thought I was the only person on the planet who hated those challenges – tho’ I’m with you on enjoying reading what others do with them, I always wonder how they manage to do it.
Funny about sugar – I have almost lost my taste for it since I went GF – most things are now too sweet. (Except for chocolate, of course!) 🙂 What gets me about those Cinnabons is that irresistible smell. O. M. G.
xx,
mgh
LikeLiked by 2 people
Oh, I love chocolate. Dark chocolate especially. While I adore sweets, sometimes there are things that are just… too sweet. It’s cool to know that your taste buds adapted along with your diet though. I wonder how that works–I could probably google the answer, but I’ll stick with saying that the body is a mysterious thing! 🙂
LikeLiked by 2 people
Good idea. Half of what you google isn’t true anyway!
xx,
mgh
LikeLiked by 1 person
“a clumsy word dabbler”,,,
Loved that! Aren’t we all? The search for the turn of phrase is like an Easter egg hunt–when you find them you’re so ecstatic.
What really intrigues me though is when I work so hard on a section of dialogue and I may be absolutely wowed by the result…
And then a reader comes back and points out something I wrote in a narrative descriptive lead-in that leaves her breathless…
Saying nothing about the narrative that was so painstakingly crafted… and the narrative was something I knocked out off-hand because, you know, been at this for so long and really didn’t notice…
We’re all on a different portion of the journey, so when someone notices, grant a smile, a wave, and extend a little bit of grace.
Keep up the good work, Nic!!!
LikeLiked by 2 people
First, thank you for noticing that 😉 (yes, I am smiling now 😁) and i know the feeling! When I try so hard, yet they notice something entirely different. I dont know if I should feel frustrated or happy because well… they liked it at least. Thats all I could ask for in the end.
LikeLiked by 2 people
I don’t like feeling pressured. I can understand how it could be a good motivator, though, but not for me. Somewhere between stagnation and pressure would work. 😉 I just wrote (right here at Sue’s) about getting ourselves out there. It’s not easy. But it can be. (I’ve often been known to write a haiku about coffee when I’ve got writer’s block…or even when I don’t.) Cheers!
LikeLiked by 2 people
To each our own, my friend. 😄 And I think getting out there is actually the best advice to give a writer. If we dont at least try, then nothing will happen.
LikeLiked by 2 people
Exactly. 🙂
LikeLiked by 1 person
Interesting and humorous post, Nicholas. There’s a lot of good advice for writers. Thanks, Sue, for having Nicholas as a guest. 🙂 — Suzanne
LikeLiked by 2 people
And thank you for taking the time to read it 😄
LikeLiked by 1 person
Pingback: Guest author: Nicholas Rinth – Writing inspiration | Sue Vincent’s Daily Echo – Empty Nest Man
Thank you for this inspiring post!
Err… what is a Cinnabon? Just so I can avoid it if I should ever come across one. 😉
LikeLiked by 1 person
I didn’t know either, Annabelle…I googled. They appear to be calorie mountains 😉
LikeLiked by 2 people
Probably full of gluten too!
LikeLike
Oh yes…
LikeLiked by 1 person
Calorie mountains sounds about right. Theyre also concoctions of pure, sugary evil.
LikeLike
Get thee behind me…. (so many calories undoubtedly would…) 🙂
LikeLiked by 1 person
This made me snort and now people are looking at me funny. 😂 I’m going to associate cinnabons with my butt forever.
LikeLiked by 1 person
It may help you fend off temptation 😉
LikeLiked by 2 people
Reblogged this on Don Massenzio's Blog and commented:
Check out this guest post from author Nicholas Rinth on Sue Vincent’s blog.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Excellent post, with so much truth. Writing is indeed the easy part, eventually the book is finished, but the marketing never ends. Oh, and I can well imagine the Cinnabon effect. I’m a gluten-free person. I need only eat a few bites before I’m suddenly bloated as a whale and zapped of energy. 🙂
LikeLiked by 1 person