Blogging

Now I understand the point of blogging, which is to give people a taste of what’s on your mind, good or bad, something random or significant though of interest, but for a new writer it’s another avenue to express yourself and possibly gain a following. And in the world of an author gaining a following is what it’s all about because if people like what you say or you can intrigue them with a character or storyline, then they may purchase your novel. But the question still remains of how to get people to find your blog in the first place. I guess it could be a matter of time, but I have to believe (or maybe want to believe) it’s more than that.

I hear from fellow bloggers they get 30 to 100 hits a day and I’m like wow. I get a few a week. Still I have to tell myself its better than none. Maybe because these people have more to say than I do, which could definitely be the case. I’m kind of a recluse, a thinker who sits in the dark and contemplates a world or a storyline or a character within my next novel. I don’t feel the need to spit out randomness on a whim hoping to intrigue, not that I could. My thoughts take time to form and have to be relevant (at least to me).  This is why I only put a post once a week here. Yet even then I wonder if any of it is all that astounding.

Nor do I have the time to blog-hop regularly. I hear this is the way to get your opinion seen and if people agree with what you say or you stir controversy then they may come to see what’s on your blog. Maybe I should dedicate more time to this but right now I find my time taken up in another endeavor, writing.

I’m putting serious time into writing a new book. It’s an arduous process because I’m not a fast typist. It’s made even slower because I’m not a fast thinker either. I’m trying to plot out the story logically so it meets up with the character from my book Jeremiah Stone. Therefore I know the ending and had the beginning in mind when I started, but now I’m working on connecting those two dots. Also it feels like I’m moving at a snail’s pace now because I’m having two people critique the opening chapter very carefully so I’m going back and edit portions regularly.

It’s because of this, however, that my time for blogging or blog-hopping has diminished. And seeing as writing is my passion and not my day-to-day job (yet), I do have other obligations if I want to keep bringing home a paycheck. So I am torn.

One other thing, I’m also working on the re-write of the first book in my series of nine, Mage of Chaos. It’s taken some time, but I believe it’s gotten better though I’m still waiting on feedback from it. Here’s an excerpt (unedited):

Countess Elaina watched the proceeding of the test through the minds of the instructors, her mental link to them cemented years earlier. She wasn’t surprised Jaik had survived, though she was disappointed the young man had taken so long to find an escape. The boy’s father could’ve done it in the blink of an eye while sealing the fate of all the instructors in another. And there was no telling what the mother of Jaik could’ve been capable of had she lived long enough to demonstrate her power. Countess Elaina, however, wondered why Jaik didn’t demonstrate either of their prowess for magic. Maybe it because of his age, she thought, known maturity level did have an influence on the creation and stability of magic.

Nevertheless, she still expected more from the child as Jaik was attended to within the stone chamber and given a healing ward. Thankfully, Jaik never realized her presence during the test because it might have affected the results. After all, there was no telling how emotions would temper magic at his age.

“He did well,” one of the instructors commented as they all watched Jaik be dragged from the room.

“Sloppy,” Countess Elaina stated coldly quelling the instructor, her elegance belying her bitterness. “I expected better considering his parents.”

“Who were they?” a different instructor asked innocently only to find himself writhing on the floor a heartbeat later, screams a hairs breadth away from filling the room if only the man could’ve caught his breath against the pain.

“If you were meant to know then you would know,” the countess said as she drank in the pain she inflicted on the instructor like a drug. “Test the others,” she commanded while ignoring the elder mage who spasmodically danced across the floor in agony. “And don’t be so lenient. This is nothing like the testing in Overlook,” she added scornfully, “where they have real mages.” Then she glanced down at the mage who was in his final twitches of life. “All of you need to remember your place,” she said before turning to leave out the heavy iron door as the mage finally stilled in death. “You’re a tool, my tool.”

Her exit was met with a sigh of relief from everyone present except for the dead mage on the floor who involuntarily emptied his bowels. Countess Elaina, however, couldn’t care less as her thoughts returned to the event seven years earlier. It was the event which put Jake under her care. It was tragic, even more so because Jaik would never forgive her or any of the others their actions, though he was too young to remember any of it clearly. All he remembered was his hate which was the same thing she remembered when her love was first taken away from her. Back then her bitterness bred revenge, the same sentiment which darkened the soul of Jaik.

And to think the boy was once the only bright spot in a life she hated. Now she wondered whose hate was more engrained, a young boy’s or an aged woman’s. Unfortunately with Jaik surviving today’s test, it wouldn’t be much longer before he became just another tool for her to use. It was a shame his talents would be wasted, but then she couldn’t just let a boy of his power out of her control because there was no telling the destruction Jaik could bring against her and the others. And she dared not tempt fate again, though the possibility of Jaik’s future was the only reason why she attended the test today.