A Quick Sidestep

Back in my junior college days, Phys Ed was not my thing, so having the chance to take a movement class that didn't involve profuse sweat, sports bras, or showering in public was appealing. That's how I wound up in Social Dance learning the foxtrot.

Photo by Tim Gouw via Unsplash

The foxtrot involves two slow steps forward and two quicksteps to the side. The pattern keeps replaying in my mind, two steps forward and quick-quick sidestep. I'm well acquainted with the sidestep, the deviation from the plotted course.

My entire fall is a deviation from my writing goals. A whole new group of little people have just entered my life. They will take all my time and attention for a minute. Or a month or two. And then I can have a life outside of my classroom.

It's not the first time I've had to take a quick sidestep this year. I've been active on social media since 2014 when my first book came out. For a year or two, I posted to Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram several times a week and posted fresh content here on my website at least once a week. With managing my book release. launch, monthly author events, and working full-time for most of the year, my Queen of Social Media tiara slipped a little. It's been a year of creating connections and meeting new readers. My focus has been on traditional marketing far more than on online marketing, and though it probably doesn't make a difference to my Amazon ranking, I'm happy with those results.

Writing time is writing time. It's sacred. Blogging or posting on social media is time stolen from finishing my novel. And that first draft is so close to being done! It's the Writer Paradox: successful writers need to connect with readers, in person and online, but the best way to be a successful writer is to keep writing.

Photo by Alvin Mahmudov via Unsplash

That's why I'm pleased to announce that I'm taking my first creative writing class since high school. The only education I received on crafting novels came from reading a ton of Young Adult novels. It will take a healthy chunk of writing, blogging, and social media time, but it should help me more more forward as a writer, even if it's in a different direction than I might have planned.

Forward momentum is forward momentum, even if it isn't precisely where you thought you were going. For a little more inspiration, let's muse on this quote by Ginger Rogers: 

I do everything the man does, only backwards and in high heels!

In the next few weeks I'll be doing author events, Parent Teacher Conferences, Comic Con, a Novel Writing class, and finishing my Rumpelstiltskin rewrite. And much of that will be in really cute shoes.

Don't worry, I've got this.