I signed up for the Storygarden Summit on a whim. I’d enjoyed Plottr’s writing craft book club on Story Genius so much I wanted to keep inside the writing sphere. I’m so glad I signed up!
I haven’t worked on my novels or books for over a year. Too many other things going on, and I was struggling to keep up with my monthly Psychology Today posts and failing on updating my Brain Injury website. No mental space for fiction!
Yet, my subconscious must’ve been pining to write novels again even while my conscious mind was let’s just deal with the day-to-day dreck and be consistent with Psychology Today — for I impulse paid for Plottr’s Story Genius writing craft series, joined Prolifiko’s Substack community, then signed up for the Storygarden Summit.
The Summit has been so jampacked that Tuesday and Wednesday’s sessions feel like forever go!
But I had thoughts on:
- What to do with novel one of my trilogy;
- A new idea of how to tie my novels together even though they’re standalone books;
- Seeing my concussion and grief books as a series for marketing purposes;
- Fresh marketing idea for Time and Space;
- A new mindset to marketing, or the beginning of one;
- New writer connections (it was so nice to hit it off with writers in Airmeet’s Lounge and receiving good ideas and feedback);
- What to do with the ebook of Brain Injury, Trauma, and Grief since trying to find one who can design an accessible ePub is killing me.
Most of all, for the first time, I heard two successful authors and marketers talk about burnout. For the first time, I heard people say that following do-all-these-things advice will burn you out. I felt validated. I’d burned out and thought it was just me.
Nope.
Many attendees had the same thoughts as me about marketing and several had burnout, too.
Validation meant I believed what the Summit speakers taught us about how to market. Like Bec and Chris who authored Written, they, too, espouse not following formulas but doing what aligns with who you are and what you want. That’s liberating because it means I can try again even though my lack of stamina nixes most methods.
I was also heartened to see there are marketing services now that can do what I cannot.
I have much to think about. I am nervous yet excited about my novels and brain injury books once again.
