In a social-media-driven publishing world, I’m learning to turn back toward what still feels real: books, readers, and in-person connection.
Picture it: your dream author career. You wake with the sun. You take a walk, then drink your coffee. You stretch your body, practicing yoga in the morning as lo-fi music plays in the house while a spring breeze flows through the window. You make your way to your office, check your email, send a few replies, then pull out your planner and tracking sheet. You put your fingers to the keyboard and create. Little worlds expand under your touch. They cry out, take to the page.
I could keep going with this image, but I won’t. It’s already getting a bit depressing.
The reality is this—you wake up, check your TikTok, check your trial reels, check your YouTube shorts, check Pinterest, check Facebook, check Threads, and get sick with the drama and ragebaiting. All before the day job that drains you of every bit of creativity you have.
At lunch, between bites of food, you post more content, content, content, content. When you get home from said day job, sweaty, drained, and tired, you do the dishes and move a load of laundry over. Sweep the floor, vacuum the living room, clean the toilets.
Eventually you make it to your office to write, but those damn notifications call, and if you’re not present on social—if you’re not interacting—the algorithm will leave you dead. You have to tend to your little digital community, or else who will read your words?
I can’t keep going on that one either, because it’s depressing in its own way.
Is this the life of an author now? I published my first poetry collection in 2015—my first novel in 2016. My career was fueled by Instagram posts that were shown in order. There were no stories, no reels, no music. It was photos and your words. Your own words from your human brain to promote those stories you spent sleepless nights bringing to life. It was imperfect, but real, and honestly, a writer publishing a decade before me would lament having to share to a photo-sharing app to get your book out there anyway. Everything changes, everything evolves, though not always for the better.
And the truth is, the magic is gone. For me, anyway. I don’t think I can have one more heart-to-heart with a writer friend about the next big thing that is going to help us in our author career. We are tired. We are bone-deep tired in a way we cannot fully wake from. I hate it. And one thing I know is that I am not meant to hate this beautiful and challenging calling.
Last night I got back to revising book two in my gothic horror romance series Ozark Omens. After taking some time away to work on a proposal for another project and then dealing with exhaustion for a month, it was time. And the beautiful thing is things are falling into place with the story. Sometimes a book needs time to breathe. It needs space. But in our fast-track publishing world, there isn’t time to let creativity take its time.
Maybe what I am finally learning from all of this is that this world is not meant for me. Not in the way it is for others. I am 43, and I am so very tired. Perhaps it’s perimenopause. Perhaps it’s our fast-track, social media-obsessed world. Perhaps it’s the summer heat. Perhaps it’s all of it, but I can’t keep doing this.
There is a silver lining, though. I think I know what I can do—focus on book signings—places and moments that offer genuine connection and fulfillment. Something that social media can’t replace.
There is no rush, and beauty like the feeling of doing an in-person book signing. This weekend I am traveling to Hermann, Missouri, for a two-day event. (I drafted this article before the event, which was this past weekend. Stay tuned for an article about my time there, which confirms I am on the right path regarding where my energy is best spent.)
I started my author career doing big signings. I am very blessed to have shared space with big names in the publishing world. And though I do love those events and plan to keep doing them (though only with trusted names, as I have been burned by people before), I plan to lean into local in-person events (local as in Missouri).
Because that feeling I get around readers and other authors is unlike anything else. It is truly a magic all its own.
—Jen
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