15 | March | 2013 | Mandy Eve-Barnett's Blog for Readers & Writers

Reticent – definition: 1) not intending to talk or give out information 2) quiet in tone or appearance 3) showing doubt or unwillingness

I am sure we can all relate to reticent feelings when we first walked into a writing group or when we finally had enough courage to share our words for the first time. Whether you are a ‘new’ writer or a seasoned one, our words are precious commodities we treasure. It can be easy to hold them close for fear of rejection, after all no-one could possibly love them as much as we do!

However, it is in the act of sharing that we find a new love. Within the safe harbor of a supportive and encouraging environment, whether family, friends or critique group we see how our words affect others. This brings another aspect to our writing – the power it has on others. If the reaction is one we wished to extract from our readers then we have accomplished our goal. If not, we can use the feedback to revise and edit, enhancing our words to better effect. Our story and how we write it is unique, no matter if it is a love story, a battle of good and evil or a ‘who dun it’ – the themes are universal but it is finding another way to tell them that is the art.

It is also a good practice to be rather reticent when utilizing social media. A constant ‘sales pitch’ with no real interaction with followers and friends has a noticeable detrimental effect on how you are perceived – and its not good! Subtly is the key – a few carefully chosen words, a hint here and there, a reference to a similar character, location or theme and open invitations to find out more, are more effective ways of encouraging a readership than blasting every media avenue open to you with post after post of ‘buy my book!’