Making the Sausage

A while back, I asked you to send in questions for me to answer. Here’s one I’ve received:

 Q: Most authors blogs are devoted to the topic of writing but you hardly ever talk about writing. Why is that?

A: Three reasons. First, I think seeing how the sausage is made takes the enjoyment out of consuming it. A good story should flow unobtrusively and leave an impression on the reader. Unless they themselves are aspiring writers, readers don’t want to know about the writer’s efforts in writing and marketing his or her work. They don’t want to hear about the editing and the proofreading, what the beta readers said, the book’s Amazon rank, or hassles with distributors and wholesalers. It’s not about the business side or even the creative process. Readers want to be entertained or informed.

Second, I think my blog would become quite boring if all I wrote about was writing in general or my writing in particular. Naturally, I want you to buy my books — that’s why have pictures of them with links to purchase them throughout my blog. But the attraction of my blog, in my opinion, is the diversity of topics. One day my blog may feature a bit of whimsy and the next it may delve into a serious topic of social concern. To paraphrase Forest Gump, my blog is like a box of chocolates: you never know what you’ll get.”

I’ve covered the pharmaceutical industry, environmental crises, the Trayvon Martin shooting, Internet law, political science, healthcare, mass shootings, education, privacy, the Ebola virus panic, the death penalty, racism, political correctness, and terrorism to name a few topics. But I’ve also written television and book reviews, and lighthearted fare. The past five years of my blog have been an incredible ride.

Last but not least, by writing on a variety of topics my posts show up in search engines under different keywords that bring searchers to my blog who otherwise would never have found it. Hopefully, once they land here, they’ll enjoy whatever article led them to the blog and be tempted to purchase some of my books. At least, that’s the theory.