We just broke the 100 mark on my new FB fan page:

https://www.facebook.com/mdavidhornbuckleofficial

You guys rock. Keep it coming. The old fan page has 279. We should be able to break that number before too long.

Some 35 or so of you so far have noticed that I have a new page up on Facebook. At times, it probably seems like I’m a tireless narcissist (or at least it seems that way to me). I don’t particularly enjoy all this shameless self-promotion. In many ways I loathe doing it. It’s just part of the job of being an “artist” sometimes.

But anyway… yes, it’s true I already had a “fan” page on Facebook with a couple of hundred followers, and yes, now I have another one. Let me explain.

First of all, I prefer to use my personal page on Facebook for personal things, and I do need a place to promote my writings and music that is separate from that. So several years ago, I started a Group called “M. David Hornbuckle Knows Wordz Good,” and that worked out okay for a little while, until Facebook drastically changed the way groups worked.

Once the group no longer suited my purposes, I abandoned it and started the original “fan” page, which I planned to use for pushing my books, any new short stories I published, and any music gigs I had. A problem came up almost immediately because I called the page “M. David Hornbuckle,” and there was nothing there that distinguished it from my personal page. So people who were both “friends” and “fans” could never tell whether something was posted by MDH the person or MDH the persona. That was annoying. And Facebook would not let me change the name of the page or some of the other key things about how I initially set it up.

In addition, I had no marketing strategy for this page. It was just a mishmash of whatever I happened to be working on at the time. Posts were irregular and inconsistent. I decided what I really need is a sort of archive where I can post old videos, songs, and stories in a consistent way so that people just getting to know my work can explore some of the older things that might interest them. To do this, I’ll be utilizing this blog and and the new Facebook page in tandem to promote new work and keep the old work “out there” for people to discover.

So, fresh start. Maybe I think this is necessary because I turned 40 this year, or maybe it’s that coming apocalypse (which I’ll never stop mentioning until it passes out of the zeitgeist like a silent fart). But 2012 seems like an appropriate time for me to look backwards at times, as long as I don’t stop look forward as well.

Here’s that link again. The Official M. David Hornbuckle (Writer/Musician) Facebook Page.

I think perhaps the hardest thing about writing is to get into and stay in the right frame of mind for writing for an extended period. I can’t be too relaxed or too amped. If I’m tired, like when I first wake up, I can’t think at all. Have to have some coffee. But too much coffee, and my mind is all over the place. Some exercise sometimes helps clear the head sometimes, but I can also use it as a distraction so the only thoughts entering my head are about how many calories I’m burning and not about the story I’m working on. Anything can be a distraction. Staring at a computer screen rarely helps, and often is also a distraction. Sometimes, I have to print out what I’m working on and take to it with a pen. Or I just grab a notebook and get some thoughts down that way.

For a lot of writers, the ritual is very important–sitting down at a certain time every day with things arranged just so, distractions put to the side. My schedule seems to be too unpredictable to ever settle down into such a routine. Between paid work, grad school, the Birmingham Free Press, Steel Toe Review, Ghost Herd, and a relationship, my to-do list is a constantly shifting jigsaw puzzle. One might suggest dropping one or two of these activities to create more time, but they are all intertwined like a pit of anacondas in heat. Each project supports the others in some way or another, either financially or by facilitating connections with other creative people that can help me or inspire me. Also, if I can’t seem to finish that short story, maybe I can write an exposé about the Shepherd Bend coal mine, and at least then I’ve written something that day.

I’ve been known to go on long walks, sometimes for an entire day, with just a notebook and a pen, circling through sentences in my head, occasionally sitting down somewhere to scribble out my notes. Then I’ll come home and type everything up later, editing as I go. This is, in fact, my preferred way to work, but often, the weather, or my non-literary responsibilities, prevent me from going on these expeditions. It’s rare that I have a day, or even a couple of hours, that I can spend that way.

I’m trying to flesh out a short story right now, but I’m writing this blog post instead. Sometimes, I have to work on two things at once. Write a couple of sentences on one topic and then go  back to the other project, because I can’t stop my  brain from jumping around from one to the other anyway.

So I don’t know what to do exactly to improve this situation. It will definitely be one of my goals in 2012 to be more organized about this process. It’s also one of my goals to do more walking.