Dear Author: Come out, come out where ever you are...

Okay, okay... so I'm a bad blogger. It's not by choice. And yeah, I've been dutifully flogged by the guilt machine that is other bloggers and industry experts who discuss social media with us introverted writers...  (Reader beware, I'm feeling a rant coming on...)

So yeah, I get it. I'm a bad blogger, tweeter, and facebooker. I don't come online and blog on a daily basis. Or weekly. Bi monthly. Or whatever. Do you want to know why? No. Of course you don't. Well, it sucks to be you, because you're gonna hear it. The social media experts tell us introverts who struggle with what to blog about to write about what interests you (for me that's writing), but for you writers, please don't write another blog that's about... writing. WTF? I'm interested in writing, but I can't write about writing? 

*see me smote my forehead* You've got to be frickin' kidding me. I'm paying you to help me figure this out--you're not paying me. I'm doing this because I'm concerned about your online presence. Yeah, yeah, I know. I read your blog. I listened to your spiel. You're concerned about me and my welfare, blah,blah, blah. Okay, fine, I'll play along, but answer me this...

If I'm "forbidden from being yet another writer writing about writing" what the heck do you expect me to talk about? 

Anything else. 

Um, yeah, right. I've got tons of anything else going on in my life right now.  

Write about your interests. Whatever you're working on. 

I'm working on a new book. 

Tell us about your new book. 

Yeah, I'm not ready to do that yet. 

Why not? 

Because I don't like talking about projects with readers until the project are in the final stages of editing. It's an expectations thing. I don't want to set them up for one thing, then have a last minute change that alters that expectation.

*see social media expert getting frustrated with me* Don't you have a hobby? 

I'm a single mother who's busting her butt to get into school (grad school), has a household to take care of, and books to write. Do I look like I have time for another hobby besides writing? 

Ugh. Do you have any other interests? 

Yes. I like history. Ancient history. Napoleonic history. Military history. And apparently life coaching. 

Life coaching? That sounds promising. What do you do with that? 

I use life coaching techniques to help my characters (and people in my life) work through emotional issues to complete goals and make lasting change in their life that sets them on their own path toward a higher good.

That sounds interesting. 

But it has to do with writing and you just told me that a writer writing about writing is off limits... hey, don't give that look. It was your statement, not mine.

*growl* You are annoying. 

I prefer tenacious and the reason anal is in analytical thinking. But go on. Ask the next question. You know you want to. 

*eye roll* Tell me about your interest in history.

Oh wow, I'm soooooo glad you asked. I use it for world building and character development for stories. 

*see social media expert smote her forehead* Does everything you do translate back to writing?

*see me smirking* Cognito; ergo scribo. (I think; therefore I write.) Every day in this life, every bit of data I read, every show I watch, every experience I experience in this life gets stored in my writer's vault and is fair game for the development of stories from my demented imagination. So to answer your questions... YES.

And now you know why I haven't been online to blog as frequently as I might have been. Because I'd received some friendly "advice" that I should refrain from blogging about what interests me.  And now that I've nudged that monkey off my back, here's something to ponder...

Why do social media experts suggest writers not start another blog about writing? No, seriously. I want to know. I mean do social media experts to other professions or industries suggest that the folks in that field refrain from talking about what they're passionate about? I mean are auto mechanics not suppose to tweet about cars or new tools? Are health insurance folks not supposed to blog or tweet about Obamacare, because we can't stomach another blog about that subject? Are accountants not to blog or tweet about changes to tax code, because as a society we just don't want to see another blog about accounting? 

What do social media experts expect from us writers? To blog about our personal lives and open ourselves up like an open book for the world to see? (That's sooo not gonna happen.) Look, I'm not trying to be difficult, but the experts send out mixed messages. Do I have to listen to them? No. But I like to make informed decisions and I respect what they have provided to the social media industry.  So to my fellow authors, I ask you... what do you blog about? Do you deny your passion for writing to adhere to the "please don't give us another blog about writing"? Or did you say screw it, I'm gonna write about whatever the heck I wanna write about?