Spread Too Thin

Have you ever had one of those weeks where you’ve felt like you were spinning your wheels and getting nowhere fast? As a writer, it gets very frustrating! I had one of those weeks and had to take a few self-care days due to the migraine that resulted from the stress of it all.

Then an email popped into my inbox inviting me to a free webinar put on by an author that I like and respect. I registered immediately. The next day, with pen and paper at the ready, I logged into the live webinar and it was one of those kairos moments. Have you ever had those?

Kairos is a Greek word that refers to a “right, critical or opportune moment,” according to Webster’s. In the Greek, it also means “a time for action.” I wasn’t aware that I needed to take action. Where and exactly what kind of action? As the speaker shared his wisdom, it leapt out at me as if it were glowing in neon lights.

I was spread too thin.

I felt like a layer of cream cheese scraped across too many crackers. No wonder I was spinning my wheels. No wonder I had a migraine. I took a deep breath for the first time in days and let it out, slowly. This speaker was making so much sense and killing a sacred cow all at the same time.

Sacred cows are those things you guard as set in stone. This one dealt with a specific business practice in the writing industry. It’s part of what every author has to do for marketing and to increase visibility. So many coaches and mentors have said it across so many different streams of teaching, but what if it isn’t true?

Writers need time to write, time to create, and time to be. Creating posts for five or more social media sites can be exhausting! Especially when you do not have the aptitude or gifting for such things. It becomes a laborious chore to tick off your list and that was true for me.

The speaker gave me permission to STOP, take time to refocus, and realign to who I am as an author and a writer. When Facebook, Messenger, Instagram and WhatsApp crashed, how fragile social media can be. What now? How do I communicate with my friends and followers?

Then it dawned on me – I needed to fix my MailChimp link and build my list of followers on my website. That was outside of all social media. I scribbled a furious few notes as the speaker continued on with his topic. A few minutes later he asked us which of the social media sites were our passion. I had to ponder that one. Then he said to focus on that one site and be very present there and let some of the others go.

Go? As in delete accounts? He didn’t elaborate on that point, but my head was spinning as the webinar wrapped up. The next day, I got to work on my website email list and got the broken link fixed and everything working. I determined that I would write a blog a week to start and see how that went. My author page on Facebook will stay as it’s tied to two writer’s groups that I run. The main social media platform I chose to focus on was Twitter.

Yes, I deleted all my other accounts. I thought it would be traumatic, but it was the exact opposite. As I deleted the final one, the sense of utter relief and freedom was almost overwhelming. I hadn’t realized how much keeping up with posts across all the different sites had weighed me down.

And this blog is the first step in this re-focusing process. It’s an experiment, but one that feels right. If you feel like I did, then please consider joining me. There isn’t a lot to lose, but there’s so many things to gain and I am only beginning to discover what some of those things are.