Celebrate the Small Things is a weekly celebration created by VikLit and now hosted by Lexa Cain to celebrate the happenings of the week, however small or large. You can learn all about it and sign up for it here. 
Today, I’m celebrating CTST’s own Elizabeth Seckman! She’s here to share how NOT to take care of your fans and followers. Here she is —
Thanks Lori for having me over!
Swept Away is my 6th book. I imagined by book 6 that a limo would arrive to take me to the magical promo-specialist fairy prepared launch.
Sadly, that’s not the case.
It’s still me—juggling the writing and the business end.
And that’s okay.
Now.
It wasn’t okay last year. 
Last year, I was a magic-seeking burn out. I forgot all the lessons successful writers before me shared—this is a tough business…with a glut of talented competition.
It is a marathon…not a sprint.
If you try to achieve at sprinter speed, you’ll surely wear out.
I knew this. Wise people warned me, but still…
I wanted what they all had, yesterday. Not tomorrow. Not today.
That frustration and mule-headedness lost me a slow-building momentum.
All the smart things I needed to be doing to maintain fan contact were ignored. Simple things like regular blog posts, Facebook interaction, Tweets…hell, I wasn’t even putting out my monthly newsletter.
I was too busy obsessing over the number of trees that I forgot the beauty of the forest.
So, here is my advice, which I will take myself.
There are only so many hours in a day. You are a writer. Therefore, if you have a book that needs to be written, the words come first. There is nothing to market if you have no product. So, while the book is in the works…get off Facebook.
But not forever.
Just until you hit your word count. I shoot for 500 words a day, M-F. When I hit my target, I am done. Then I have time for being sociable online. And I can online chat from my phone, so if I get a minute here and there, I do a social check-in.
Do the newsletter. These people, the ones who have signed up to hear from you, are your core group. They willingly signed up to get spammed…by you! Come on, we’re writers—come up with something interesting and share it once a month.
That’s the least we must do. We must maintain some contact, because unless we are writing block-buster magic, readers will be offended when our only contact is when we want to sell something.
Treat your readers well. It’s not their job to make our dreams come true, but our job to engage them.
He came looking for a ghost. Instead, he found a girl.
Tucker Boone is a war-hardened Marine on a ghost hunt. Fresh out of the corps, Tucker learns he has a missing half-sister, Maddy. The only clue to her whereabouts is a cryptic note…I’ve gone Mad, Mags. Tucker agrees to search for her and heads to Ocracoke, North Carolina where a ghost named Mad Mags is said to haunt the ancient graveyards dotting the island.
The note doesn’t bring him any closer to finding Maddy, but it does offer him a diversion to the doldrums of civilian life— his new island neighbor, Josie McCoy. Tucker is drawn to her quiet spirit. There’s something special about Josie…a connection he can’t quite explain.
By summer’s end, he’s mixed up in deception, murder, and the love of a lifetime. Logic tells him to head home and forget the truths he found on the island. But can he walk away? Josie offers him more than love; she offers him hope. When the clues pile up and it looks like she can never be the girl for him, he has to make a choice—play it safe and break her heart, or risk everything for a chance at being swept away.
Elizabeth is a multi-published author and family laundry wench. She is the mother of four boys, who are quickly all becoming men! Her life is filled with stinky size-twelve shoes and beard clippings in the sink. Is it any wonder she enjoys days spent writing women’s fiction of stories of romance and happily ever after?
Writing, Reading, and the Pursuit of Dreams 
I can really relate to this. I was feeling the same way last year and at the start of this year – totally burned out. I’ve finally come out of that and am enjoying writing again. Thanks for the social media suggestions, still working on getting fully back on that horse.
Huge congratulations on your new book, Elizabeth!! #6 – wow!
Hi, Lor! 🙂
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I think by trying to do everything, we just wear ourselves out. I’ve modified my blog schedule to only posting once a week, besides for the IWSG. And I do social media when I can. I feel much better balanced and far less stressed.
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Hi Julie! I can relate to it, too. A marathon is exactly what it is.
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Thanks for having me over, Lori! It was good to finally admit- I can’t do it all and stay sane.
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You’re welcome, Elizabeth! I’m glad I’m not the only one who feels that way.
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Well said, Elizabeth! I’ve seen so many authors all gung-ho with their blogs and stuff until not long after the book’s release – then they fizzle, sometimes completely. If you see them again, it’s often just because they have another book. And appearing online just to promote a book doesn’t look good.
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Exactly, Alex. I don’t want to fall into that trap, but I don’t want to burn out, either. It’s a difficult balance.
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I truly hate it when authors do that. As a reader, it is my biggest pet peeve. I’m hardly the poster gal for online presence, but I hope I never treat readers like they are simply numbers.
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I need to do a newsletter. I have a sign up for one, but I keep forgetting to actually do it. *sadface*
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You’re still farther ahead than me. I don’t even have a sign up.
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I’m guilty of it too. I think my biggest hang up is that I want it to be something good, something worth opening an email for. That’s a lot of pressure!
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Great tips on avoiding burnout! I finally started a newsletter but it’s on a every-one-or-two months loose schedule. I don’t have any real “news” lately so I’m holding off a little bit longer until June. . . . when I still might not have a lot of news. Hmm.
Ah well.
500 words a day is good!
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I keep saying to myself I’m going to do a newsletter, but I haven’t done it yet. Procrastination at its finest.
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I think for months when I have no news, I should find something what would be of interest to my target audience. Christine Rains will post book sales for other writers and M Pax posts sci fi tidbits. We could just steal ideas from them 😉
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Fantastic post, Elizabeth… can’t agree more on getting so caught up in speed that we forget to enjoy why we got into writing in the first place.
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That’s so true.
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And when we forget that, we burn out. And burn out is never good!
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Your book sounds as sweet as it does suspenseful! And I love the cover! I totally hear you on writerly frustration. There aren’t enough hours in the day, and sadly, I’m not as disciplined as you. I can’t write if there are too many things going on. But thanks for the tips – I loved your post. You’re always so funny! 🙂
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There aren’t enough hours in the day — boy, do I agree with that!
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I wish I was disciplined! I have ideas and plans that if I stuck with them would help. Like today, the PLAN was to blog for an hour, instead, my husband called and I was booking summer hotels for vacation.
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“Treat your readers well. It’s not their job to make our dreams come true, but our job to engage them.” I love this! It should be made into a poster to remind us of our true goal 🙂 Loved the post. Thanks so much for sharing. Congratulations Elizabeth.
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Thanks for stopping by, Nicola!
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I should make it a poster…do you think I could sell it? LOL.
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Lori, I loved Elizabeth’s advice! Now, I don’t have a lot of problem with the socializing part, even though I consider myself a WIP with lots of room for improvement, but considering how far I’ve come since 2010 when I first started blogging then I celebrate my accomplishments thus far. Elizabeth’s goal of writing 500 words per day sounds like sound advice and easily attainable without being too buried in your writing that you lose sight of others things. This is something I learn to do and make work for me or the idea of this in whatever direction I wish to pursue. Thanks for sharing this in your celebration post. Have a funtastic weekend!
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Thanks, Cathy! Wow, congrats on all those years of blogging!
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Thanks Cathy! We need an app on our computers that sends an alarm that alerts the writing fairies to bring us chocolate- we hit our 500 word goal. I think that would be great.
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Very wise words. It’s always so hard to keep perspectives when we have so many expectations of ourselves, but like you said, little bits at a time adds up to a lot in the long term.
But only if you approach your career with a long-term strategy.
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Thinking long-term is something I need to work on.
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And we accomplish more than we realize. We must pause every now and then and give ourselves credit.
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Excellent advice! Marketing wears me down as well, but it’s necessary. And I always remember that every reader is precious. 🙂
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Well said! I so agree.
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Those readers are worth their weight in gold…dipped in chocolate.
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