Like Pulling Teeth

The last post I wrote was in April 2025! I have legitimately started writing this post probably five times. Ironically, this is not what I even wanted to write about.

I doubt many people are reading this, but I’ll say it anyway. Even with professional marketing experience, I find the marketing tasks required for authors, both new and established, to be extensive and tiresome. The pressure of countless “shoulds” is overwhelming. I know many authors share this challenge.

• Write a newsletter to…

• Send it out…

• To a mailing that I still need to build up to have any impact…

• By appealing to potential readers in a sea of authors vying for attention.

The mechanics intimidate some authors, but that is not my issue (see: decades of marketing background). But marketing distances me from the craft that ignited my passion for writing. And clinging to the few joys in life right now is all that is holding me together, and writing is one of the few joys I have.

Oh, and what do I even put in that newsletter? Tidbits of what I’m writing when people don’t even know what I write? Details about my routine when I have none? Sneak peeks into world-building, which might change during editing?

There are some who would turn to GenAI 🤮 to write their newsletter just to work the hustle. But I have standards, and even if it’s uninspiring content, I would rather it be honest and from me.

Maybe it’s because I have managed professional newsletters in a corporate setting that the bar is set so high.

Not to mention, the newsletters from authors that I enjoy reading are a treat, full of timely updates and fun asides. Some of my favorites leave me hungry, and not just for their writing (looking at you, Gail Carriger and R.K. Ashwick).

After reading this, it’s clear that I need to remind myself not to compare myself to others and not to overthink it (too late!).

Does that mean I’ve just added “start sending out a newsletter even though I have little to say” to my list of author tasks this year?

So, yeah. Here’s a post. Maybe I will make a newsletter.