The unabashed writer

Good morning, Self!

What is an unabashed writer? He or she is the person who is tireless in getting their name and the title of their work in front of as many people as possible. Some of them may be no better than mediocre writers, (like me), but have a knack for using all the avenues possible to get publicity of one sort or another. Despite their shortcomings as writers, they may end up successful after a fashion because of their own efforts.

Then there are the writers who have no idea how to publicize their work, but be very good at networking. With that, they can find, and use every means at their disposal to persuade an agent to take them on and work on publicizing their work; getting them publishing contracts, selling movie rights and etc. There is a sub-group of this sort who feel that they must be insulated from working on the 'details' because they "must be left alone to work on their art". It takes all kinds.

But there are also the poor guys and girls out there who are simply driven to write and have very little idea how to market their work. They may be shy, (like me), and back away from the "Hey! Look at me!" attitude. It doesn't mean they disdain the methods other people use to get attention brought to bear on their work; they just don't know how to do that and have been raised to be modest and respectful. Many times, such people are seen as not having 'social skills', but that isn't completely true.

I don't have any answers for the folks that can't or won't take those extra steps to get their work noticed. I'm in their shoes, too. What I am telling them is that they aren't alone. Like them, I may never amount to anything as a writer and may never see one of my titles on the New York Times Bestseller List, but I'll still write. Who knows? Maybe someone with power in the publishing or broadcast media industries will pick up one of my titles and find something good in it. If they contact me, I'll be tickled to death. Can you see me holding my breath?

Thank you,
Derek A. Murphy
Author of Taken Apart, Congruencies and others.
Available on Kindle