Change is in the Air!
Every couple of years, I inventory my career as a whole – from the writing projects I’m working on, to the events I attend, to the marketing and promo side of the house. I ask myself if I’m focused on what’s most important to me or if it’s time to make some changes.
Over the course of my career, I’ve taken meaningful detours, like spending nearly a year working with a non-profit organization to profile kids with cancer. As a fiction writer, it was quite the departure, but I felt honored to have been part of such important work. For a few years, I also worked as the managing editor for the Inkitt Writer’s Blog. I loved supporting new writers, thinking about what advice and posts would be most helpful for them, and using the research to improve my own writing. But after a while, I realized I was spending a disproportionate number of hours on this work instead of on my own manuscripts.
Grad school has been another meaningful departure. Writers don’t necessarily need a fancy degree to become better writers. We mostly do this by writing more, reading more, workshopping our material, and writing even more. I wanted this degree certainly to up my game as a writer, but mostly so I’d have the ability to teach at the college level and beyond, and to hopefully become part of another writing community that would last beyond graduation. This program has been everything I could have hoped for and more, and I’ve written a ton of new content while here!
As I enter the final stretch of grad school, and think about the upcoming year and beyond, it’s time to shake things up a bit…
First, when I find myself struggling to write content for one of my blogs, it feels like a sign that the content or format is getting stale, so starting in September, I’ll be changing things around. I’m still working out the details and the rhythm, but I will likely move to a once per month newsletter type communication.
Second, I’ve written a lot over the last eighteen months, with several completed manuscripts to show for it, but I haven’t spent any time getting those stories into the world. Starting in January, when my grad school thesis draft is finished, I’m going to turn my attention to publishing and promoting my work again. I’ll be sure to share all my progress in the revamped blog!
I hope you’re enjoying the last few weeks of summer. If you have a question for me, or just want to send me a note, you can reach me at maggie@msmaggieclare.com. I’ll be in touch soon!
In other news…
If you’re a science fiction fan, I’ll be at Chicago Fan Expo August 15-17 signing books at booth AP26 and hosting a bunch of panels. While I won’t have any of the steamy stuff on hand, if you’re at the Expo, come say hello!
