Virtually IRL

by Bethany Maines

I laughed when I read AB Plum’s recent post about unhooking
from the virtual world.  It has been a
long time since I didn’t enhance my RL (real life) experience with some sort of
virtual interaction.  Photos on Facebook,
the occasional witty comment on twitter, blogs and websites, they are all part
of my life. Partially this is simply a function of my life and jobs.  As a graphic designer and a writer, social
networking is part of the must do list.
As a designer, it’s important that I be able to design ads for Facebook and
other social media platforms and understand how the platforms function.  As a writer, it’s important that I use those
platforms to reach an audience.

Which is not to say that I’m an expert.  As a designer, I get to create content and
simply walk away.  The writer half of me
definitely has it harder.  I have to remember
to post (you wouldn’t think this was hard, but…), to come up with valuable and
interesting content, and then not waste all of my writing time on marketing and
social media.  On the other hand, for the
last six months I’ve been swinging very much the other way.  I have not been doing a lot of marketing.  I have in fact been writing.  A lot. 
A ton.  Lots of tons.  So much so that I’ve planned out my releases
for 2018 and 2019. 

So, stay tuned for tons of updates later this summer.  Crime, sci-fi, a touch of fairy tales, and of
course more than a little bit of romance are heading your way.  And strangely, I can’t wait to start
marketing ALL of it.  If you want to get
in on early give-aways (print and digital!) and announcements, join my mailing
list at: bethanymaines.com/contact

***

Bethany Maines is the author of the Carrie
Mae Mysteries, Wild Waters, Tales
from the City of Destiny and An
Unseen Current.  You can also view the Carrie Mae youtube video
or catch up with her on Twitter and Facebook.