Blogging

As an author, it never occurred to me before why I created a blog. As I sit here at my desk working on several stories at once, yeah my mind is that busy, I glanced at my favorites bar and saw my blog. At first it was because, well I was following the crowd. But then there was the daily tasks of keeping up with an added item on my long list of items I already needed to keep track of. In the beginning, this is very hard, as any author will tell you. Many have schedules to keep themselves on track, a progression board, an outline for all their stories and I can honestly say, I am not so organized. I should be and at some point if I want to make this my main source of income, I REALLY need to work harder at it.
No I am not writing this for sympathy.
No I am not writing this to get attention.
No I am not writing this to bash anyone else in the industry.
I applaud all who work tirelessly to get their name out to the masses in any way they can. I even look up to them. Not the best sellers. But many whom I knew through social media and now are on their way to reaching a NY best sellers list or even USA Today.
I know there are no handouts in writing.
I know there are no shortcuts to success.
And yet, most times I don't have the will or the energy to do all social media, a blog, online web store, hiring someone to make a video, paying someone to post, asking others to review my work and then sit down to write. Some days I don't feel like writing.
Sorry, was working on my other stories. Where was I going with this.....Oh yeah.
Reviews are the hardest to get. Amazon gives you a boost when you get a certain number of reviews, but again, they are hard to come by.
You hand out book after book and wait patiently for the eager reader to finish the story and post their thoughts. Beta readers are also hard to come by. Of course everyone under the sun will apply for a free book, who wouldn't? I cant even begin to tell you the number of free books I have on my kindle I haven't even begun to glimpse at, but its the beta readers who actually do what they say and read the work giving you the feedback you need. Feed back is the fuel authors need to let us know if a book we've written gives off the right vibes. An author doesn't want people to read a scene and laugh when they are supposed to be crying. Unless its a scene they are supposed to be laughing so hard they end up crying.
 Don't get me wrong, I do my hustle locally and I spend a long time in the post office. I have enough stories to keep me going and if I run out of the ideas I already have mapped out, then reading a few books will give me more.
When the mood to write hits me, its pretty much a busy day for me. I get up from the chair every few hours to stretch but then I'm on my phone emailing myself any other ideas I may have about the story. I can type for 18 hours, or 3 and call it a day. It all on how the Muses feel.
All in all, I enjoy the ups and downs of being a writer. I enjoy the occasional interaction, and the momentary distraction of social media. I don't mind helping others in their beginning steps of publishing their work. I know what it was like to not know as much as I do now.
If I had a chance to do it all over again, of course I would do it differently, or would I?