IWSG 2024 Post #1: Positively Positive

                                   

Did you hear about the author who got her book contract yanked after she was accused of trolling fellow authors with horrible reviews from multiple fake accounts? If you haven't, you can read about the story here. 

If the allegations are true, I have just one question to add to the debate...who in the hell has the time to be so mean? One of the reasons I've never adopted a pen name is because I rarely have enough time to be me, much less be me and a fake me. That would just be two personas. To review-bomb, you'd need multiple accounts. Imagine how much effort it took to make all those phony accounts? You'd need multiple usernames, passwords...and you'd have to write all of those fake, horrible reviews. 

That took some time and energy, if it's true!

Now, imagine if she'd have spent that same amount of time and energy on her next story, her marketing, or some positive networking...what could she have accomplished?! 

Instead she sucked on the sour grapes of insecurity and envy and lost her agent and her publisher. 

But here's the thing...

Writers are dreamers of big dreams. And sometimes those dreams feel impossible and so far out of reach that other people's success can feel like our own failure. Insecurity raises its nasty little head and starts to whisper that we aren't good enough, talented enough to do it on our own...that for us to succeed, others must fail.  

But those are lies. Ignore them and think on these:

1. More than one writer can succeed at a time. They're called best seller LISTS, plural, for a reason. 

2. Helping a fellow writer creates good karma, not competitors. 

3. Building YOUR writing career is a more productive than wasting time trying to destroy (or complaining about) someone else's. 

4. Newton's law of the conservation of energy says the total energy in an isolated system remains constant over time. It's been a LONG time since I took physics, but I think that means your energy is finite. If you waste it all on negative thinking, you'll have less energy to be productive. 

5. Even if  I read Newton all wrong, I still contend that being negative sucks, so stop it. 

I know you all agree with me. You're part of the IWSG—a group that has helping each other at the very core of its beliefs. But if that monster of insecurity begins to nibble at your brain, feel free to say...

This post was brought to you by the letters, I, W, S, and G! A monthly blog hop where writers share their worries, concerns, and insecurities.

If you're tired of going it alone, feel free to join us! Sign up HERE. 

Thanks to this month's awesome co-hosts: 

         Joylene Nowell Butler, Olga Godim, Diedre Knight, and Natalie Aguirre!

Now for The Question....

Do you follow back your readers on BookBub or do you only follow back other authors?
I've only followed authors. I didn't even know following readers was a thing...

Speaking of authors I follow....

C. Lee McKenzie! Lee is a wonderful writer and her books are always full of heart and angst. She has a new book out. I've already bought it and moved it to the top of my to-read list. 

What the book called Rattlesnake is about: 

The desert town of Rattlesnake isn’t a destination. It’s a last resort. Seventeen-year-old Jonah Guthrie’s aunt sold their home in New England and fled to this place to escape the humiliation of his dad’s indictment for embezzlement and subsequent disappearance. 

While their late uncle left them a house and a silver mine, the house is a shambles and the mine is defunct. They’re almost out of money, so they have no choice but to stay in Rattlesnake. And then Jonah discovers they’ve inherited something else. Her name is Catherine, and she’s been dead for over a hundred year. Now, she needs his help.

Excerpt:

For a moment, the sun balanced on the tip of the tallest peak, then slipped behind the mountains, turning them black against the sky. They were out of options all except for going back to Old Cemetery Road and dealing with the property. From somewhere far out in the desert came the loneliest sound Jonah had ever heard. That high-pitched yowl caught him at the center of his stomach. Suddenly, he felt eyes on him from every direction, and the shadows grew teeth.

Trailer for Rattlesnake

You can mark as Want To Read on Goodreads today.

Rattlesnake is now available to buy.

 Amazon . Smashwords . Kobo . Barnes & NobelConnect with

Connect with C. Lee McKenzie @ Substack . Goodreads . Facebook . Instagram . YouTube . LinkedIn