The craft of writing, the craft of sharing.

The panels I attended were not about the craft of writing, but about the craft of sharing.

Themes that emerged: how and where to participate; and what an author platform really is.

Participate and/or post in places where you feel psychologically safe. Don’t feel you have to go where you aren’t comfortable, because you won’t be able to be genuine. One panelist laughed at herself for using the word “genuininity.” Genuineness? Whatever it is, you need it in order to engage with your reader and writer community as your real self. This all dovetails with book coach Dan Blank’s instruction to share things you are excited to share, things you want your reader/listener to know about your work and about you. And of course, asking questions and welcoming audience responses can create a productive conversation.

Panelists agreed easily on how they see their “author platform”(s). They all indicate that you want to build a “community” of people who support each other — not so much a “platform” on which (metaphorically) you’re standing with a megaphone. And of course, it’s never too early to start, and you start with what feels safest. This platform or community building happened for many panelists over a long period of time, involving lots of in-person activity as well as online. People participated where they saw a need for what they had to offer. One very safe and positive thing anyone can do right away is to boost and support the work of other writers and artists.

For me, “safe places” to share my work and my ideas, in order of how comfortable I feel from most comfortable to less so, are:  

• Face-to-face conversations with friends or acquaintances; 
• Among online friends in the Motherless Daughters community Facebook group and group Zoom calls; 
• On my blog, which is public; 
• On my own Facebook page with Friends as the audience; 
• At in-person public readings, which are small (need to line up some for this year); 
• In comment threads on others’ blogs and Substacks, after I see for some time that the host author is a welcoming person;
• On my own Facebook page with Public as the audience; and 
• On my Instagram, which is public but so far mostly followed by friends and acquaintances.

I’ll end this post by boosting the work of a writer I met, Joseph G. Sissón. His memoir, Down the Road a Piece, is about the first time his parents took him from their San Diego home to meet his deep-south relatives. This was when he was thirteen, in the late 1950s, early-ish in the Civil Rights era.

Mr. Sissón gives readings and talks all over this region and elsewhere. I met him when I was relaxing at a table downstairs near the book fair. He greeted me and offered his card and took mine. We talked about his book, and later we rode transit together. I got to hear about his life mentoring three younger people who became almost like his own kids. “They adopted me and my wife,” he said. They’re all adults now. He read me an emotion-filled poem about how much he and his mentee/son love each other.

I’m looking forward to reading his book. Here’s the pic he allowed me to take on the train.