LADIES' KILLING THURSDAYS

A Failed Communicator

It may not be too late but at the moment I have to stand up and confess that my name is Joan and I’m a failed communicator.

It’s not that I don’t want to be a communicator. Well, that’s not absolutely true. I want to have done all the things that a communicator does but I don’t want to take the time to do them. According to the experts what do communicators have to do?

Apparently the first step is to actively engage in facebook activities. I do have a facebook page and I know that if I want people to know who I am and rush online or to the bookstores to buy my books I have to go on line and interact, make friends, comment on other peoples’ messages - do all those things and do them OFTEN. Sigh. I don’t check in for weeks, maybe even months. I mean to do it but somehow I end up walking the dogs, writing, painting, swimming, vegging out - you get the picture.

Another step on the road to good communication is to use twitter. I do have a twitter account. And I’ve read how many people you should be following and asking to follow you. I know how good this would be for my sales, how pleased my publisher would be and I mean to do it, really I do. I like the challenge of the reduced number of words. Well, I like it in the abstract. In reality it’s quite some time since I’ve twittered.

Of course there’s the old standby - the web site. I do have a web site. A professional designed it and updates it when and if I ask him. It’s been a while - enough said.

Then there are blogs. I contribute to and read this blog and have written as a guest on others but generally speaking I don’t read blogs. I used to. I made a list of relevant ones devoted to writing and began reading them religiously. But like a lapsed church attendee the more I failed to read the less often it occurred to me to read. And now I seldom read any but this one and Dorothy L. I should wade in and comment on various controversies but I don’t.

Away from the internet and face to face with possible readers I should be broadcasting the snazzy business cards I ordered a while ago. I should, however I either forget to carry them with me or I fail to give them to people who might be interested.

Reading back over what I’ve written It’s clear that I am a failed communicator and in these days of self-promotion deserve to sink into oblivion. Maybe I should try again? Well, maybe after Christmas, maybe it will be my New Year’s resolution?






Joan Boswell is a member of the Ladies Killing Circle and co-edited four of their short story anthologies: Fit toDie, Bone Dance, Boomers Go Bad and Going Out With a Bang. Her three mysteries, Cut Off His Tale, Cut to the Quick and Cut and Run were published in 2005, 2006 and 2007. In 2000 she won the $10,000 Toronto Star’s short story contest. Joan lives in Toronto with three flat-coated retrievers.