Social media workshop

I attended a social media workshop this morning and am looking forward to the notes that will follow. Much of it was over my head as at this stage I am not a TikTok user, nor do I really know how to use Instagram. There were some useful pointers though, that even without the knowledge of these two platforms, will be helpful. There was a recommendation that one sets a goal of how much time to devote to social media each month and then start planning and preparing content to make this a reality.

I had an interesting concept mirrored to me during this workshop when I stated that I was a shy person and not really comfortable being ‘out there’. ‘’Why?’’ was the facilitator’s question. I stumbled a feeble reply, only to be questioned once again. ’’But why?’’  I couldn’t really say ‘because I have had so many lives where I have been put to death because of my writing’, yet that is probably still the crux of the reason, even though it doesn’t cut the mustard in today’s world. I guess I am still worried about being judged, being considered evil for my views and ostracized like I was in those other lifetimes. I have come a long way from even a few years ago, yet obviously, I still have further to go. But when I tried to come up with a rational reason, there was none, none at all. I have written three books. Why on earth wouldn’t I want people to know about them? But the reality is, there is still judgement out there, particularly among Christians. I hadn’t told one of my family members about my books for this very reason. When he heard, he was hurt that I hadn’t shared them but agreed with me as to the reason why. He assured me he does not judge people, but in the same breath told me that he wouldn’t read them. I am guessing because, without reading them, he thinks they go against his Christian beliefs, exactly the reason I hide them away.

That kind of makes sense of my Spiritual books, but what about my children’s one? I am just as hesitant around this one. The first day I attended the local writer’s group, I bought my two completed books and the third I was working on, still in manuscript form. I received quite a bit of criticism from the poets in the group as this is a rhyming story and I lacked the long, short, or whatever it was, rhythm. I did make some changes, but stuck to the essence of it. However, my confidence in my work plummeted, and I have also kept this one relatively hidden away, even though I am delighted with the illustrations that my niece added to the story.

I can see I have more work to do on myself. Why the hell do I care what people think? If I want my work to be out there, then I, or at least my profile, has to be out there too. As simple as that.