This month as everyone heads back to school, the leaves start changing colour and the air brings a chill I am bringing you lots of reading material in hopes you’ll find something you love to read. While I am putting forth a huge effort to bring awareness to my own books I understand that everyone wants something different to read. Please show a huge welcome to all my guests by commenting and checking out their books.
Don’t forget to read to the bottom and enter for your chance to read some books and a $25 Amazon gift card!
Today we welcome Glenn Muller to share how your passion is the most important aspect of life right now! There’s something somewhere for everyone to read – you just need to know where to find it.
We live in a golden age.
Depending on how old you are, you may have been witness to the first television programs, the first trans-atlantic flight, the launch of the first spacecraft, or the first human to walk on the surface of the Moon. No? In that case, you likely came along just in time to witness what is, probably, the third significant milestone in our advancement as a species – the development of the computer chip.
The first two great milestones, of course, were the control of fire and the invention of the wheel. Now, with the addition of this new technology, we continue a progression that is described in Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs. Simply put, the basis of Maslow’s theory is that we have priorities. The most basic need is survival – food, shelter, protection, etc. Having attained that we look for social structure like family and community, then, at the very top, is self-actualization which includes the satisfaction of our creative needs. If you have time to indulge a passion like writing or painting then, congratulations, you are somewhere near the peak of Maslow’s pyramid.
From Massive to Tiny
The first computers were huge, incredibly expensive, and required a full-time staff to keep them running. Nonetheless, they enabled great advances in everything from medicine to automotive-design. The invention of the computer chip not only increased the power while decreasing the size, but also made computers accessible to practically anyone who wants one.
The PC (or Mac, if you’re so inclined) unleashed a virtual Big Bang of creative output practically overnight. Google up “debut novel” and you get 35,500,000 hits. Sure, a bunch of those hits will take you to Fifty Shades Of Grey (or should that be Gray?), and to J.K. Rowling’s first book for adults, not exactly a debut, but you get the idea. The point is that we can now reach Maslow’s pinnacle and many of us have something to say – or write.
The downside is that the quantity has begun to swamp the quality; a problem facing every decent writer hoping to be published. Traditional publishers get so many submissions that most only consider a piece submitted by an agent, but all that does is shift the pile from the publisher’s desk to the agent’s. Even published authors risk having their work buried in a slush pile of sub-par entries.
There is Hope for Us
One ray of hope is that the cause of this problem is also a solution. Easy access to online communication through our netbooks, iPads, and other devices means that the Vox Populi now has significant influence. With access to 178,000,000 Internet forums, independent writers can research extensively and enlist help from peers, editors, artists, and printers to create a worthwhile product and get it on the market.
Of course, that is only half the battle. The ultimate goal is to have people use their precious spare time to read what you have writ, but with a computer chip and an ISP the savvy author can tap into a global market through the power of social media. Sure, you might be just a single voice among thousands, if not millions, but that’s the yin and yang of this new Big Bang. To be a successful author will take talent, perseverance, and a modicum of luck. But at least you have the technology to attain that great height, so log on and start climbing.
Glenn Muller is the author of Torque
Thanks for stopping by, Glenn and thank YOU for reading,
Sarah Butland
author of Sending You Sammy
