There are a couple of different types of exposure for creative sorts. I have predictably mixed feelings about them.
First, there's the inevitable need for promotion and putting oneself forward. I know that's part of the business. I like meeting new folks online and off. I've made some lovely friendships that way. I enjoy meeting readers and bloggers online and in person., talking about books and genre and the writing process. I'll happily chirp about NaNoWriMo for hours or gush about favorite authors in fantasy literature.
But putting myself out there doesn't come naturally to me. I'm an introvert, through and through. I have some sharply-demarcated lines of privacy, and there are just some things that I don't discuss in public. I don't even use my legal name to write. I'm not much interested in my relatives or co-workers reading my sex scenes. Nobody cares about my views on religion or politics or which family members I don't like. I share, up to a point.
Wanna see my cat pictures, though? I have lots.
It's funny. I'm still pretty convinced that nobody really cares what I have to say. Well, okay...maybe about ninety percent of things.
Where I do expose myself, though, is through writing. Writing is giving a stranger a walk through one's head. And that's weirdly intimate. I've said before that it's like being naked in a roomful of strangers. And I'm willing to share the writing experience with people I don't know, to share what I think about destiny, power, and love in that way. I'll talk about sex and power differentials in relationships. The dark side of human nature. Why it's dehumanizing to be used as a tool. How we sometimes use power without the wisdom to wield it. How we can get uncomfortable with women being destroyers, rather than creators. What I admire and what I hate. The joy of unconditional love. What it's like to feel "broken."
Just don't ask me directly. 'Cause I'll just change the subject and refill your glass.
