Guest Post: The Process by Rob McShane

I am right in the middle of a process (yep, another one! Ain't life great?) This process goes directly to my writing or, more appropriately, how to get my writing out into the public domain so that people can read it....and buy it!

There is so much information available to help with this process that you would think this to be easy. Not so, well at least not for me! I have now read so many blogs and help pages that it all seems one large swirling mass of mist. Where do you start? What is all this branding business? How can I know before I start what will work? What do I want my on-line persona to be, or reflect? What words shall I use to build myself and my brand? What ideas do I use, what do I discard? Which social platforms shall I get involved with? How do I get involved? What message do I want to send? How do I want to send it? How much time do I have in a day? etc. etc. So many questions....and the more I look for answers, the more questions I come up with!

One of the best things I read during this process was along the lines of 'If you want to be a writer, write. If you're talking about what you write, how much, or that you are a writer, you're not!' I'm sorry I can't actually quote it, or tell you who wrote it as it is sitting somewhere in the plethora of docs in the 'First steps research' file!

Point being, it got me thinking hard (again!) about how much we can over think this process. So, I have decided to make it simple. I am going to stick to writing my books and maybe the odd short story (good practice to keep my writing concise!). I'm going to need a platform and, on the advice of Linzé and many others, a blog seems to be the way to go, so I'm going to set up a blog. Then I'll pick one social media platform and start to 'get the word out' there. 

The main idea is to start. As with my writing, I believe the next steps will naturally appear out of the mist. I now have the overall plan and as I move things will pop up, characters will appear, sub-plots will develop and the process (like my books) will almost take on a life of its own. Isn't that also just like real life?

How exciting!


Author Bio:

Following a full life as a classical musician, actor, nurse, midwife, salesman and marketer, Rob now spends his time writing and dealing with the challenges of Multiple Sclerosis (MS) and life. He has written many articles for various publications and web sites but now concentrates on his books. His first book, The MageStaff, a fantasy novel with a deeper message, is now available and he is busy with both a prequel and a sequel (on the request of his readers). He has plans for further novels once his fantasy series is complete.


Links:
The MageStaff is available at: http://www.smashwords.com/books/view/325170
or on kindle at: : http://www.amazon.com/The-MageStaff-ebook/dp/B00BF09MY4/ref=tmm_kin_title_0
Goodreads: http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/12903360-the-magestaff

Linzé's note: Rob is a member of the Pretoria Writers Group and the two of us had met at our favourite coffee shop, Cherry Berry Café in Centurion. I was writing, he was playing the piano in the shop and we got talking. And we haven't stopped since!