For today’s “Thursday Thoughts,” I just want to give a shout out to the authors without a tribe. The ones who don’t have people share their books on social media, the ones who toil away, reading in groups and wonder if they’re alone or if they even should be writing. The ones who can’t do, or don’t want to do, all the latest marketing hype, because let’s be honest, books are not widgets and the best ones touch readers and take them away for a few hours or a few days.

And a lot of the marketing advice out there says “find your tribe”. And I’ll be honest. I spent a lot of 2018 trying to “find my tribe”, “find my author group”, “find the project that would be IT” and bring me things. In the end, I’m reminded that I’m a unique cookie cutter, and I don’t fit in anyone’s mold.

So if you’re sitting at the keyboard, looking at your 2019 goals and “find your tribe” is part of them. I just want to say hey,it’s okay. Sure, if you really want to take the time to find the group of people that you click with, that’s cool. I certainly don’t want to stop you. But if you feel like the star block in the octagon hole, when everyone else around you are nice, polyhedral shapes (okay that might be a stretch, LOL), it’s okay.

I’m not even going to say, well you might just have to accept you won’t sell as well. Or you will have to be marketable to sell.

Because the truth is, all the slick marketing in the world won’t make up for a story you don’t love or a group that makes you feel “less than”.

And while Eleanor Roosevelt said “no one can make you feel inferior without your consent”, it was Maya Angelou who said “when someone shows you who they are, believe them”.

My goal for 2019 is to be happy being me. Be happy in my own skin, writing my own books, and to kill the twin demons of “comparison” and “less than” every time they rear their ugly heads.

So I’m here to tell you…

You are perfectly awesome right now. Where you are. No matter what you write or how many books you sell. And if the latest “trick” or “method” doesn’t work for you, it’s not your fault. Anyone who tells you that you just didn’t “do the work” or “apply yourself” is selling snake oil. And it doesn’t matter if your tribe consists of your cat, your mom, your best friend, or no one at all. You are still a damn good author. No, let’s make that a damn great author, and as long as you’re following your heart and doing what makes you happy, write on! Write on!