impending plans, and why I'm vague about them

Reading between the lines of what many publishers and agents say about indie authors' social media use, it's hard not to come away with the idea that those of us who aren't perpetually online in the correct ways are being a little judged. The rather scary alternative to tsk-tsking us would be to admit it's clear nobody can treat Meta platforms just as they did in 2019, expecting the same successes, so I don't take it personally.

The shape of my social media presence has much more to do with biological wiring and life circumstances than it does social commentary, anyway, although my uncle did say to me (over fifteen years ago) that if you're using something like Facebook or Twitter (RIP, Twitter) for free, you're the product. Kinda chilling.

To keep things short, my issue is: if I talk about doing something, my brain sort of decides that's that and tends to have trouble executing said thing. I can brainstorm, spitball, work with others, edit, revise, etc. It's the outward-facing and not very concrete act of posting that proves an issue. In other words, I can't excitedly post, "In 2026, I'm publishing a taboo, monster-fuck novel! Here's [x specific] and [y specific]! This is the number of words I wrote today!" and expect that novel to happen without duress.

I'm definitely oversimplifying.

And I don't have plans to write a monster-fuck novel.

More's the pity.

But I'm not capable of a social media strategy many authors are very capable of: repeatedly talking about their in-progress projects. Well, of course I am, in a sense? I can allude to. I can build interest. Yet, when it comes to classic post subjects, like daily word counts and accountability exercises... the pleasure is somehow found in having made that post rather than doing the thing the post is about.

NB, I'm not being derisive about tactics that others find useful and fun; I'm just saying they don't work for me. I love seeing and supporting people who want to find their grooves.

With all of that out of the way, and in the spirit of end-of-year discussions, here are some of my impending plans:

• Continuing to build a readership for Threads of Wyrd
• Continuing to build an ARC and/or street team of sorts
• Collaborating on a fragrance with BibliOddities
• Commissioning more fan-art because I don't draw or paint well enough (yet) to make my own and then want to share it
• Growing my newsletter (secondarily, my various socials' profiles)
• Mystery writing projects with my spouse
• Mystery writing projects with... myself

I'll add that I've experienced (alleged; I have to say alleged because people can get so nasty) plagiarism of my published nonfiction work twice, but that's a much smaller part of my thought process here. It's a risk, unfortunately.

If you want to help with any of the above, please get in touch! And in fact, if you're reading this, you already are helping x