I know it’s only mid-August but I’m already looking forward to next month. Every September I deactivate my social media accounts for as long as I need to feel like myself again. This year feels more pressing since my algorithm is filled with other aspiring writers (comparison is real and definitely the thief of joy), literary agents, and suddenly bone-thin celebrities. Where did all of the book influencers from my feed go?!

There’s just too much noise for me at the moment.

Every day there’s an agent sharing helpful hints that another agent contradicts OR a writer losing a million dollar advance for suspicion of using AI OR an agent sharing that they received thousands of queries in a week. All of this makes me doubt myself, my dream, and makes me feel silly for still trying.

I understand that we’re in the information era and knowing what’s going on in the industry that you’re trying to break into is important but I’m overwhelmed. I’m unable to focus on what I should be consuming and I let it all consume me.

I’m craving quiet. I’m craving the uninterrupted time I need to get into the flow of writing my next novel. Like many of my fellow millennials, I’m craving the 90’s and early 2000’s with its VHS tapes, landlines, and privacy. I tell myself that if I don’t keep up with social media, I’ll be left behind, so I plug away as much as I can. Some days though I want to be left behind.

There must be writers out there who got their book deals without having social media, right?

Right?!

xo Vanessa