The time factor v. spam

I love to write. A friend described my first novel as Hawkeye Pierce meets Robin Cook. {That’s a blatant marketing ploy!}

The hermit curmudgeon in me would prefer to sit in isolation and write. I write for me, to rewrite my history, and relive the fun of my life. But, I possess that gene that wants to share me with the world. To satisfy that need, I find blatant marketing necessary.

There is a fine line between sharing this blog with selected friends, and being one of those obnoxious people spamming the world. If I step over that line, yell at me.

Writing takes time. Now that I blog, and get faced (I still refuse to text and tweet), time is lost in the ever expanding social universe. Linda Clare, my writing mentor, presented a great paper last night re: the reality of time spent on social networking that can be easily lost to other book sale activities and practicing the craft.

I use to think e-mail was great. I can avoid my native dislike of talking to a faceless voice on the phone, and assure what I want to communicate is accurate- or rant if I feel like it.

Then, that damn prince in Nigeria wanted to give me millions of dollars. After a year of pretending to be Billy Jim Bob, dying of a brain tumor, and having Bobby Joe Suzy, his cousin, worry about what to do with the life insurance money, this crook thought he had a major fish on line. Great material for another novel.

There is a price tag, however. This morning I have over 200 e-mails from an amazing cross section of humanity, banks, the FBI, and a wounded veteran Christian minister who is also an English barrister. They all want to give me something. They all take my most valuable asset- time.

The blessing of e-mail is also a time curse. I can’t wait to see what all those Facebook friends will do to my daily routine.