Some weeks(most weeks!) I just don’t know what to say on here. It’s quite hard if you’re writing a blog, to pick a topic with a broad appeal. Usually I witter on about ‘life’: things I’ve observed on my jaunts around town, or I might have something to say based on my own experiences as a self-published author, sharing tips and hints that I hope might help other authors. And occasionally I share about what books mean to me or why I write.

I think I’m a typical middle-aged, middle-educated, Indie author – I mope around the house a lot, don’t write as much as I should, and yes I’ve got cats and I love coffee. So that’s all pretty ordinary, even a kind of author-cliche. This is why when it comes to the big topics of Marketing and Promotion, I struggle enormously. I find it hard to put into words what it is that makes me different, that special ‘whatever’ that enables me to stand out from the crowd and make my voice heard above the rest.

But in a kind of epiphany moment, I realised it is through my very ordinariness that I stand out – because being just like everyone else is my superpower. Being so… dull… is how I relate to others, know what makes them tick and what motivates and interests those around me. So I am able to write books that hopefully will have a broad appeal, not be hidden away in some secret little niche or so highbrow even highbrow people need a stiff drink before they resume reading my immortal prose. I am here in the everyday world and it suits me.

I’m not saying it’s wrong to have aspirations, to aim high or to strive to achieve. I believe it is important for adults to continue to learn and discover new things. I don’t believe for a minute that education is something only done by children. Learning should be life-long process. If you don’t continue to learn and move forward, the world will leave you behind and you will not be able to communicate with your children, grandchildren and others in the future. You will be a dinosaur, extinct and known only by a few highly-educated professors.

So don’t be a dinosaur, be ordinary, blend in with the crowd and enjoy being surrounded, actually or virtually, by a bunch of people who are always there for you, and whom you in turn can support.

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