On not plugging books

When I started this blog, I was bewitched by the idea that every writer has to have an “author platform”, and that therein (thereon? Must be “on” if it’s a platform) lies the only path to selling books. ‘And don’t ever mention politics on your author page,’ I was warned.

I’m sure an author blog is a great idea if you’re one of the writers who’s good at blogging about themselves, and their books, and their astounding successes. I’m not. That probably explains why I spend hours a day (literally) communicating on Facebook (about politics, 99% of the time) and only post here every few months.

So to hell with “author platforms”. This one hasn’t seen a train go through in years, so no point in waiting for one.

I aim to post about anything and everything from now on, and have set myself a target of AT LEAST one post a week.

When I have a new book out, I’ll mention it once (because I am a writer, after all), but apart from that it’ll be random anecdotes, memories, stuff about cats & dogs & gardens – oh, and probably a bit of politics after all, because as well as being a writer I’m a political animal. A very political animal. And the antics of most of the creatures we pay to represent us (ha!) in Parliament makes me angry most days. Very, very angry.

In fact, just about the only thing that makes me angrier at the moment is having succumbed to buying a couple of the current crop of magazines that are trying to cash in on fashionable ideas of ‘Mindfulness’. I’m very annoyed at myself, because they are (in my view) mind-numbing, faux-positive-thinking, EXPENSIVE crap. Very fertile territory for my friend Frank who does an excellent line in repurposing particularly naff quotes from Rumi that appear on Facebook.

Later this week, I mean to post about the low-lifes who pinched stuff from my mother’s house after she died.

See ya!